3.1. Interface Overview

IQcad uses a ribbon-based layout similar to modern CAD applications. All panels can be shown or hidden, and the drawing area resizes to fill the available space.

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IQcad main window layout.

3.1.1. Main Areas

Area

Description

Quick Access Toolbar

A small toolbar above the menu bar with frequently-used buttons: New, Open, Save, Save As, Undo, Redo, and a Properties toggle that shows or hides the Object Inspector panel.

Menu bar

Traditional pull-down menus: File, Edit, View, Draw, Modify, Format, Civil, Window, Help.

Ribbon

Tabbed toolbar built on the IQRibbon component with theme support. Click a tab — Home, View, Draw, Modify, Annotate, Civil, Output, Help — to access tools grouped by function.

Civil Toolspace

Left panel (toggle with Civil › Civil Toolspace). Displays Survey Points, Tunnel Section Lines, Surfaces, and Alignments in a tree view with a property grid below. Double-click a leaf node to select and zoom to that object in the canvas.

Drawing Canvas

The main work area. Each open drawing occupies a tab above the canvas. Rulers along the top and left edges show world coordinates.

Object Inspector

Right panel (toggle with the Properties button on the QAT). Displays and edits the properties of the selected object(s), the active layer, or drawing-level settings. Uses a tree-based property grid with collapsible categories. All fields are live — changes apply immediately. See Object Inspector for full details.

Command line

Dark strip at the bottom. Shows the current operation, prompts for coordinate or text input, and accepts typed CAD commands (see Command Line).

Status bar

Shows the active tool name and the cursor position in world coordinates.

3.1.2. Layout Persistence

Panel sizes are saved to settings.json under a "layout" section and restored automatically when IQcad starts:

  • Prospector panel width

  • Object Inspector panel width and column split position

  • Command line height

3.1.3. Ribbon Tabs

Tab

Contents

Home

File (New, Open, Save, Save As, Close, Close All); Edit (Undo, Redo); Clipboard (Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste Orig).

View

Navigate (Zoom In/Out/Extents/Window, Pan, Orbit, Viewpoint, Draw Order); Display (Grid, Osnap, Ortho toggles, Properties panel); Select (Select, Select All, Duplicate).

Draw

All drawing tools: Line, Polyline, Multiline, Arc, Circle, Ellipse, Spline, Rectangle, Polygon, Hatch, Text, Multileader, Arrow, Point, XLine, 3D Face, 3D Polyline, Bézier, Table, Image, and more.

Modify

Erase, Move, Copy, Rotate, Scale, Offset, Trim, Extend, Chamfer, Fillet, Explode.

Annotate

Dimension tools (Linear, Aligned, Angular, Radius, Diameter, Ordinate, Arc Length, Baseline, Continue, Jogged), Dimension Styles.

Civil

Survey Point, Tunnel Section Line, Create Surface, Decimate, Spot Elevation, Alignment, Parcel, Civil Toolspace toggle, Point Import, Point Manager, Point Groups, LandXML import/export, Coordinate Transformations (CSTRANSFORM, RUBBERSHEET), Civil Style Manager.

Output

Export buttons (DXF, DWG, Image, SVG, LandXML, GeoJSON, KML, Shapefile, GPX), Import buttons (DWG, LandXML, GeoJSON, KML, Shapefile, GPX), Print, PDF, Page Setup.

Help

Documentation links, keyboard shortcuts reference, About dialog.