SimpleDim brings CAD-style precision to the one tool almost everyone already uses: PowerPoint. Designed by Paul Lukehart, the add-in solves a familiar problem: how to present accurate layouts, floor plans, and spatial concepts without opening specialized engineering software. What if you could use PowerPoint instead? By letting users set scale, draw dimension-perfect shapes, measure existing drawings, and apply CAD-like commands such as arrays, offsets, mirrors, and underlays, SimpleDim turns PowerPoint into a lightweight conceptual layout environment. It’s built for consultants, operations teams, and anyone who needs clarity and accuracy without the complexity of full CAD tools.
So, You Want to Show Off a Floor Plan (Without Losing Your Mind)
Where the Idea Came From?
Download and Installation
How SimpleDim Works
1. Set Scale
2. Set Scale from Line
Too Many Cooks, One Scale
More CAD Options
More Thoughts
The Bottom Line
So, You Want to Show Off a Floor Plan (Without Losing Your Mind)
Picture this. You’re in a meeting, and someone says, “Can you just pull up the warehouse layout real quick?”
Suddenly, everyone’s staring at you like you’re supposed to conjure a blueprint out of thin air. Here’s the dirty little secret: CAD software (the professional tool for this exact job) is basically a Formula 1 race car. Powerful, precise, and completely useless if you don’t know how to drive it. Most people outside the engineering department have never been seated in the driver’s seat. Half the time, they can’t even get the car out of the garage, because CAD files are notoriously fussy about how they are opened.
This is where SimpleDim strolls in, hands in pockets, looking suspiciously relaxed. Instead of asking you to learn a whole new race car, it takes the dimensioning and layout tricks CAD is famous for and tucks them neatly into PowerPoint. Yes, that PowerPoint. The one already open on your laptop, the one you’ve used since college, the one that doesn’t require a manual thicker than a phone book. Think of it like getting race-car handling in the family sedan you already know how to park.
CAD and AutoCAD
CAD stands for Computer-Aided Design. It is software that lets people draw things on a computer, but with exact measurements. Think of drawing a house with a pencil. If you’re a little off, the walls look wonky and nobody minds. Now imagine building that house for real. A wall that is off by even a few centimeters can mean a door that won’t fit. CAD fixes that problem. You tell the computer “this wall is exactly 5 meters long,” and it draws it at exactly that length. Every line, corner, and angle is measured.
Architects use CAD to design buildings. Engineers use it to design cars, bridges, and phone parts. Warehouse planners use it to work out where shelves, aisles, and loading doors should go.
AutoCAD, the granddaddy of CAD programs, has been around since 1982. That’s older than the DVD, the World Wide Web, and possibly your office’s coffee machine. And yet, decades later, opening a CAD file still trips people up like an ancient scroll written in a forgotten language.
Where the Idea Came From?
Paul’s background is in supply chain, distribution, and logistics. He did not set out to build software. He was building PowerPoint presentations that tested different layout configurations, and he kept switching to Excel to calculate dimensions and check his drawings. That extra step became the starting point for SimpleDim. He wanted dimensioning tools “like you see in AutoCAD,” built into the program that most people already have open.
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Download and Installation
SimpleDim offers a free 3-day trial, available for download from their website, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, below. Three days isn’t much time, so install it only when you’re ready to start testing right away. That way, you get the full value of the trial period.
Figure 1: Download a trial version of SimpleDim
Once installed, you will see the new SimpleDim tab of the Ribbon, highlighted in red within Figure 2, below.
Figure 2: SimpleDim tab of the Ribbon
How SimpleDim Works
The foundation of SimpleDim is a scale setting. You define what one inch or centimeter on the slide equals in real-world units (meters or feet), whatever fits. From there, shapes can be drawn to exact dimensions. Notably, this dimensioning also works on ordinary PowerPoint shapes that weren’t drawn through SimpleDim’s own tools, including freeform shapes, where you can pull area, perimeter, and adjustable-precision linear measurements.
There are two ways to set such a scale, and which you choose depends on what you are trying to achieve.
