How do you turn a PDF, scan or Trikker export into a floor plan – and a distribution board photo into modules?

PlanElec turns an existing plan into an editable floor plan: add a PDF, scan or Trikker PDF export to the project files and choose Recognise floor plan. PlanElec proposes walls, rooms with their area, doors and windows, and device symbols such as socket outlets, switches and light points. You review the proposal, confirm the scale and import it into an empty floor in one click – the original page stays underneath as an underlay. An existing distribution board is captured the same way from photos: PlanElec detects the visible DIN modules, you review them and import them into an empty board.

What does PlanElec recognise in a plan or photo?

AI recognition always produces a proposal that you review before importing it. The table shows what PlanElec recognises for each source and what you check.

The symbol vocabulary is tuned to Belgian plans and aligned with Trikker exports. Circuits, wiring and the single-line diagram are not derived from plans or photos – you plan those afterwards in the project, with the assistant and automatic planning.

Which files can PlanElec recognise as a floor plan?

Recognise floor plan handles PDF, PNG, JPEG and WebP. Next to the action you choose the Recognition method:

• Automatic (PDF vectors / LLM) – the default. If the PDF contains vector data, PlanElec reads the wall lines from it deterministically and returns a wall proposal. Scans and images are analysed with AI image recognition.
• LLM image recognition – always analyses the page as an image, even for a vector PDF. In addition to walls, this method returns rooms with name and area, doors, windows and device symbols.

Recognition always works on the page currently open in the preview, so for a multi-page PDF go to the floor you need first.

DXF files and other reference plans are brought in through the standard import as a scaled background; see Import and calibrate a floor plan.

How do you start floor plan recognition?

1. Open the project in the studio and upload the plan under Project files.
2. Open the file; it appears in the Project file preview.
3. For multi-page files, go to the page you need, choose the method and click Recognise floor plan. The tooltip notes that the page will be sent to an external AI provider for analysis.
4. Progress runs through Preparing page, Reading plan and Checking result. According to the hint in the interface, this usually takes about 30 seconds.
5. The proposal appears in the Recognition panel, grouped into rooms, openings, scale, names, devices and any questions.

Recognition can be started by members with the editor role or higher.

How does PlanElec determine the scale?

The scale is what turns a plan page into a floor plan with correct dimensions. PlanElec determines it in one of these ways and shows the source in the Scale section:

PlanElec also uses the room areas printed on the plan as a cross-check. Each room shows its calculated area next to "Printed on the plan: … m²"; if both match, it reads ✓ plan, otherwise the deviation in percent. Where rooms differ, the proposal points out that a wall is probably in the wrong place. If dimension lines contradict your own anchor, a question asks you to re-measure a known length.

Confirm scale releases the scale. Without a confirmed scale the import stays blocked, so no wrongly scaled floor plan ends up in the project.

How do you correct the proposal before importing it?

In the proposal you untick rooms, openings and devices you do not want to import. For the geometry, Correct draft opens an editor on top of the original page:

• Move corner – drag a corner into place, or nudge it with the arrow keys once selected.
• Add wall – click the start and end of a missing wall; existing corners snap.
• Remove wall – delete a superfluous wall together with its openings.
• Measure distance – mark two points of a known distance and enter the length in metres.

Changes in the draft are only written to the floor when you import. Recognise again with AI or Recognize again starts a new run if needed.

How do you import the recognised floor plan into the project?

Choose an empty floor under Target floor and click Import. PlanElec writes walls, rooms, openings and devices into the floor in one step and places the original page underneath as the underlay Recognised plan page, so you can compare plan and result at any time.

The entire import is undone in one step with ⌘Z or Ctrl+Z. Items that cannot be matched unambiguously to a wall or side of a room are reported as "Not imported", with their count; you place them by hand afterwards.

How do you bring a Trikker plan into PlanElec?

The route from Trikker to PlanElec runs through the PDF export. PlanElec takes over the floor plan and supported symbols; circuits and the single-line diagram are then planned in PlanElec.

