Then calibrate the scale with K, drop cameras with C, and trace the walls with W so the coverage knows what it can't see through.
Then calibrate the scale with K, trace the walls with W or B, and place detectors, call points and sounders with C - or tap each room with auto-place (A).
You drew a line 0 px long. What is that on the ground?
A plain number is millimetres · or type a unit: 4.5 m, 450 cm, 4500 mm
Handy references: a UK parking bay is 4,800 × 2,400 mm, a single carriageway lane 3,650 mm, a standard door leaf 900 mm (a doorway about 926 mm), a shipping container 6,058 or 12,192 mm long.
What are you designing? The tools, the library, the checks and every output - PDF, proposal, certificate, schedules, link and email - follow the type you pick. A fire alarm design is to one standard: BS 5839-1 for non-domestic premises, or BS 5839-6 for dwellings.
Starting a new design clears the one that is open - save it first if you need it.
You can switch a drawing between CCTV and fire alarm later with the switch in the top bar; anything of the other kind is kept, hidden, until you switch back.
The checks, the proposal, the certificate and every output follow it. You can change it later in Drawing setup - Fire alarm design.
The System Designer's checks found these on the drawing. Go through them - tick each one you have dealt with or accept, and add a note; the note prints with it.
A1: the plan sheet on a page of its own, the plan about 3½ times the size with its labels clear of each other. The other sheets stay A4.
Opens your browser print dialogue - choose Save as PDF for a file, or send it straight to the printer. Set margins to None and turn on background graphics.
An A4 sheet to hang beside the panel: the zones with their names, the plan with each zone coloured and numbered, You are here, and your details. Pick the way round:
Opens your browser print dialogue - choose Save as PDF for a file, or send it straight to the printer. Set margins to None. The zone plan also goes in the full PDF when Zone plan sheet is ticked there.
Creates a private web link that opens this design on any phone or laptop - coverage cones, day and night, tap-a-camera, the schedule.detection, call-point and sound coverage, tap-a-device, the schedule. Anyone with the link - and the PIN, when set - can view it. Nobody can edit it.
With a PIN or viewer details on, the link opens on a confidentiality notice in your company’s name - the design stays yours and is not to be passed to third parties or other installers. Viewers press Agree and open design, and the log below records it.
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Each time the link is opened: who (name and email, when the link asks), when, IP address, approximate place (from the IP, city level), browser, system and device. Your own “open in designer” is not counted. Kept for 90 days, last 300. Test use for now - a cookie and data notice for viewers goes on the link before this is used with clients.
Set once per browser. The key is the PUBLISH_KEY secret on the Cloudflare Worker - it unlocks publishing, your saved designs and the link manager.
Live. Send this link to the client:
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Please give your name and email to view this design.
Enter the PIN you were given with the link.
| Select / move | V | Place cameraPlace fire device | C |
| Draw wall | W | Draw cable route | R |
| Riser - cable up / down a floor (mid-cable: the run goes up here) | Y | ||
| Place recorder or head-endFire device list | NC | Add label | T |
| Calibrate scale | K | Measure | M |
| Pan | H / space-drag / middle-drag | Zoom | wheel |
| Finish a line | Enter / double-click | Cancel | Esc |
| Close a building | click the first corner again - it rings green when you are on it | ||
| BuildingRoom or building (3-click rectangle) | B | Snap to objects on/off | S |
| Stairs | U, click the bottom of the stairs, then the end of the flight - with a 90° turn set, a third click for the second flight (it squares off left or right); type lengths as for walls; the arrow points the way of the UP / DN label; width, tread and direction in Properties | ||
| Circle - tree or round building | G, click the centre, then the edge (or drag) - size shown as Ø; a fixed diameter in Properties plots one per click | ||
| Round / polygon building | B, then Alt-click the centre and click one corner - sides set in Drawing aids | ||
| Door | D | Cycle door swing / hinge | E |
| Door types | single, double, unequal double, roller shutter, sliding single / double - pick before placing (Properties shows the door tool's settings) or change on a selected door | ||
| Tool settings | pick a tool with nothing selected and Properties sets what the next item gets - place many alike · Reset to defaults puts them back | ||
| Favourites | star a device in the library to keep it at the top · while placing, E cycles through your favourites | ||
| Keyboard map | hold Q | or hold the keyboard button, right of the plan | |
| Select many | drag a box on empty space (adds to the selection) · ⌘A or Select all takes everything · the bar under the status pill, top left, sets which kinds - lit chips with a tick are included · Shift-click adds or removes one · ⌘D deselects | ||
| Edit several at once | select them, and Properties shows what they share - zone, location, ceiling and loop for fire deviceslocation, model, height and tilt for cameras; a change goes to all of them as one undo step · Mixed means they differ · Properties also offers to select all of the same type | ||
| Quick edits in Schedules | click a location or zonelocation or cable run name in the table to change it · Enter or Tab moves down, Shift goes up, Esc puts it back | ||