The first option, Set Scale, is for content you create in SimpleDim within PowerPoint, and the second option, Set Scale from Line, is for CAD drawings you import from external sources, such as a PDF floor plan. Let us understand these better.
1. Set Scale
Use this option when you know the real-world size you want one slide inch (or centimeter) to represent.
- Open the slide you want to draw on. The scale applies to one slide at a time, so repeat these steps on any other slide you want to use with SimpleDim.
- Go to the SimpleDim tab on the Ribbon and click on the Set Scale button, highlighted in red within Figure 3, below.
Figure 3: Set Scale option- Doing so brings up the Set Scale dialog box, shown in Figure 4, below. You type in any value, so that one slide unit equals a real-world value. For example, we changed the Select Units option to meters, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 4. We then changed the Enter Scale value to 20, as highlighted in blue. This means that every slide inch now equals 20 meters.
Figure 4: Set Scale dialog boxInches or Centimeters?
Why do you see inches as your slide unit, whereas your colleague sees centimeters? What unit you see depends on your regional settings set within your Microsoft Windows operating system.
- Confirm the setting by clicking the OK button, highlighted in green within Figure 4, above. You will then see the Scale Set confirmation message window, as shown in Figure 5, below. Click the OK button, highlighted in red.
Figure 5: Scale set message window- Now, insert a shape. We placed a rectangle, sized 3 inches by 2 inches, as shown in Figure 6, below. You can confirm the dimensions in the Shape Format tab of the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red.
Figure 6: Place a rectangle- To confirm if each inch is being translated to 20 meters each, access the SimpleDim tab of the Ribbon. Then, click the Set Dimensions button, highlighted in red within Figure 7, below. You will see the Set Dimensions dialog box. You can see that the width and height are shown as 60 and 40 meters respectively. Within this same dialog box, you can also change dimensions. Also, notice the Maintain proportions and Resize from center options, highlighted in green.
Figure 7: Set Dimensions dialog box
2. Set Scale from Line
While the Set Scale option works best for new drawings you create in PowerPoint, the second option, Set Scale from Line, is best suited when you have a drawing, such as a PDF floor plan, and you know one real distance from it.
- Place the image of your CAD drawing on the slide. To do so, your image has to be in a graphic file format that PowerPoint can insert. These include PNG, JPEG, TIF, BMP, etc. Figure 8, below shows an image inserted on your slide.
Figure 8: CAD drawing insertedInsert CAD Drawings from PDFs
Most CAD drawings arrive as PDFs, and PowerPoint has no direct way to insert a PDF. Converting the drawing to an image first solves this. Follow these steps to do so:
- Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat (or a free tool like Preview, or an online PDF-to-image converter).
- Export the page as a PNG or JPEG, usually under File | Save As | Image | PNG, or Export As.
- Set a higher resolution during export (300 DPI or more) if the tool allows it. This matters a lot for CAD drawings, since column lines, dimension text, and hatching all get muddy at low resolution.
- Insert the resulting image file into PowerPoint normally.
- Optionally, access the Picture Format tab of the Ribbon and click the Crop button, highlighted in red within Figure 8, above. Then crop out any white areas or extraneous areas that are not needed. Figure 9, below, shows the CAD image has been cropped and placed as needed.
Figure 9: Crop and underlay the CAD drawing- Now, access the SimpleDim tab of the Ribbon. Click the Pin Underlay button, highlighted in red within Figure 9, above. This option pins the image to the background, preventing you from moving it by accident.
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How Does Pin Underlay Work?
When you select an image or another slide object, and click on the Pin Underlay button, SimpleDim creates a new Slide Layout within your Slide Master that contains the pinned image or object. Since that image or object is now on the Slide Layout, you cannot select it on the slide and accidentally move it. When you no longer need the image or object to be pinned, click the Release Underlay button.
- Now, for this step, it might help if you zoomed in a bit. PowerPoint allows a maximum zoom of 400%, so that’s what we did, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 10, below. Now, draw a line along a distance you know, as shown highlighted in green. Use the longest known distance the drawing gives you because a small placement error on a short line carries through every later measurement.
