We covered the Areas Toolbar (not Area Takeoff Tools Toolbar) in Areas Toolbar (Bid Areas and Typical Areas), but it is worth reviewing it before we dive into using Bid Areas (and Typical Areas, next Chapter, see Related Articles also).
The Bid Areas toolbar includes buttons for showing/hiding takeoff, opening the Bid Areas and Typical Areas dialog boxes, buttons to assign to or select takeoff in the selected Bid Areas in the Bid Area drop down.
You use the controls on the Areas Tool bar to:
- Select one or more Bid Areas, Typical Areas, or any combination.
- Assign takeoff to Bid Area or Typical Area selected in the Areas drop-down.
- Select takeoff assigned to the Bid Area(s) or Typical Area(s) selected in the Areas drop-down.
- Identify (using the Color Takeoff Toggle) what is allocated to the selected Bid Area(s) and Typical Area(s).
- Open the Bid Areas and Typical Areas dialog boxes where you set up both.
| Button | Description | What it does/How it is used... |
|---|
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 or  | Color takeoff toggle | Toggles between showing takeoff in all areas (blue) or the selected area or areas (grey) as colored takeoff. When the toggle is grey (indicating in takeoff in the selected area(s) is shown in color, all other takeoff is greyed-out - you can use this toggle to see takeoff that has not been assigned to a Bid or Typical Area or identify any takeoff still assigned to the Page Area. |
 | Bid Areas | Opens the Bid Areas dialog box. |
 | Typical Areas | Opens the Typical Areas dialog box. |
 | Assign | Assigns currently selected takeoff objects to the Bid Area or Typical Area selected in the Areas drop-down. Active only when a single Bid Area or Typical Area is selected in the drop-down, disabled if more than one Bid Area or Typical Areas is selected in the drop-down. |
 | Select | Selects all takeoff objects in the Bid Area(s) or Typical Area(s) selected in the Areas drop-down. Particularly handy if you want to select takeoff in specific Bid Area or Typical Area one one page and copy that takeoff to another Page or reassign it all to a different Takeoff Item, Bid Area, or Typical Area. |
 | Areas drop-down | Shows you an organized list of the Page Area, and all Bid Area and Typical Areas in the current bid (grouped into Bid Area and Typical Areas folders which can be collapsed independently). The Page Area always shows at the top of the list. We cover this drop-down in more detail in a few articles, but it will not make much sense until we add a few Bid Areas. |
Usually, you name your Bid Area based on the contract plans (Building B, Floor 2), but you can use any separator for your takeoff quantities - up to three levels deep (for example, Building > Floor > Room).
Bid Areas allow you to breakout takeoff quantities on the Summary and Worksheet Tabs with great granularity.
If you are going to use Typical Areas, you must define Bid Areas first (we detail using Typical Areas in the next Chapter, see Related Articles if you cannot wait).
You can add up to three levels (or tiers) of Bid Areas (for example, Building > Floor > Room) but we are going to stick with one level, "Floors" (Floors 1 - 22 to be exact).
First, we need to show you the Bid Areas dialog box and toolbar.
What are Page Areas