Two panels that answer the questions an estimator or a plans reviewer asks of a design. Explain answers one number: the Inputs it read, Show the math for the steps, The rule in plain words with its source, and Where to change it, with a button that opens that setting and rings it. Help and sources answers everything else: a searchable panel with For this screen at the top, then Guides, Rules, Glossary, Sources and Shortcuts. It is there in the 3D builder, the floor plan and the Sheets, and Explain also opens from an estimate's Review tab and its site lines. Rule citations follow the job's code edition. Every rule entry says whether it raises a Fix, a Check or a Note, and marks what needs an engineer. The footer says what the builder is: a design aid that cites the code and flags what needs an engineer, with the building department deciding.
Also called: builder help · explain this number · where did this number come from · code references in the builder · help panel · glossary · keyboard shortcuts
Explain: the inputs, the rule and where to change it
A dotted underline, or a small ⓘ in a dense table, means the number opens Explain. It lists the Inputs with where each came from, Show the math for the steps to the result, The rule in plain words with its source and a link, and Where to change it, each with an Open button. People who cannot change a setting see Ask an admin instead. Copy explanation takes the whole answer with you. Explain is for your own staff; nothing in it reaches a customer page.
A count or a size with no reasoning attached is either trusted blindly or recounted by hand.
The same code that computes the number writes its explanation, so they never disagree.
Help that starts with what you are looking at
Help opens a panel on the right (full screen on a phone). For this screen lists the entries that match what is open or selected; below it, search covers everything, and the tabs split it by kind: Guides for how to do something, Rules for what the builder checks and why, Glossary for the trade's words, Sources for the documents behind the rules, and Shortcuts for the keys on that screen.
Help in a separate manual is help nobody opens in the middle of a design.
The answer is one key away from the question, on the screen where it came up.
Every rule names its source
A rule entry says when it applies, gives an example and The numbers, says whether it raises a Fix, a Check or a Note, and marks the ones where an engineer has to size the part. Sources lists the code tables and manufacturers' documents behind them, each with Open the source. Citations follow the job's code edition. The footer says it plainly: a design aid that cites the code and flags what needs an engineer; your building department decides.
Every county has its own code year, snow and wind numbers, and a rule quoted from memory is a rule nobody can check.
A cited rule can be checked by your engineer or plans reviewer in minutes; an uncited one cannot.
From a tip, a check or the search box
Learn more at the foot of a tip opens its entry. Why? on a check in Issues opens Explain for that check. In a right-click menu or ⌘K, the last row of any search is Search Help for “…”. ? opens Help from the keyboard. And Where to change it takes you to the field and rings it, so the fix is one press from the explanation. See also the checks it explains.
Finding the setting that controls a number takes longer than changing it.
The question, the answer and the place to act are linked, not three separate hunts.
- 1Press Help in the builder's top bar, or ? on the keyboard
- 2Read For this screen first: the entries that match what is open or selected
- 3Search a word, a rule or a section number, or browse Guides, Rules, Glossary, Sources and Shortcuts
- 4In a right-click menu or ⌘K, type a question: the last row is Search Help for “…”
- 5Press Learn more on a tip to open its full entry
- 6On a check in Issues, press Why? to open Explain for that check
- 7Press a dotted-underlined number, or the ⓘ beside it, to open Explain
- 8Under Where to change it, press Open to go to the setting; it is ringed so you can find it
Design requirements change the price: snow, wind and exposure, the code year the county is on, what the truss maker or the building department will ask for. Even experienced contractors get the criteria wrong: a sheltered site assumed when the code wants wind from any direction, a ground snow load confused with a roof load. The price that went out stops holding when the permit office or the engineer catches it. A tool that prints a stud count or a header size without saying where it came from asks to be trusted blindly. So each number carries its own explanation, made by the same code that computed it, and each rule says which table or manufacturer document it comes from, with a link. The builder stays a design aid: it cites the code and flags what needs an engineer, for your engineer or plans reviewer to check.
- Numbers nobody can trace to an input or a rule
- Code questions answered from memory
- Settings nobody can find when a number needs changing
- Help that lives in a manual nobody opens
