Circuit lines — link symbols into numbered runs
Tap each device in a run to draw a dashed, numbered circuit line. Tap the first device again to branch (a double switch to two lights), press Enter or Done to finish, then add or remove devices on the finished line. Lines follow moves, update when you delete a device, and print with your plan.
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Label Outlets & Switches With Circuit Breaker Numbers on a Floor Plan
Name each outlet and switch with its breaker number, show the names on the plan, draw the circuit, and print it.
A circuit line is the dashed run an electrician draws to show which devices share one feed: outlets on one breaker, or a switch and the lights it controls. In RoomSketch3D you draw it by tapping the devices in order. The line attaches to the symbols themselves, not to spots on the canvas, and each end sits right on its symbol.
Because it's attached, the line keeps up with the plan. Move a light and its run follows. Delete an outlet and it comes off its line, and the devices on either side join up. A finished line can be extended at either end, or have one device taken off it. The circuit's name stays upright when you rotate the plan, and the lines print on every image, PDF and print.
Mapping breakers? Name each circuit after its breaker (Breaker 12) and give the outlets and switches on it the same name. Outlet and switch naming is covered in electrical plan outlets switches symbols.
What you'll need
- •A plan with at least two symbols placed (see Draw an electrical plan)
Step by step
- 1
Arm the Circuit line tool
In the Symbols panel tap Circuit line. The button changes to Exit circuit line and a hint appears at the top of the plan: Click each symbol to connect them. Click the first one again to save the line and start another from it · Enter to finish · Esc to cancel. On a phone or tablet it reads Tap each symbol … · Done to finish · ✕ to cancel. The hint bar has a Done button and a ✕ on every device. In a narrower window, or with both side panels open, the hint wraps onto two or more lines so all of it stays readable.
Armed: the hint bar explains how to finish and how to branch. - 2
Tap the devices in order
Tap the symbols in the order the cable runs: for a lighting circuit, the switch and then the light it controls; for outlets, one outlet after another. Each tap extends a dashed draft line that ends on the symbol itself. The run is numbered automatically (Circuit 1, Circuit 2 …). Only symbols accept a tap: tapping empty floor shows Tap a symbol to connect it and adds nothing.
Switch first, then the light it controls. - 3
Branch: one switch to two lights
A Switch (Double) that runs a light and a fan, or one switch feeding several fixtures, is two lines from the same switch. Draw the first one (switch → light), then tap the switch again. That saves the line and starts a new one from the switch, and a blue note with a check mark confirms it: Line saved. Tap the next symbol to run another line from here. Tap the second light or the fan. Repeat for each fixture. This works from whichever symbol you tapped first, so you can also fan several outlets out from one device.
Tapping the first symbol again saves the line and starts the next one there. - 4
Finish the run
Press Enter, or tap Done in the hint bar. The draft becomes a circuit with its name (Circuit 1) along the dashed line, placed clear of the devices and furniture. The tool stays on, so you can draw the next run straight away: here the outlets get a line of their own. When you've drawn them all, tap Exit circuit line (or the ✕ in the hint bar). A draft with only one device in it is dropped. Rotate the plan view and the names stay upright.
Two lines from the double switch, plus an outlet run. - 5
Name the circuit after its breaker
Tap the circuit's name on the plan (or tap the dashed line) to select it. Its panel opens along the bottom with the name box first: type the breaker number, for example Breaker 12, and press Enter. The same panel recolours the circuit (blue, red, green, orange, purple or black) or deletes it.
Name, colour and Delete for the selected circuit. - 6
Add devices to a finished line
Select the line (tap its name or the dashed line). A blue + (Add to this line) appears just past each end, and the panel at the bottom reminds you: Tap + at an end to add symbols. Tap a dot to remove it from the line, or drag it onto another symbol. Tap the + at the end you want to continue from.
A selected line: + at each end, trash to delete it. - 7
Tap the new devices, then Done
The hint changes to Tap symbols to add them to this line · Done to finish. Tap each device to add, in order, then tap Done (or press Enter). They join the same circuit, with the same name and colour, so a breaker map stays one line per breaker. Esc stops without changing the line.
Extending Circuit 3 to the outlet by the dresser. - 8
Take a device off a line
Select the line and tap the dot on the device you want off it. A red − button (Remove from this line) appears beside the dot: tap it. The device stays on the plan; only the line changes. Take off an end device and its piece of line goes; take off a middle one and the devices either side join up. If only one device would be left, the whole line is removed. To move a line's end to a different device instead, drag the dot onto that symbol.
