Draeft — Knowledge Base & Tutorial

Draeft is a browser‑based tool for drawing 2D floor plans for events. Tents are its specialty, but you can just as easily plan an indoor room, build on top of an existing blueprint, or lay out an outdoor space over a satellite image. This guide explains everything the app can do.

What Draeft is (and who it's for)

Draeft lets you lay out an event space: choose your tents, drop in tables, chairs, a dance floor, a stage, heaters, power, exits and more, then export a clean diagram to share with your client, venue, or crew. It runs in your web browser — nothing to install. It's built for tent‑rental companies, event and wedding planners, caterers, venues, and end users.

More than tents. Tents are Draeft's specialty, but you're not limited to them. You can draw a room or building with the Shape tool, import an existing blueprint or floor plan as a background and build right on top of it, or drop in a satellite/aerial image to plan an outdoor event on the real site. If you can measure it, you can plan it in Draeft — indoors or out, tented or not.

You work on a canvas (the drawing area). Everything is measured to real‑world scale (feet and inches by default), so what you draw reflects what will actually fit on the ground.

A quick word on accuracy: Draeft diagrams are artistic representations that follow common industry standards. Tent brands and models vary slightly (including how they're measured — inside vs. outside the poles), so always confirm final dimensions with your vendor.

Good to know

It's free to build and download. Create your plan and export a JPG at no cost. Pro adds PDF, page sizes, and branding options.
Your work saves itself. Draeft autosaves in your browser as you go, and you can Save to a file to keep or share it. (Clearing your browser data clears the autosave, so save important plans to a file.)
You can't break anything. Made a mistake? Ctrl/Cmd + Z undoes it.
Use a computer. Draeft works best on a computer or laptop with a mouse — it's not designed for phones.

Quick start — your first plan in 5 steps

Add a tent. Not sure what size? Open the Tent Wizard (top of the screen) for a recommendation. Already know your size? Use the left panel's Builder tab, pick it from the Library, and click Add to Canvas.
Add tables & chairs. Switch the left panel to the Equipment tab and click items to drop them on the canvas — or use Zones to auto‑fill an area with seating.
Arrange. Drag items to position them; use the corner handles to rotate or resize where allowed.
Add the essentials. Drop in a dance floor, exits, heaters, or power as needed.
Export. Click Export to download a JPG (or a PDF with more options on Pro) to email or print for your rental company, caterer, planner, or venue.

Not using a tent? Skip step 1 — draw the space itself with the Shape tool, or add a background image (a blueprint or a satellite view) and lay everything out on top of that instead.

Your work saves automatically in your browser, and you can Save to a file to keep or share it.

Not sure what size tent you need? Start with the Tent Wizard

If you're planning your own event and don't already know your tent size, this is the easiest place to start. The Tent Wizard button sits just left of the plan name at the top. Tell it about your event and it recommends real tents you can add with one click.

How it works

Enter your guest count.
Check how the space will be used — seating & service style (dinner rounds, cocktail, theatre, farm tables…), dance/music (dance floor, DJ, band stage), and food & drink (buffet lines, beverage stations). Each adds square footage.
Add any extra space (photo booth, entry, buffer).
The Wizard shows a subtotal and a recommended tent‑size range (a little under to a little over, to fit standard sizes).

Picking tents. Choose your preferred tent type(s) — Frame, Pole, Sailcloth — and a maximum length‑to‑width ratio (how long‑and‑narrow you'll allow; default 2.5). The Wizard lists standard tents that fit your range and ratio, best‑fit first. Click Add on any to drop it on the canvas.

Dance floor helper. If you included a dance floor, the Wizard also suggests tidy 4′×4′ panel layouts for it — each with its own Add button to place a dance floor of that size.

Advanced mode reveals the square‑feet‑per‑person rates and the range percentages so you can fine‑tune the estimate.

Common questions

Where does the recommendation come from? Your guest count and how the space is used, using common per‑person space standards.
It suggested a tent bigger than my subtotal — why? The range adds a little headroom so real, standard tent sizes actually fit.
Can I still tweak the tent afterward? Yes — added tents can be edited in the Builder like any other.

The Tent Builder

The Builder tab (left panel) is where you create tents. Most people never need the technical parts of this section — just pick a ready‑made size from the Library (or let the Tent Wizard choose one). The Custom options are there when you want them.

Library — the easy way. Pick a common, ready‑made size from the list and click Add to Canvas. That's all most plans need. To change a placed tent later, click it on the canvas to select it, then click the edit (pencil) button in the toolbar that appears — the Builder opens with that tent's settings.

