Use Visual search and Count Measurements to calculate quantities

To use Visual search and the Count Measurement tool to calculate quantities, follow these steps:

  1. Identify the object you want to count.
  2. Go to Window > Panels > Search or press either Alt+1 or Ctrl+F to show the Search panel.
  1. Select Visual.
  2. Select Get Rectangle, then drag a rectangle around the image you would like to search for.
  1. Review the image that appears in the preview window to the right of the Get Rectangle button to be sure that it includes all of the desired image.
  2. To search for only certain colors within the search rectangle, select Refine Colors and clear the colors to be excluded. Select OK when the desired selections have been made. If this button is not available, ensure that the Filter by Color option below is selected.
  3. Select the document(s) or location you would like to search from the Search In menu. The options are Current Document, Current Page, All Open Documents, Current Set, Recents, Folder or Current Studio Project.
    • If Folder is selected, use the path box or select browse to define the location of the folder. Select Include Sub-Folders in the Text search options to include the folders found within the specified folder in the search.
    • The Current Set option will be available only if you have a Set open. Select this to search within the open Set.
    • The Current Project option will be available only if you are logged into a Project. Select this to search all local (downloaded) files from that Project. This option restricted to file name only searches; it is currently not possible to search within document content.
  4. Select the desired search options from those available under Options. The exact options available will vary according to the selection made in the Search In field.
    • Sensitivity: Determines how closely the images need to match to be considered a valid result. Adjust the slider to set a lower or higher sensitivity. Lowering the sensitivity will allow for matches that have minor differences, like an adjacent line, but may also result in false positives.

      You might need to lower the sensitivity if you are working on a PDF created from a scan because there may be stray pixels or background noise in the PDF.

    • Search Multiple Rotations: Symbols will be searched at 0, 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, and 270 degree rotations.
    • Filter by Color: Enables the Refine Colors button. The search will filter out colors that are not part of the selection (or in the selected range in the histogram).
    • Limit by Selection: On a vector PDF, this option filters out vector objects that extend out of the selection rectangle, as shown in the example below.

    • Search Markups: Searches for the selection in annotations and markups.
    • Search for Fine Detail: Enables a refined search on the segments that might exist inside the search area symbol.

  5. Select Search. Results will appear under the Options section.
  6. Audit the search results.
    • Select any result to jump to its location in the document.
    • Adjust the selected options if you seem to have too many false positives or false negatives.
  7. Select each search result you wish to include in your count. To select all the search results, select Check All on the toolbar.
  8. Before applying a Count measurement to the selected items, especially if you're working with a multi-page document, customize the Count markup:
    1. Select Count on the Measurements panel to engage the Count tool.
    2. Select the Properties tab and set the Count measurement's appearance, if desired.
    3. Change the Subject on the Properties panel to something unique and easily identifiable. This is because Count measurements are automatically split up by page when they are placed; using an identifiable Subject will make it easier to get a total across those pages by sorting the Markups list by Subject.
    4. Select Set as Default.
  9. From the Actions menu on the toolbar, select Apply Count Measurement to Checked.
  10. Audit the document, comparing what has been included in the Count against what was expected. Depending on many factors, Visual search might have missed some items that were desired or included some items that were not. Manually add or remove items as needed.
    • To add a missed item to the count, right-click any count markup on the document and select Resume Count, then click the missed item(s) to add it to the count.
    • To remove an undesired item from the count, right-click it and select Delete '<count name>' from Group.
  11. To get the quantity of items in your Count on the current page, select one of the count markups on the PDF and see either the Comments column on the Markups list or the Comments field in the General section of the Properties tab.