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Guided workflow variation

Plan PDF in.Quantities out, on your Windows PC.

MeasureSet opens the plan set you were sent, takes its scale from a dimension you know, and turns clicks on the drawing into runs, rooms, and fixture counts, sheet by sheet. Totals go to Excel, CSV, or a marked-up PDF, and the drawing itself is never written over.

For takeoff from plan PDFs on Windows, MeasureSet covers scale, length, area, counts, totals, and export, with no assemblies or cost database, as a one-time purchase.

Pay once. Own it forever.

One-time purchase on the Microsoft Store · No subscription · Instant install

Get it from Microsoft

Buy through the Microsoft Store—instant install, automatic updates, and a Microsoft receipt for easy expensing. No account needed on our site, and no subscription on Store purchases.

Full MeasureSet overview
One-time purchase No telemetry Local-first

windows · plan pdf never written over · no account · nothing uploads

If this sounds like your week

The bid set arrived as a PDF. The pricing lives in Excel.

Bid documents now come as one PDF holding the whole set: floor plans, roof plans, finish schedules, and details. A finish subcontractor needs a handful of plain numbers out of it, such as floor area per material, linear feet of base, and how many fixtures of each kind, entered in the workbook that holds the prices. The drawings are on screen, but the quantities are not, and getting from one to the other is the job.

Where tooling usually breaks

Clicking off distances is easy. Keeping track is not.

Reading one distance at a time in a PDF viewer leaves a trail of loose figures. Which room was that, was the closet included, did the hallway get counted twice? Sums by material still get built by hand and retyped, and nothing records what was measured. When an addendum moves a wall, nobody can tell which figures changed, so the whole sheet gets measured again from scratch.

Where MeasureSet lands

Every mark has a label, a place on the sheet, and a total.

MeasureSet keeps each measurement as a colored mark on the drawing with a label such as Carpet or Base, and builds totals by label for each sheet and the whole set. Use the length, area, rectangle, count, and segment tools, or click inside a room to add its floor area. Undo reaches every change. Export the totals to .xlsx or .csv for pricing, save the job to reopen later, and compare a revised sheet in red and blue.

Pay once. Own it forever.

One-time purchase on the Microsoft Store · No subscription · Instant install

Get it from Microsoft

Buy through the Microsoft Store—instant install, automatic updates, and a Microsoft receipt for easy expensing. No account needed on our site, and no subscription on Store purchases.

Learn more about MeasureSet

windows · plan pdf never written over · no account · nothing uploads

What you get

Feature highlights

Scale from the drawing

calibrate each sheet by clicking both ends of a dimension you know and typing its length, or pick a standard architectural, engineering, or metric scale, then check a second dimension with the segment tool.

One click per room

the room tool adds a closed room’s floor area from one click inside it, and the length, area, rectangle, count, and segment tools cover everything else, with undo for every change.

Labels that carry the math

give a label a height for wall area, a depth for volume, a roof slope for sloped area, and a waste allowance, and every mark with that label follows; openings deduct with their own height.

Totals and revisions

totals for each sheet and for the whole set, several PDFs in one project, and a revision compare where red is only on the sheet and blue is only on the revision.

Excel, CSV, or a marked-up PDF

export an .xlsx with Marks and Totals sheets, a .csv, or a new PDF of the marked sheets with a totals page, all from the Windows save dialog.

Your plan stays as it was

MeasureSet only reads plan PDFs and never writes over one, works with no account and no telemetry, and nothing uploads.

Especially when

  • Measure lengths, areas, and counts on a plan PDF at its real scale on a Windows PC, without printing the sheets or renting an estimating suite
  • Turn wall runs on a floor plan into net wall area, with door and window openings deducted and a waste allowance added
  • Get quantities from a PDF drawing set into Excel by label, for each sheet and the whole set, with a marked-up PDF showing what was measured
  • Check a revised drawing against the sheet that was measured, without changing the original plan PDF

Who benefits

Real-world scenarios

A flooring shop with a one-person estimating desk

A general contractor emails a thirty-sheet PDF for a clinic fit-out, and the flooring bid is due at the end of the week. Unit prices for carpet tile, sheet vinyl, and base already sit in a workbook.

The estimator calibrates the floor plan sheets, labels rooms by finish with the room tool, traces base with the length tool, and exports the totals to .xlsx to paste beside the prices.