Tent types

Frame tents (also called clearspan, marquee, or structure — all the same for this tool) — free‑standing, no interior poles, so the whole floor is usable. Most flexible.
Pole tents — center and perimeter poles create the classic peaked look; the section size is set by the width.
Sailcloth tents — a variant of pole tents with elegant translucent fabric and rounded or shaped ends.

Common questions

What's the difference between frame, pole, and sailcloth? Frame tents have no interior poles (fully open floor); pole tents have poles and the peaked look; sailcloth tents are the upscale, translucent style of pole tents with rounded ends (usually using wooden poles).
Do I need to use Custom mode? No — the Library covers most events, and the Tent Wizard can pick a size for you.

Custom sizes (advanced)

Want to build an exact size yourself? Switch the Builder to Custom, set the width, then describe the tent with a short construction string. You can skip all of this if the Library or the Tent Wizard already gave you what you need.

Construction string — describes the tent section by section along its length: E = an end, M = a middle section, and E2/M2/M3 for alternate part sizes. Example: E M M E is end‑mid‑mid‑end (spaces are optional). As you type, the Builder shows the live overall size, section count, leg count, and area at the bottom.
Part specs (Frame) — set each section's length, side leg spacing, and (for ends) end‑wall spacing. Each part is colour‑coded to match its section on the canvas.
Part specs (Pole/Sailcloth) — these tents vary far less than frame tents. There are one or two alternate mid‑section lengths, but most use the default end and mid sizes.
Imperial or Metric. A Units toggle at the top of the Frame > Custom section switches the width and part‑spec fields between feet and centimetres. Flip it and the fields load that unit's defaults (metric defaults: End1 500, End2 250, Mid1 500, Mid2 250, Mid3 300 cm; width 1000 cm). The overall‑size totals stay in feet.

Equipment

The Equipment tab (left panel) holds everything that goes inside or around the tent. Click an item to add it; drag to place it.

Tables — round (30″–72″ plus custom), rectangular (6 ft, 8 ft and more, various widths, plus custom), and square (30″, 36″, 48″).
Chairs — single chairs, with configurable size.
Exits — marked exits that snap to a tent edge.
Wall Section — a free‑standing wall piece. Placed on or near a tent it counts toward that tent's wall totals (it doesn't snap to the edge — rotate it to line it up). Set its length and type (clear / solid / no wall).
Wall Types — a key you can place that shows what the wall symbols mean.
Heaters — forced‑air heaters. Set the duct and propane‑hose lengths (they resize the footprint) and label both on the canvas.
Safety — fire extinguisher, no‑smoking sign.
Power — power drop, distro box, power source, generator trailer.
Vehicles/logistics — box truck.
Stage and Dance Floor — adjustable modular platforms (see below).
Markers/icons — labelled markers for anything else.

Select any placed item to open its edit panel (size, label, and item‑specific options).

How many people fit at a table? A rough starting point (draw a Zone and Draeft can auto‑fill tables and chairs and count the seats for you):

48″ round — seats 6
60″ round — seats 8 (up to 10 if snug)
72″ round — seats 10 (up to 12)
6 ft rectangle — seats 6–8
8 ft rectangle — seats 8–10

Building a seating chart? Select a table to name it (e.g. "Head Table" or "Table 12") and give it a colour, and turn on Canvas → Chair numbers to number the seats 1..N around every table (so you can say "Head Table, seat 5"). Together these turn a layout into a planner‑ready seating chart.

Zones & automatic seating

Zones let you outline an area and have Draeft fill it with seating for you.

Draw a zone, and Draeft can auto‑pack it with tables and chairs for a quick start that you can then refine.
Switch a zone to theatre mode for rows of chairs, and it reports the seat count.
Zones track capacity and how many seats/tables are placed.
You can change a zone's label and fill style, and re‑pack it any time.
Padding is the aisle space kept between tables — Draeft no longer also reserves it around the zone edge, so a zone drawn to the usable area fills more fully.
Packing stays inside a tent: draw a zone inside a tent and the tables keep clear of the walls, the rounded ends of a sailcloth tent, and the center poles — nothing lands where it couldn't go on‑site.

Use it when you want a quick, tidy seating layout without placing every table by hand.

Dance floors & stages (modular pieces)

Dance floors and stages are modular — built from panels/tiles.

Add one from Equipment (or a dance floor straight from the Tent Wizard).
Resize it, and it snaps to whole panels.
Set the tile/panel size to match your real inventory (e.g. 4′×4′ panels).

Exits & egress paths

Exits mark where people leave; they attach to a tent edge and you can set the opening width.
The Path tool can be used to draw walking/exit routes as a width band with a centerline. You can set the path width, colour, opacity, whether the band is stroked, and the centerline style (solid/dashed/dotted), and show its length.

