Start the wall as usual, then type the number. It goes into the Length
field of the small readout that follows the cursor, Tab moves to
Angle, and Enter places the point exactly there. Bare numbers are
millimetres, so 3600 Enter is a wall exactly 3.6 m long.
The readout is an input box
It looks like one on purpose. The value shown in grey is what the cursor is currently giving you — a placeholder. The moment you type a digit it turns into your number, in the accent colour, with the caret after it. The line under the fields tells you what the keys do right now: “Tab switches field · Enter places what you see” before you type, “Enter places · Esc clears · Tab switches field” after.
It never takes keyboard focus away from the drawing, so you never have to click into it — just type.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
digits, ., - | Go into the field that is active |
| Tab | Switch between Length and Angle |
| Enter | Place the point at the typed values |
| Backspace | Edits the value you can see: on an untouched field it takes over the live number so you can trim a digit off it |
| Esc | Clears what you typed (press again to end the run) |
Units you can type
Bare numbers are millimetres. Add a suffix and it converts:
| You type | You get |
|---|---|
3600 | 3600 mm |
3.6m | 3600 mm |
360cm | 3600 mm |
3600mm | 3600 mm |
Anything over a kilometre is rejected as a typo. Angles are in degrees, 0° pointing right and 90° up the screen, and a negative angle is allowed.
Length and angle together
You do not have to type both. Type only a length and the direction comes from where the cursor is pointing — which is why Shift (lock to 45°) and a typed length are such a common pair. If a length is typed and the direction is free, the editor also quantises that direction to the nearest 45° when the cursor is within a hair of it, so a typed straight wall really does come out straight.
Type both and the cursor stops mattering: 2400 Tab -30
Enter is 2.4 m at 30° below horizontal, wherever the mouse is.
Starting at an exact offset from something
This is the ArchiCAD “measure from here” gesture, and it is how you start a wall 600 mm from an existing corner rather than at it.
- With the wall tool active and nothing placed yet, hover over a corner, an endpoint, a midpoint or an intersection.
- Either pause for half a second, or just start typing a digit. A small diamond marker appears on that point — it is now the origin you are measuring from, and a dashed line runs from it to your cursor.
- Type the distance, Tab and an angle if you want one, and press Enter (or click). The wall’s start lands at exactly that offset.
A negative distance measures the other way along the same line, which saves working out which end you are counting from. Esc releases the marker.
The same gesture works in the fence tool and all the polygon tools — areas, terraces, ceilings, ground surfaces and pools.
Fixing a wall that is already drawn
Select it with V and use the properties panel on the right: it has Start, End, Length and Angle fields, all in millimetres. Typing a new Length keeps the start point where it is and moves the end along the wall’s current direction; Angle does the same, swinging the end around the start.
To move something an exact distance instead, use the move tool: select it, press E, click a base point, then type the distance (Tab for the angle) and press Enter.
What this doesn’t do
- The grid does not give you exact lengths. It snaps positions on a 100 mm module, so a wall at a free angle has both ends on the grid and an arbitrary length. Typed lengths and the 45° lock are the tools for exactness.
- Typing over a dimension does not move anything. A dimension’s Custom text field replaces the label only — the geometry is untouched, and the drawing then says something that isn’t true. Leave it empty to show the real measurement.
- No feet and inches. Everything above is metric; see does Gridsnap support feet and inches?