| Type a length while drawing | 4500 (mm) · 4.5 m · 450 cm · 3000@90 (bearing) · Enter · Straight ticked: square to 0/45/90° - on when you type with Shift held or point within 10° of straight; click it or tap Shift to change | ||
| Move in a straight line | hold Shift while dragging a device, a wall, a shape or a selection - it moves straight from where it was: across, up and down or at 45° · a device still catches level with one it passes and stays on a wall it runs along · let go to move freely | ||
| Line up devices | hold Shift while placing a device (or drag one with the Align chip on) - it goes level with the nearest device, same type first: on its row or column, both at once when near another's, along the wall for a wall device · dashed guides and the distance show where · let go for free placement · on a phone or tablet use the Align chip in Properties, the To place list or the selection bar | ||
| Straight lines | hold Shift while drawing or dragging a corner - the line stays at 0, 45 or 90° and still snaps onto walls, joins corners on the line and stops level with other corners (dashed guide) | ||
| Continue a wall | with the wall tool, click the free end of an existing wall | ||
| Filled shape / blankingShape / detection zone | X | Redo | ⌘Y |
| Drawing type | each design is CCTV or fire alarm - picked under File → New, switched with CCTV / Fire in the top bar. Items of the other kind are kept, hidden, until you switch back · a fire alarm design is to one standard - BS 5839-1 (non-domestic premises) or BS 5839-6 (dwellings, with a Grade) - picked at New, changed in Drawing setup → Fire alarm design | ||
| Cameras | C opens the camera library, N the head-end list · drag the blue dot to aim, round for bearing, in or out for tilt - straight after placing, with C still on, or with either mouse button · Night shows each camera's illuminator reach | ||
| Zone plan | Z | Done | Z / Esc |
| Open to the floor above | J - a double-height space (an atrium, a galleried hall, a stair open over two floors) on the lower floor's plan: tap the room, drag a rectangle or draw round it (Properties); with the floors set up, detection from the floor above covers it (dashed, "from 012 above"), sound and radio go through it · Count as covered off: shown, not counted · a note prints with it | ||
| Print the zone plan | ⌘P in the zone plan, or Print / PDF in its bar - an A4 sheet to hang beside the panel, portrait or landscape · ⌘E there saves it as a PNG | ||
| Zone plan tools | F fill a room (found from the walls) · R rectangle · P free draw · Y You are here · V edit corners · 1–9 pick a zone · N new zone · Del removes the selected area · tap a coloured room with another zone picked to move it | ||
| Zones of devices | once rooms are coloured on the zone plan, a device takes the zone of the room it is in - a wall device the room it faces, so F moves it to the zone the other side · a short note says the zone when you place or drop one · a zone typed in Properties always wins; clear it to follow the plan again | ||
| Design certificate | Certificate in the top bar, or Export → Fire alarm design certificate - the model certificate of the drawing's standard (BS 5839-1:2025; a BS 5839-6 drawing: Annex D for Grade A, Annex E for Grades C, D and F) filled from the drawing · sign on screen, add up to 10 photos · Print certificate gives it on its own (A4 portrait); tick it in Print / PDF to add it to the PDF | ||
| Sound level reading (as-fitted) | L | click where you measured, type the dB(A), Enter · checked against BS 5839-1 clause 15 - area type and background noise in Properties | |
| Signal levels (as-fitted) | a wireless device's signal in dB, as the Ajax app shows it (red weak ≤16, amber medium 17–22, green strong ≥23), goes in its Properties - or in the Signal column of Schedules → Fire devices, where Enter moves down to the next device · shown on the device's icon on an as-fitted drawing | ||
| Auto-place detectors | A | tap a room - the fewest detectors that reach every point go in at once (a corridor ≤2 m wide by the corridor rule, at any angle) · tap the next room · − / + (keys or the chips by the room) change the last room · tap a filled room again to replace its detectors · ⌘Z takes a room off · Esc or V leaves · detector, roof pitch and the gap hatch in Properties | |
| Fire devices | C opens the device list, click the plan to place (a beam takes two clicks) · a wall device is drawn on the side of the wall it is fixed to, F flips it · shapes with a zone number are detection zones · Shift-click with the door tool for a fire door | ||
| Drawing setup | site, background image, scale, fire alarm settings, the drawing type and the item list live under the Drawing setup button | ||
| Pictures | I (or File → Add a picture), click where it goes and pick the file - or drop / paste an image onto the plan and choose “on top”; size, rotation and layering in Properties | ||
| Edit a wall / shape / route | select it, drag a corner · double-click a side to add a corner · right-click or double-click a corner to remove it | ||
| Delete selection | Del | Deselect · Duplicate | ⌘D · ⌘⇧D |
| Copy / cut selection | ⌘C / ⌘X | Paste at the cursor | ⌘V |
| Nudge / rotate 1° | arrows / , . | Rotate 15° | Shift , . |
| Fit to content | Shift F | Undo / redo | ⌘Z / ⌘⇧Z |
| Paste an image as background | ⌘V | ||
Build . Library figures are indicative and taken from published specifications. Always check the current datasheet before a design goes to a client - lens, sensor format and illuminator distancedetector ratings, sounder output and radio range vary between hardware revisions.