Use these to communicate safe exit routes and required egress widths on the plan.

Walls

A tent's sides can show walls, and Draeft tracks each tent's wall totals.

The tent's own walls. Every tent side is made of wall sections. Click a wall on the canvas to change its type — cycling clear (a see‑through / window wall), solid, or no wall. You can change one section at a time or all of them at once.
Free‑standing wall pieces (the Wall Section item in the Equipment tab) are separate segments you place yourself. Put one on or near a tent and it counts toward that tent's wall totals — handy for a partial wall — but it doesn't snap to the edge, so rotate it to line it up. Each piece has its own length and type.
Wall Types key — place this key so anyone reading the plan knows what the clear / solid / no‑wall symbols mean.

Anchoring — stakes & weights

Draeft can note how each tent leg is secured — useful for install crews and for the site‑plan portion of a permit. Turn it on with Canvas → Anchors.

Each perimeter leg shows either a stake (a tie‑off line ending in a stake, drawn 4 ft out on frame tents) or a weight (a 2 ft × 2 ft ballast block).
Corner legs get two anchors splayed into a 45° "V" pointing out at the corner.
Select a tent, choose stakes or weights from the toolbar, then click any one anchor to switch that leg — so you can mix methods (e.g. stakes on grass, weights on the pad). Clicking again hides that leg's anchor.

Anchoring here is site‑plan notation, not an engineered hold‑down spec — confirm required stake or ballast ratings with your vendor or engineer.

Shapes — rooms, buildings & custom footprints

The Shape tool (on the canvas toolbar) draws any custom outline — an indoor room, a building, a patio, a pool, a stage, property lines, or anything that isn't a tent. Click each corner, then close the shape (click the first corner or press Enter).

After placing it, fine‑tune it: set exact side lengths and corner angles, and pin the sides or corners you want to hold fixed while you adjust the rest.
Use it to build an indoor room to lay out, trace a venue's footprint, or mark an obstacle you need to plan around.

This is what makes Draeft useful for non‑tented events too — build the room or space itself, then lay everything out inside it.

Measurements & dimensions

The Measure tool checks distances on the canvas.
Dimension lines add labelled measurements to the plan so the diagram communicates real sizes to your crew or client.

Background images — blueprints, floor plans & satellite views

Import an image, place it behind your plan, and lay everything out on top of it. From the right panel's Canvas tab, add a Background image — for example:

An existing blueprint or floor plan of a building or venue, so you can plan a room without redrawing it.
A satellite or aerial image of an outdoor site, so you can plan a lawn, field, or estate event to scale.
A venue site map or photo.

After adding it, use the Scale image tool to calibrate: click two points a known distance apart on the image and enter the real length, so it matches Draeft's real‑world scale. You can adjust the image's opacity or remove it from the same panel.

Legend & equipment summary

The on‑canvas Legend summarises what's in the plan (tent list, equipment counts, wall key). You can toggle which sections show and adjust its size, so your exported diagram includes a clear key. The equipment counts double as a quick pull/pack list for the crew.

Canvas options & view

The right panel's Canvas tab controls how the plan looks:

Visual style/theme.
Show/hide dimensions, bay lines, walls, anchors, chair numbers (for seating charts), and much more.

These affect the on‑screen look and the export.

Saved views — one-click looks for each audience

Every stakeholder wants something different from the same plan: the fire marshal needs exits and extinguishers, the caterer just their corner, the client a clean picture. Saved views let you snapshot a complete look — the style plus every show/hide toggle — under a name, then switch between looks with one click.

In the Canvas tab, set up the style and toggles the way you want, type a name under Saved views (e.g. "Fire marshal", "Caterer", "Client") and click Save view.
Click a saved view's name to switch the whole canvas to that look — then export. Undo (Ctrl/Cmd + Z) reverses a switch.
Saving under an existing name updates that view; the ✕ button deletes one.
Saved views live on your device and are available in every plan — set up "Caterer" once and it's there for all your events. Saved plan files also carry a copy, so a colleague who opens your file gets your views too (any they don't already have are added to their list).

Common questions

I switched views and my walls/markers disappeared. That view was saved with those layers hidden. Switch to another view, or turn the toggles back on and save the view again.
Do my views transfer to another computer? Views live on the device you made them on. To bring them along, save a plan and open that file on the other computer — its views are added there automatically.

Keyboard shortcuts

Click an item on the canvas to select it, then:

Delete or Backspace — remove it.
Ctrl/Cmd + Z — undo; Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z — redo.
Ctrl/Cmd + D — duplicate.
R — rotate 90° (Shift + R rotates the other way).
Arrow keys — nudge into place (hold Alt for tiny steps, Shift for big ones).
G — group the selected items together; Shift + G — ungroup.
Alt + click — when shapes are stacked, cycle down to select the one underneath.
Esc — deselect.