1. Export the plan from Trikker as a PDF.
2. Upload the PDF to PlanElec under Project files and open it in the Project file preview.
3. Choose the method LLM image recognition and click Recognise floor plan. PlanElec then reads rooms, openings and symbols as well as walls, whether or not the export contains vector data.
4. In Recognition, check rooms, scale and symbols. Symbols PlanElec cannot match are marked "Cannot be matched — not imported."
5. Confirm the scale, choose an empty target floor and click Import.

PlanElec does not read Trikker project files (.trik); circuits and the schematic from Trikker are not imported. With the floor plan and devices in the project, you build circuits, switch chains, cable routes and the distribution board with the PlanElec assistant or automatic planning. A comparison of features and prices is in Trikker alternative PlanElec.

How do you capture an existing distribution board from photos?

For renovations, extensions or surveys of an existing installation, planning often starts at the board already on the wall. PlanElec reads the visible modules from photos and uses them to populate an empty board in the distribution board editor:

1. In the distribution board editor, open Photos in the header. The Cabinet photos panel opens.
2. Choose Upload photos (JPEG, PNG or WebP) or tick photos already in the project – up to six per run. Several views of the same row are explicitly supported.
3. Click Detect modules.
4. Under Review detected modules each module is listed with Module type, Row, Slot and Width (TE), plus values read from the device such as Current (A), Poles or Sensitivity (mA). A crop at original resolution shows the matching spot on the photo. If two photos show the same module, combine the views with Merge or separate them with Split; remove a false detection with Reject.
5. Import the result with Import reviewed modules.

The proposal knows the common module classes: main switch, RCD, circuit breaker, RCBO, surge protector, contactors, impulse relays, timers, energy meters and KNX components. An unknown module appears as Unknown DIN module and is assigned during review.

A photo shows the front of a board, so PlanElec does not infer hidden wiring or electrical connections from it. Which module protects which circuit is something you define in the project.

How many recognitions are available per day?

When the daily limit is reached, PlanElec says so in the interface; new runs are available the next day. Uploaded project files remain fully usable in the meantime.

In addition, all AI features draw on your account's AI allowance; the share still available is shown in the user menu. During Early Access PlanElec is free.

What happens to your plans and photos?

For the analysis, the plan page or the selected photos are sent to the AI service. The language model runs in the EU region; the AI provider does not store the requests and does not use them for training. The interface flags this transfer before every run. The AI service providers involved are listed as sub-processors in PlanElec's data processing agreement.

Your original files stay in PlanElec as project files, and the plan additionally as an underlay on the floor. PlanElec also stores the recognition runs and their results with the project. For a later survey or inspection, the source document therefore stays with the project.

What comes after recognition?

With floor plan, rooms and devices in the project, the actual electrical design begins. Automatic planning adds room equipment, switch chains, circuit assignment, cable routes, phase balancing and board layout as editable proposals. The PlanElec assistant carries out instructions such as "Add a dedicated cooker circuit with protection to the kitchen" directly and then checks the whole project with the AREI/RGIE self-check.

Which rules the self-check covers is listed in What does PlanElec's AREI self-check verify?. Professional responsibility for the design stays with you; the official inspection (keuring) is carried out by an accredited inspection body.

Frequently asked questions about AI recognition

Can I import a recognised floor plan into a floor that already has walls?

Imports go into an empty target floor. Create a new floor if needed and import the proposal there.

Does PlanElec also recognise circuits on a plan?

No. Recognition delivers geometry, rooms, openings and device symbols. Circuits and the single-line diagram are created in the project – with the assistant, automatic planning or by hand.

What happens to symbols PlanElec does not know?

They are flagged in the proposal as not matchable and are not imported. You place the right device yourself after the import.

Can PlanElec recognise DWG files?

PlanElec does not process DWG files. Export the plan as a PDF for recognition, or as a DXF for a scaled background.

Who can start recognition?

Floor plan and distribution board recognition are started by project members with edit rights.