Navigation
HVAKR is organized into sections that follow the natural HVAC design workflow.
Project Structure
Section titled “Project Structure”Each project contains the following sections, accessible from the left sidebar. At the top of the sidebar, a Search button (Cmd/Ctrl + K) opens the command menu. The menu covers more than this project: it lists every page in the project you have open, your other projects, templates, the rest of the app, and each Settings section, and it can start a New Chat or a New Project. The button is hidden while the sidebar is collapsed. The shortcut still opens the menu. The sections are:
Basis of Design
Section titled “Basis of Design”Configure project-wide settings that affect calculations:
- General - Project information and metadata
- Weather - Design conditions and weather station
- Building Data - Envelope properties (walls, windows, roof, slab)
- Space Types - Occupancy, equipment, and lighting loads
- System Types - HVAC system configurations
- Sheet Library - Floor plan uploads and management
Building Model
Section titled “Building Model”Define the physical building:
- Sheets & Maps - View and navigate floor plans
- Spaces - Draw and configure spaces
- Envelope - Assign walls, windows, and other envelope elements
- Zones - Group spaces into thermal zones
- Systems - Create and configure HVAC systems
System Design
Section titled “System Design”Design the HVAC systems:
- Configuration - Central and terminal equipment
- Air Balancing - Per-space supply, return, exhaust, outdoor air, and transfer airflows
- Layout - Duct routing and sizing
- Schedules (β) - Equipment, register, and duct schedules with optional costs
Reports
Section titled “Reports”View and export calculations:
- Loads - Cooling and heating load results
- Energy (β) - Energy use and analysis
- Ventilation (β) - Ventilation schedule with VRP, IAQP, and CO2 outdoor air
- Exports - Generated PDF reports and CSV exports
Below these sections, the sidebar footer links to the 3D Viewer, Present mode, and Settings.
Toolbar
Section titled “Toolbar”The top toolbar runs across the top of every project view:
- HVAKR logo - return to your projects
- Project name - click to rename the project inline
- Save status - shows when your work is saved; HVAKR saves automatically, so there is no manual save button
- Undo / Redo - appear once you’ve made changes
- Project jobs - appears while a background job (Auto Takeoff, Auto Create Zones, Auto Group Zones, map takeoff, an export, or another job) is running, waiting for review, or recently finished. See Project Jobs
- Read Only - a tag that shows when you can’t edit the project
- Collaborators - an avatar for each person with access to the project; a green dot marks who is in it right now. Click the avatars to open the Share panel
- Copy To My Account - shows on example projects and on projects that aren’t shared with you. It makes your own copy of the project and opens it
- AI - open the HVAKR AI assistant
- Chat - open project chat and comments
- Share - open the sharing panel
- Studies - switch between the project’s named studies; changes made in a study don’t apply to the live project until you choose Apply changes while that study is open. Fields the open study changes have a ring in the study’s color. Select Modified Inputs on the study banner to see every changed input in one list, grouped by page, with the number of changed values for each; select an item to open the page that edits it
- Keyboard Shortcuts - the
?icon button opens the shortcut dialog - Fullscreen - toggle fullscreen mode (desktop only)
- Account menu - click your avatar to open it:
- Profile - the button beside your name
- Help links - Documentation, Community, Watch Tutorials, Schedule Support Call, Send Support Email, and Start Walkthrough
- The theme setting and the Realtime Cursors toggle
- Download Desktop App - macOS only
- Arcade, Settings, and Sign Out
- Change Log - opens the HVAKR Change Log drawer
- The app version - click it to copy the version for support
Project Jobs
Section titled “Project Jobs”Auto Takeoff, Auto Create Zones, Auto Group Zones, map takeoff, sheet takeoff, exports, sheet processing, template imports, and other long tasks run as background jobs. The Project jobs button in the toolbar shows their state, for example 1 running, 2 ready to review, or 3 finished. It is hidden when there is no job to show.
Click it to open the Project jobs list. Jobs are grouped into Running, Scheduled, Ready to review, and Recently finished. Each row shows the job name and its status or result, for example Created 2 zones, assigned 8 spaces or No spaces detected. Try another sheet or level. A failed job shows its error message.
- View - opens the page where the job’s results are, for example Building Model > Zones for Auto Create Zones
- Dismiss - removes a failed job from the list
- Clear finished - removes the completed jobs from the list
Auto Takeoff jobs stay under Ready to review until every generated space is approved or rejected. Finished results clear after 10 minutes. Failed jobs stay until you dismiss them or the job expires seven days later.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Section titled “Keyboard Shortcuts”Press ?, or the Keyboard Shortcuts button in the toolbar, to see the full list. Common shortcuts:
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Toggle AI Chat | Cmd/Ctrl + J |
| Toggle Chat | C |
| Toggle Share | S |
| Toggle Fullscreen | F |
| Close Sidebar | Esc |
| Toggle Navigation | \ |
| Command Menu | Cmd/Ctrl + K |
| Next Section / Previous Section | ] / [ |
| Present | Cmd/Ctrl + Enter |
| Center Viewport | Space |
| Zoom In / Zoom Out | Cmd/Ctrl + = / Cmd/Ctrl + - |
| Undo | Cmd/Ctrl + Z |
| Redo | Cmd/Ctrl + Y or Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Z |
| Delete selection | Delete or Backspace |
Sheet Navigation
Section titled “Sheet Navigation”When working with floor plans in the Sheets & Maps pane:
- Pan - Drag with the middle mouse button
- Zoom - Scroll wheel,
Cmd/Ctrl + =/Cmd/Ctrl + -, or the Zoom In / Zoom Out buttons in the toolbar - Center Viewport - Press
Space, or click the home button in the toolbar - Switch levels - Use the level controls in the toolbar to move between building floors
The scroll wheel only zooms under the default Zoom Mode for Mouse/Trackpad Controls. Switch that setting to Scroll Mode and the wheel pans instead. Zoom then requires Ctrl/Cmd + scroll, a pinch gesture, or the toolbar buttons.
Default View
Section titled “Default View”Each project has a default view: which layers, labels, and gradients the canvas View menu shows, plus the label size, label opacity, and hatch pattern in Settings. Everyone sees the default view until they change it.
When you change the view, HVAKR keeps your change in this browser only. The View menu then shows two actions:
- Reset to Default View - Go back to the project default view
- Save as Default View for Everyone - Make your view the project default view. Project members with edit access can do this.
Real-Time Collaboration
Section titled “Real-Time Collaboration”When multiple users are working on a project:
- Changes sync automatically in real-time
- The collaborator avatars in the toolbar show who’s online
- Colored cursors can show where others are working. This is off by default. Each person turns it on per project with Realtime Cursors in the account menu. You see only the cursors of collaborators who also have it on
See Real-Time Collaboration for the full behavior.