What is Smart Flow Check?
Smart Flow Check runs continuously while you design and flags the spatial problems you'd otherwise discover after the furniture shows up — overlapping pieces, a recliner with nowhere to recline, a door that can't open past the sofa, a walkway too narrow to walk.
Here's a mistake nobody catches on a flat floor plan: you put a recliner in the corner, it looks perfect — and then it arrives, you lean back, and the footrest is in the hallway while the back hits the wall. A recliner that fits closed doesn't fit reclined. That's exactly the kind of thing Smart Flow Check catches.
Smart Flow Check is Room Sketch 3D's built-in layout analyzer, and it's always running — there's no button to press. As you draw walls, place doors, and arrange furniture, it quietly checks the layout for the spatial problems you'd otherwise only discover after the truck shows up, and shows them to you with one-line fixes, updating the moment anything moves.
What you'll need
- •A room with some furniture in it — see Adding, moving, and arranging furniture
Step by step
- 1
It's always on — no button to press
You don't run Smart Flow Check; it runs itself, continuously, in the background. A badge in the toolbar shows how many issues it's found — green when you're clear, a red count when something needs attention — and a panel docks at the bottom of the editor listing each problem.
The Flow Check panel lists each issue with a one-line fix; the toolbar badge shows the count. - 2
It catches furniture problems — including recliners that need room to recline
It flags pieces overlapping each other — and, crucially, pieces that need more space than their closed footprint. Put a recliner (or a sofa bed) too close to a wall and Flow Check flags it using the open, fully-reclined footprint, not the upright one. It's the clearance you'd never think to measure, and the one that ruins a layout.
A recliner that fits closed but not reclined — Flow Check catches it using the extended footprint. - 3
It catches access problems — door swings and blocked paths
A door that can't open past the piece in front of it gets flagged ("Move it away from the door swing"), as does a doorway or walking path that's blocked by furniture. These are the problems that turn a nice-looking layout into a daily annoyance.
A piece in a door's swing arc — Flow Check flags it and tells you the fix. - 4
It catches the 'room to breathe' problems — walkways, spacing, windows
Walkways narrower than a person can comfortably pass (roughly 36 inches), seating crammed too close together, a coffee table jammed against the sofa, a tall piece blocking a window — Flow Check watches for all of it, using the kind of clearances designers use as rules of thumb (see Furniture spacing and clearance best practices).
- 5
Read the panel, fix it live
Each problem in the panel comes with a one-line fix. Act on it — nudge the recliner away from the wall, slide the sofa clear of the door, widen the walkway — and watch the warning shrink and disappear in real time. Resize a piece, same thing. When the badge turns green, your layout works. If a warning is intentional (you really do want the rug under the sofa), you can leave it; Flow Check informs, it doesn't block.
Fix each issue and the badge turns green — your layout clears the standard clearances.
Tips
Trust it on the clearances you wouldn't think to check
Door swings and recliner extension are the two everybody forgets. If Flow Check is quiet about them, you're genuinely fine; if it's not, fix it now — those are exactly the mistakes that are expensive to discover later.
Fix issues as they appear, not at the end
Because it updates live, the cheapest time to fix a warning is the moment it shows up — while you still remember why you put the piece there. Don't let a pile of red issues accumulate.
A green badge is a real green light
When Smart Flow Check shows no issues, the layout clears the standard clearances — door swings, walkways, spacing, window access. That's a meaningful thumbs-up before you buy furniture or commit to a move.
Common mistakes
Placing a recliner like a regular chair
A recliner's whole point is that it moves — and when it does, it needs a foot or two more than its upright footprint, front and back. Leave that room (Flow Check will tell you if you haven't), or you'll have a recliner you can't fully recline.
Ignoring a warning because 'it looks fine'
It looks fine on a flat plan; Flow Check is measuring the thing the flat plan hides. A door-swing or walkway warning is telling you the room won't work the way you'll actually use it — that's worth more than how the diagram looks.
Letting warnings pile up
Five red issues at the end of a design is five small problems you've forgotten the context for. Clear them one at a time as you go.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to run Smart Flow Check?
No — it's always running. As you draw and arrange, it re-checks continuously; a badge in the toolbar shows the issue count and the panel at the bottom lists each one. You never have to invoke it.
What exactly does it check?
Furniture overlapping other furniture; recliners and sofa beds with no room to extend (it uses the open footprint); doors that can't swing past a piece; blocked doorways and walking paths; walkways narrower than about 36 inches; seating crammed too close together; coffee tables too close to or far from a sofa; and tall furniture blocking windows.
How does it know a recliner needs extra room?
Recliner and sofa-bed pieces carry an extended footprint — how much space they take when fully reclined or unfolded — and Smart Flow Check checks clearances against that, not just the closed shape. So a recliner that's snug against a wall in the plan still gets flagged.
What do the colors and the badge mean?
The toolbar badge shows the number of open issues — green (or an 'OK' / 'All good') when there are none, a red count when there are. In the panel, each issue is listed with a short fix. Acting on the fix removes the issue live.
Can I ignore a warning if it's intentional?
Yes. Smart Flow Check informs; it doesn't stop you. If you genuinely want a piece where it is — a rug under the sofa, say — you can leave the note in the panel. But for door swings, recliner clearance, and walkways, it's almost always worth fixing.
Start designing your room
Draw it, furnish it, walk through it in 3D — on web, iOS, and Android.
Open Room Sketch 3DOne-time purchase · No subscription · Web, iOS & Android