# Find your way around VCAD

> See where things are in the VCAD window: your session tabs, the toolbar, the panels, the bar at the bottom and the account menu.

5 min · Updated 2026-11-11 · https://vcad.dk/en/help/find-your-way-around

Once you are done, you know where to start a tool, change the language and see what VCAD is waiting for.

## See where things are

The VCAD window has five parts:

- At the top: the tabs with your sessions on the left, and the language menu and the account menu on the right.

- Just below, over the middle of the drawing: the toolbar.

- In the middle: the drawing. In its bottom left corner you switch between **2D** and **3D**.

- On the sides: the **Properties** panel on the left and the **Layers** panel on the right.

- At the bottom: the coordinate system, the message line and the mouse coordinates.

![The whole VCAD window: the session tabs at the top left, the language menu and the account menu at the top right, the toolbar over the middle of the drawing, the Properties panel on the left, the Layers panel on the right, the 2D and 3D buttons in the bottom left corner of the drawing and the bar with the coordinate system, message line and coordinates at the bottom](https://vcad.dk/help/find-your-way-around/window-en.png)

## Choose your language

1. Click the language menu at the top right, just left of the account menu.

    ![The language menu open at the top right with the languages in the list, ringed together with its button, and the Layers panel below it](https://vcad.dk/help/find-your-way-around/language-en.png)

2. Choose your preferred language from the list.

## Switch between your sessions

1. Click a tab at the top left.

    ![The tabs at the top left just after a click on Sketch 2, which is now highlighted and ringed, with Sketch 1 to its left and + to its right](https://vcad.dk/help/find-your-way-around/tabs-en.png)

2. Click **+** to the right of the tabs to start a new session. See [Start a new session](https://vcad.dk/en/help/start-a-new-session.md).

## Use the toolbar

1. Click a tool on the toolbar.

    ![The whole toolbar just after a click on 3D Polyline, which is now highlighted and ringed, with the drawing below it](https://vcad.dk/help/find-your-way-around/toolbar-en.png)

2. Press **Esc** or click the tool again to cancel.

    > If you are in the middle of drawing, the first **Esc** finishes the line and the second cancels the tool.

3. Right-click a tool with a small arrow. The tool's settings open below it.

4. Right-click **Snap**, the button with the magnet. The list opens, and here you choose what it snaps to.

    ![The whole toolbar with the list under Snap open, ringed together with Snap, and the drawing below it](https://vcad.dk/help/find-your-way-around/toolbar-snap-en.png)

5. Click **Snap** to turn snapping on or off.

6. Click the arrows to the right of **Snap**, or press **Ctrl+Z** and **Ctrl+Y**, to undo or redo.

7. Click the button at the far right to save, export or plot.

## Open the panels

1. Click **Tools** on the toolbar.

    ![The whole toolbar with the menu under Tools open with the panels, ringed together with Tools, and the drawing below it](https://vcad.dk/help/find-your-way-around/tools-menu-en.png)

2. Click what you want to open:

    - **Properties** shows and changes what you have selected. See [Change an object's layer, color or linetype](https://vcad.dk/en/help/change-object-properties.md).

    - The trade panels, for example **Sewage** and **Utilities**, hold symbols and lines for their trade.

    - **Toolbox** has line tools and utilities.

    - **Map** turns the background map on and off.

The trade panels and **Toolbox** open on top of the drawing. Drag their title to move them.

> If your license has more modules, they are in the **Tools** menu too, for example **Cloud**.

## Read the bar at the bottom

1. Start a tool, for example **3D Polyline**. The message line in the middle at the bottom tells you what the tool is waiting for, for example **POLYLINE: Click start point**.

    ![The bottom of the window just after 3D Polyline is started: the message line shows POLYLINE: Click start point and is ringed, the mouse X, Y and Z are to its right, and the mouse rests in the drawing above it](https://vcad.dk/help/find-your-way-around/message-line-en.png)

2. Move the mouse over the drawing. To the right of the message line, **X**, **Y** and **Z** show where the mouse is.

3. Click the coordinate system's name at the bottom left to change it.

## Open the account menu

1. Click the account menu in the top right corner.

    ![The account menu open at the top right with the name and email at the top and Settings, About, Remote support and Sign out below them, ringed together with its button](https://vcad.dk/help/find-your-way-around/account-menu-en.png)

2. Choose what you need:

    - **Settings** opens the **Settings** window, where you adjust VCAD, for example import and coding.

    - **Remote support** opens a window where you help a colleague on their screen or create a one-time link so someone else can see and help on yours.

Next, [move around and zoom the view](https://vcad.dk/en/help/move-and-zoom-the-view.md) and [select objects](https://vcad.dk/en/help/select-objects.md).

## Related guides

- [Sign in to VCAD](https://vcad.dk/en/help/log-in-to-vcad.md): Sign in to the VCAD portal with your email and password and get into the drawing app.
- [Start a new session](https://vcad.dk/en/help/start-a-new-session.md): Create a new, empty session in its own tab, give it a name, and switch between your sessions.
- [Move around and zoom the view](https://vcad.dk/en/help/move-and-zoom-the-view.md): Zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, move around with the wheel pressed down, and find the whole drawing again with Show all.
- [Select objects](https://vcad.dk/en/help/select-objects.md): Select objects with a click or a box, take single objects out of the selection again, and clear it with Esc.
- [Change an object's layer, color or linetype](https://vcad.dk/en/help/change-object-properties.md): Change the layer, color, linetype and elevation of one or many objects at once in the Properties panel.

Stuck? Write to us at info@vcad.dk