How to Create an Electrical Plan in Minutes

If you create electrical plans, most of the work is not thinking but the rituals around drawing: installation, license keys, versions, sending files back and forth, and constantly checking which computer has the latest drawing. CTRLPlan was created so you do not have to deal with any of that.

What is CTRLPlan?

CTRLPlan is a browser-based electrical planning application. There is no installation and no download: you log in and continue where you left off — even on another computer. It can be used for both building electrical systems and industrial controls, all in a single interface.

How is a plan structured?

Your work is organized on three levels, and these three levels run throughout the entire system:

• Project — everything related to a particular job.
• Plan — a project can contain multiple plans. The plan name, identifier, and designer details appear in the drawing frame on every page.
• Page — the plan pages. The page type determines what you can draw on it: a cover page, floor plan, single line diagram, or multiline diagram.

The page type is not just a formality: it determines which symbols and macros you can choose from, which tools appear on the toolbar, and how the elements fit together. That is why the page type cannot be changed later — it is worth deciding when you create the page what will go on it.

Standard symbols

The symbols follow the IEC 60617 standard, supplemented with a few symbols that speed up everyday work. Simply drag the symbol selected from the category tree onto the drawing, then set the selected element's properties — device tag, part number — in the sidebar.

Macros: draw it once, never draw it again

A complete branch circuit, a motor starter, or a typical measuring point is rarely made up of a single symbol. In CTRLPlan, you can save selected elements as a macro, then insert it into any of your designs in a single step. When inserting it, you can choose whether to keep the device tags stored in the macro or renumber them based on their positions. Macros can be shared with your team and even made public to all users.

Cross-references automatically

If the same device tag appears on multiple pages of a design, the system collects the occurrences when you save and displays the cross-references on the drawing. This lets you see on the single line diagram where the same device appears on the multiline pages — without having to maintain the references manually anywhere.

Saving you never have to think about

There is no “I forgot to save" moment: your changes are uploaded to the server in a fraction of a second, and only the modified part is transmitted. Familiar keyboard shortcuts also work — Ctrl+S forces a save, Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y undo and redo the last steps, while Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V also copy the selected elements to another page.

Finished design: PDF and QR code

You can save the finished plan as a PDF with a single click; the file is generated from the vector drawing, so it stays sharp at any zoom level. If the electrician working on site or the client needs the documentation, enable QR code sharing: by attaching the printed code to the control cabinet, anyone can open the current version of the plan on their phone without logging in. Sharing can be revoked at any time.

Where to start?

On the home page, you can freely try the demo plan pages — with no registration and with real, clickable drawings. If you are ready to get started, the system will guide you through the interface after your first login: you can restart the tour at any time using the Show guide button in the left sidebar, and you can also find answers to frequently asked questions on the Customer Support page.

Happy designing!