A remodeler pricing a two-room addition

The architect sends a six-sheet PDF for an addition. The remodeler prices drywall, paint, and a new slab in Excel and wants a record of what was measured to send with the quote.

Wall runs get a height for wall area, the slab outline gets a depth for volume, and Export > Marked-up plan (.pdf) writes a copy of the marked sheets with a totals page to attach to the quote.

A freelance takeoff service

A takeoff service measures plan sets for several subcontractors and delivers spreadsheets, so every client set needs its own saved job that can be reopened when questions come back.

Each job is saved as a .measureset project that reopens with its scales and marks, and the client receives the .xlsx with a Marks sheet listing every mark and a Totals sheet by label.

Deep dive

What to look for in PDF takeoff software, and what MeasureSet leaves out

A scale you can check. Every quantity in a takeoff is a click multiplied by a scale, so the scale comes first. MeasureSet sets it per sheet in one of two ways: click both ends of a printed dimension and type its real length, or pick a standard architectural, engineering, or metric scale from the Scale box. Standard scales assume the PDF is the full printed size of the drawing, so check one known dimension with the segment tool either way. The status bar shows the scale as its standard name, or as a plain ratio such as 1:105 when no standard scale matches. A quarter-inch drawing on a 24 by 36 inch sheet, shrunk to fit 11 by 17 inch paper, reads about that way, so an odd ratio deserves a second look.

Tools that match the drawing. The length tool follows a run through as many corners as it needs, and Shift keeps 45-degree steps. The area tool takes corners one by one, or a dragged rectangle. The room tool adds a room's area from one click inside it, as long as the room is closed on the drawing. Counts go in groups, and the segment tool measures a single two-point distance. New points snap to the corners of other marks, and the Select tool drags any corner or whole mark into place.

Labels that carry the trade math. Give a label a height and every length with that label shows wall area. Give an area label a depth for volume or a roof slope for sloped area, and add a waste percent to any label. The settings travel with the label, and the label library keeps your labels for the next job on this PC.

Totals and output. The Totals list groups marks by tool and label for each sheet and for the whole set. The .xlsx export has a Marks sheet with one row per mark and a Totals sheet, the .csv holds the same two tables, and the marked-up PDF shows each marked sheet with its marks drawn over it, followed by a totals table. A project can hold several PDFs, and Open > Revision to compare overlays an addendum in red and blue.

What it leaves out on purpose. MeasureSet is a takeoff ruler, not an estimating suite. It has no assemblies, no cost database, and no cloud collaboration, and it does not search the drawing for symbols, so counts are clicks. There is no circle or arc tool, snapping does not reach the drawing's own lines, and each sheet has one scale. It opens PDF files only.

Where your files stay. It works on your PC with no account and no telemetry, opens only the PDFs you pick, and never writes over a plan PDF. Remember that a measurement is only as good as the calibration and the drawing behind it, so the check of one known dimension is worth the minute it takes.

How it is built

Built to measure the plan, never to change it.

The plan is only read

MeasureSet never writes over a plan PDF. Exports are new files you name, and a marked-up PDF is refused over any plan open in the session, checked by path and by content.

Nothing leaves your PC

No account, no telemetry, and no network calls. The package declares no capabilities, and the app opens only the files you pick.

A ruler, not a suite

Scale, length, area, counts, and totals for Excel. No assemblies, no cost database, no cloud collaboration. One-time purchase in the Microsoft Store.

Head-to-head

How MeasureSet compares

Feature MeasureSet Printed sheets and a scale ruler Subscription estimating suite
Scale from a known dimension Yes, per sheet: two points and a typed length, or a standard scale Only by working out the ratio by hand ✓
Totals by label, per sheet and set ✓ Added up on a calculator ✓
Spreadsheet output .xlsx with Marks and Totals sheets, and .csv Typed in by hand Often, through its own reports
Marked-up copy of the plan A new PDF with every mark and a totals page Pencil marks on paper Varies by product
Assemblies and cost database — — ✓
How it is paid for One-time purchase in the Microsoft Store Paper, ink, and a scale ruler Often per user, per year

FAQ

Straight answers—no glossary dump

What is the difference between takeoff software and an estimating suite?

Takeoff is the measuring: lengths, areas, and counts read off the drawings. An estimating suite adds pricing on top, usually with assemblies that turn a measurement into materials and labor, a cost database, and shared projects for a team. MeasureSet is takeoff only. It hands quantities to Excel or CSV, and your own workbook does the pricing.