Saving, loading & exporting

Autosave keeps your work in the browser as you go, so a crash or a closed tab won't lose it.
New — start a fresh, blank plan.
Save — saves your plan to a file (to keep, back up, or send to a colleague). The first save asks where to put the file; after that, Save writes straight back to the same file with no dialog. Save As saves a copy under a new name or location.
Load Plan — open a previously saved plan. The opened file becomes the one Save writes back to.
Autosaves — Draeft automatically keeps a backup of each plan you work on, right in your browser. Open Autosaves to switch back to a recent plan, rename it, or remove it. These are a safety net, not your saved files: only your most recent plans are kept (older ones drop off automatically), and clearing your browser data erases them. To keep a plan for real, use Save to store it as a file you own and can back up or share.
In some browsers plans always save as downloads, so each save goes to your Downloads folder (or asks where to save) instead of updating the file in place — in those browsers there's no separate Save As button, since every save is a fresh download anyway. This includes Firefox, Safari, and Brave (Brave switches off the file feature for privacy; searching Brave's settings flags for "File System Access API" and enabling it turns in‑place saving on).
Save Template / Load Template — reuse a tent definition across plans.
Export — download your plan to email or print for your rental company, caterer, planner, venue, or permit office. Exports print to scale (a declared 1″ = X ft) with an embedded scale bar, so anyone can measure straight off the printout. Free users get a JPG; Pro adds a scaled, printable PDF, page sizes, quality options, and removes Draeft branding. The Export area tool exports just a selected region.
Undo/Redo and a plan name (used as the default file name) are at the top.

Permits & site plans

Draeft is well suited to the site‑plan portion of a tent permit for your local authority (AHJ). A clean, to‑scale layout — tent sizes and positions, exits and egress paths, walls, anchoring, heaters, and distances to nearby structures — covers what most site‑plan reviews look for. Export a scaled PDF and submit it.

It's a layout and communication tool, not engineering. Where your jurisdiction requires stamped structural drawings, wind or anchoring calculations, or fire‑code sign‑off, supplement Draeft's site plan with those documents. Always confirm requirements with your AHJ and vendor.

Pro

Draeft is free to use for building and JPG export. Pro unlocks PDF export, page‑size and quality options, and branding controls. Upgrade from the app's Upgrade to Pro button or the Draeft Events website.

FAQ & troubleshooting

Do I need to install anything? No — Draeft runs in your web browser.
Can I use Draeft without tents — for indoor or outdoor events? Yes. Draw the space with the Shape tool (a room, hall, or footprint), or import a blueprint or satellite image as a background, then lay out tables, chairs, staging, and more on top.
Will I lose my work if I close the tab? Your plan autosaves in the browser, and you can Save to a file for safe keeping. Clearing your browser data removes the autosave, so save important plans to a file.
What units does it use? Feet and inches by default. Frame > Custom tents can be entered in centimetres via the Units toggle, but they convert to imperial when placed on the canvas.
Can I match my real tent and dance‑floor sizes? Yes — use Custom tents and set the modular tile size to your inventory.
How accurate are the diagrams? They follow common industry standards but are representations — confirm exact dimensions with your vendor, since brands differ.
How do I share a plan? Export a JPG or (on Pro) a PDF, or send the saved plan file to a colleague who also uses Draeft.
Can I use Draeft for a tent permit? Yes — it's well suited to the site‑plan portion of an AHJ permit (a to‑scale layout with tents, exits, egress paths, walls, and anchoring). Supplement it with stamped engineering or fire‑code documents where your jurisdiction requires them.
Nothing happens when I click the canvas after picking a tool. Give tools a moment to activate after selecting them, then click.

Glossary

Canvas — the drawing area where your plan lives.
Frame / structure tent — a tent with no interior poles; fully open floor.
Pole tent — a tent supported by center and perimeter poles, with peaks.
Sailcloth tent — an upscale translucent tent with shaped/rounded ends.
Section — a building block of a tent (the ends and mids you combine in the construction string).
Bay — the space between two legs or side poles.
End / mid — the end pieces and the middle sections of a tent.
Construction string — shorthand describing a tent's sections (e.g. EMME).
Leg spacing — the distance between a tent's legs along a side.
Zone — an outlined area Draeft can auto‑fill with seating.
Modular piece — a stage or dance floor built from panels/tiles.
Egress — the exit routes and the space people use to leave safely.
Legend — the on‑canvas key summarising the plan's contents.
Template — a saved tent definition you can reuse across plans.

Draeft Events · draeftevents.com

Last updated 2026-07-21.