Draft Workbench¶

In one sentence: The Draft workbench provides 2-D parametric drawing tools — lines, arcs, curves, text, and dimensions — that work on an adjustable working plane, and a set of modification tools for transforming, patterning, and converting 2-D and 3-D geometry.

What is the Draft workbench for?¶

Draft is FreeCAD's 2-D drawing workbench. Unlike Part Design (which builds 3-D solids) or Sketcher (which creates constrained sketches for features), Draft is freeform: you draw lines, arcs, and shapes directly on a working plane in 3-D space, then use modification tools to move, rotate, copy, or pattern them.

Common uses:

Producing 2-D technical drawings (floor plans, elevation views, diagrams).
Creating reference geometry and construction lines for Part Design.
Generating arrays of objects (linear, polar, circular, path-following).
Annotating 3-D models with text labels and dimensions.
Converting between geometry types (wire → B-spline, sketch → Draft, etc.).

Key concepts¶

The working plane¶

All Draft geometry is placed on the working plane — a flat reference plane in 3-D space. By default it is the XY plane at Z = 0, but you can change it to any face of a solid, any named plane (XZ, YZ, custom), or a saved Working Plane Proxy.

Change the working plane with Draft → Utilities → Select Working Plane, or pick a face in the 3-D view first and then activate a drawing tool.

Snapping¶

Draft has a rich snapping system with 15+ snap types. When drawing, the cursor snaps to geometric features of existing objects: endpoints, midpoints, centres, intersections, perpendiculars, extensions, and more.

The Snap toolbar shows all active snap types. Toggle individual snaps by clicking their buttons. The Draft Snap Lock (Draft_Snap_Lock) is the master on/off switch.

Layers¶

Draft objects can belong to layers — named groups that control the visual style (line colour, line width, draw style, transparency) of all members. Layers replace the older Freeze/Layer system. Manage layers with Utilities → Layer manager.

Construction mode¶

Toggle Construction Mode creates objects in a special "construction" colour (blue by default). Construction objects are used as references and hidden from the final output. Toggle with Draft → Utilities → Toggle Construction Mode.

Workbench layout¶

Menu	Content
Drafting	2-D geometry creation: lines, arcs, circles, curves, text primitives
Annotation	Text, dimensions, labels, annotation style editor
Modification	Move, rotate, scale, mirror, trim, arrays, upgrade/downgrade, shape 2-D view
Utilities	Layers, groups, style, working plane, snapping controls

Typical workflow¶

1. Set the working plane (select face or named plane)
2. Enable snapping (Snap Lock on, pick snap types)
3. Draw geometry (Line, Arc, Circle, etc.) in the Drafting menu
4. Add annotations (Text, Dimension, Label) in the Annotation menu
5. Transform or pattern objects (Move, Rotate, Array) in Modification
6. Assign to layers (Layer Manager, Add to Layer) in Utilities
7. Export to SVG, DXF, or TechDraw page for 2-D output