Which files does MeasureSet open and export?

It opens PDF files, and one project can hold several of them. It exports an Excel workbook (.xlsx) with a Marks sheet and a Totals sheet, a CSV file with the same two tables, and a marked-up PDF of the measured sheets with a totals page. The job itself saves as a .measureset project file that reopens with every scale and mark.

Can it keep up when the plans are revised?

Yes, within limits. Open > Revision to compare blends a second PDF with the current sheet: red is only on this sheet, blue is only on the revision. Sheets are paired by number, and the compare assumes the revision is drawn in the same place on a sheet of the same shape; the app warns when a sheet's shape differs. Adjust marks by dragging their corners.

How far can I trust the measurements?

A measurement is only as good as the calibration and the drawing. MeasureSet multiplies what you click by the scale you set, so calibrate each sheet from the longest printed dimension you can find, then measure a second dimension with the segment tool before you start. A reduced print, a sheet marked not to scale, or a dimension that does not match its line will carry its error into every quantity on that sheet.

Will MeasureSet change my plan PDF?

No. MeasureSet only reads plan PDFs and never writes over one. Scales, marks, and labels are kept in a separate .measureset project file that you save. Every export is a new file that you name in the Windows save dialog, and the app refuses to save a marked-up PDF over any plan open in the session, including a revision you are comparing, even when the same file is reached another way, such as a mapped drive.

Does anything leave my PC, and how do I get MeasureSet?

Nothing uploads. MeasureSet works on your PC with no account and no telemetry, and the app makes no network calls. It runs on Windows 10 version 2004 or later and on Windows 11. It is a one-time purchase in the Microsoft Store, and the Store runs a 15-day free trial with the full app, so you can measure one of your own plan sets before you buy. There is no subscription and no license code.

Related pages

One dimension you trust. Every other line measured from it. Buy the takeoff ruler once. Keep pricing in your own spreadsheet. Trace the wall runs. Get wall area, less the openings. Plan area from the roof plan. Sloped area from the pitch.

The plans are already a PDF.
Measure them and price in Excel.

MeasureSet sets the scale from a dimension you know, measures length, area, and counts by label, and exports totals to .xlsx, .csv, or a marked-up PDF. It never writes over the plan PDF, and nothing uploads. The 15-day free trial in the Microsoft Store has the full app.

Pay once. Own it forever.

One-time purchase on the Microsoft Store · No subscription · Instant install

Get it from Microsoft

Buy through the Microsoft Store—instant install, automatic updates, and a Microsoft receipt for easy expensing. No account needed on our site, and no subscription on Store purchases.

Open full product page

Technical specifications

Technical specifications for procurement

Spec Implementation
Data Sovereignty Reads only the PDFs you pick in the Windows file picker and never writes over them; writes only the project, .xlsx, .csv, or marked-up PDF files you name in the save dialog; the label library and unit settings stay in the app’s local settings on this PC
Telemetry Status None; no account, no telemetry, and no network client in the app
Core Runtime .NET 10 and WinUI 3 (Windows App SDK), packaged as MSIX and run in the Windows app sandbox; pages are rendered with the PDF engine built into Windows
Network Requirements Fully functional offline; the package declares no capabilities, including no internet access, and the app makes no network calls
Deployment Compatibility Windows 10 version 2004 or later and Windows 11, x64; one-time purchase on the Microsoft Store with a 15-day free trial
Inputs PDF plan sets picked in the Windows file picker; several PDFs per project; a revision PDF can be opened for comparison
Measuring Calibration from a known dimension, or standard architectural, engineering, and metric scales; length, area, rectangle, room, count, and segment tools; deductions; snapping to corners of other marks
Quantities Length, area with perimeter, count, wall area from a height, volume from a depth, sloped area from a roof slope, and waste, in imperial or metric units; totals per sheet and for the whole set
Outputs Excel workbook (.xlsx) with Marks and Totals sheets, CSV (UTF-8, RFC 4180) with the same two tables, a marked-up PDF with a totals page, and a .measureset project file
Plan safety Plan PDFs are only read; a marked-up PDF is refused over any plan open in the session, checked by path and by content, and is written only when complete
Limits PDF input only; one scale per sheet; no circle or arc tool; no symbol search; no assemblies, cost database, or cloud collaboration