Tap a dot, then the red −: Remove from this line. - 9
Delete a device: its lines update
Delete an outlet, switch or light and it comes off every line it was on, in the same step. A device at the end of a line takes its piece of line with it. A device in the middle drops out and its neighbours join up, so the run stays one circuit. A line left with one device is removed. Deleting a wall removes the outlets and switches on it from their lines the same way. Undo brings back the device and its lines together.
Delete the middle outlet (left) and its neighbours join up (right). - 10
Move a device and its line follows
Drag a light across the room, or slide an outlet along its wall, and every line attached to it re-routes with it. An outlet or switch moved onto another wall keeps its lines too.
Lines are attached to symbols, not to spots on the plan. - 11
Undo a hop while drawing
Made a wrong connection? While the draft is open, Backspace, the toolbar Undo arrow, or Ctrl/Cmd+Z steps back one hop at a time; Redo puts it back. Esc cancels the whole draft (a second Esc leaves the tool). Nothing is saved until you finish or tap the first device again.
Backspace / Undo pop one hop; Esc discards the draft. - 12
Print it with the names
Open Export / Print / Share → PNG/PDF or Print and keep Labels ticked: it prints circuit names along their lines, and outlet and switch names beside their symbols. Untick it and the dashed lines still print, without names. Tick Electrical plan to leave the furniture out; that sheet also gets a Circuits list under the symbol legend, with each circuit and the devices on it.
On the export: the circuit name along its run, the device names beside them.
Tips
Draw the run in wiring order
Panel side first, then device to device the way the cable would run, so the line reads like the real home run.
Double switch, two lights
Switch → first light, tap the switch again, → second light, then Enter or Done. You get two circuits, one per fixture; name them after what each half of the switch controls.
Mix any symbol kinds
Outlets, switches, lights, valves, your own uploads: a circuit accepts any symbol, so a low-voltage run (jacks, cameras) works the same way.
One circuit per breaker
Use a new circuit for each breaker and name it after the breaker, so the print matches the labels in your panel. Forgot an outlet? Add it with the + at the end of that breaker's line rather than starting a new one.
Common mistakes
Tapping the first device to finish
That used to finish the line. Now it saves the line and starts a new one from that device. To finish, press Enter or tap Done in the hint bar.
Tapping empty floor between devices
Circuit lines don't take free points, only symbols. If you need the line to bend around something, add the next device; the line is schematic, not a cable route.
Leaving the tool with a draft open
A draft that isn't finished is dropped when you tap Exit circuit line or ✕. Press Enter or tap Done first.
Deleting a device to take it off a line
Deleting removes the device from the plan too. To keep the device and only change the line, select the line, tap the device's dot and use Remove from this line.
Frequently asked questions
How do I show a double switch controlling two lights?
Arm Circuit line, tap the switch, then the first light. Tap the switch again: the line is saved and a new one starts from the switch. Tap the second light, then press Enter or tap Done. You now have two circuits from the same switch.
How do I add an outlet to a circuit I already drew?
Tap the line to select it, tap the blue + at the end you want to continue from, tap the new outlet (and any others), then tap Done. They join the same circuit with its name and colour.
How do I take a device off a circuit without deleting it?
Select the line, tap the dot on that device, and tap the red − (Remove from this line). If that leaves only one device, the line is removed.
What happens to a circuit line when I delete a device?
The device comes off every line it was on. An end device takes its piece of the line with it, a middle device's neighbours join up, and a line left with one device is removed. Undo restores the device and its lines in one step.
Do circuit lines move with the symbols?
Yes. A circuit line attaches to the symbols, so it follows when you move one, including an outlet or switch moved to another wall. To point one end of a line at a different device, select the line and drag that dot onto the other symbol.
Can I connect a custom uploaded symbol?
Yes. Uploaded symbols in My Library behave like built-in ones and can be part of any circuit.
Do circuit lines print?
Yes. They appear in every PNG, PDF and print, including the Electrical plan export, which also lists each circuit and its devices under the symbol legend. The circuit's name prints when Labels is ticked in the Export / Print Floor Plan dialog.
My circuit lines disappeared. Where did they go?
Check Layers → Show outlets, switches & symbols. Circuit lines are part of that layer: with it off, the lines, the devices and their names are hidden from the plan and can't be tapped. Tick it and they're back. Exports and prints always include them.
Can I rename a circuit, for example to a breaker number?
Yes. Tap the circuit's name on the plan, or tap its dashed line, and type the new name in the box at the left of its panel. The same panel changes its colour or deletes it.
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