Figure 10: Draw a line along a distance you already know- Now, with the line selected, access the SimpleDim tab of the Ribbon, and click the Set Scale from Line button, highlighted in red within Figure 11, below.
Figure 11: Set Scale from Line- Doing so brings up the Set Scale from Line dialog box, shown in Figure 12, below. Notice that the line length in PowerPoint is set at 1.16 inches, highlighted in red. Now, assuming you know that this section is 54 feet, set these values, shown highlighted in blue within Figure 12.
Figure 12: Set Scale from Line dialog box- You will then see the Scale Set confirmation message window, as shown in Figure 13, below. Click the OK button.
Figure 13: Scale set for line- You can now measure what you need, such as the area of a block or the length of an aisle. Draw a line or a shape, such as a rectangle, over the object in your pin-underlaid CAD drawing, as shown in Figure 14, below. For accuracy, set the shape to no outline and a transparent fill, so it aligns cleanly with the object beneath it.
Figure 14: Draw a shape to overlay an object- Now with your overlay shape selected, click on the following options as needed:
- Click on the Find Area button, highlighted in red in Figure 14, above. SimpleDim will now place a text box over your selected overlay shape providing the area, as shown in Figure 15, below.
Figure 15: Area of the selected shape- Click on the Find Perimeter button, highlighted in blue in Figure 14. SimpleDim will now place a text box over your selected overlay shape providing the perimeter, as shown in Figure 16, below.
Figure 16: Perimeter of the selected shape- Click on the Set Dimensions button, highlighted in green in Figure 14. SimpleDim will bring up the Set Dimensions dialog box that provides the info you need. You can also edit the dimensions to resize the shape if needed, as shown in Figure 17, below.
Figure 17: View and set dimensions of the selected shape
Too Many Cooks, One Scale
Big CAD layouts rarely belong to one person. An operations manager sketches the warehouse, a consultant tweaks the racking, an engineer checks the dock doors, and the client asks for “just one more option” before lunch. Everyone needs to work on the same drawing. And everyone needs to agree on what one inch on the slide actually means.
That is where things go wrong. If one person thinks a slide is 1:50 and another assumes 1:100, the layout looks fine, and the numbers are all wrong. It is like two cooks sharing a recipe, where one measures in cups and the other in liters.
SimpleDim handles this with tags. Think of the luggage tag on a suitcase. It stays on the bag no matter which plane, truck, or conveyor belt the bag rides. SimpleDim attaches the scale to each slide in the same way. Share the presentation over Teams or any cloud storage, and the tag travels with the slide.
So, when two people both have SimpleDim, they open the file and see the same scale on every slide. They can swap changes back and forth over Teams or cloud storage without retyping a single number. Nobody has to ask, “Wait, what scale are we on?”
What if a colleague does not have SimpleDim? They can still open the presentation and edit it like any other PowerPoint file. They just cannot draw to scale with the add-in’s tools. It is like being allowed into the kitchen but not handed the measuring cups.
More CAD Options
A few commands within the Tools group bring SimpleDim closer to real CAD functionality, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 18, below.
Figure 18: More CAD options
These are marked in Figure 18, above, and explained below:
A. Array
Think of the Array tool as a cookie cutter with perfect manners. Instead of cutting one cookie, then nudging the cutter over and hoping you’ve left the same gap each time, you tell SimpleDim how many copies you want and how far apart they should sit, as you can see in Figure 19, below.
Figure 19: Create array using SimpleDim
SimpleDim achieves this task in one go, rows and columns lined up like soldiers on parade. That makes it ideal for racking, column lines, or anything else that repeats across a layout. Drawing 40 identical rack blocks by hand is a good way to lose an afternoon and your patience. With Array, it takes a few seconds.
You can also opt to group all shapes created in this new array, if you select the suitably named Group Shapes option, highlighted in red within Figure 19, above.
B. Offset
Offset is a CAD staple, and AutoCAD has long had an Offset command of its own. SimpleDim brings the same idea into the PowerPoint you already know how to use. Think of Offset as a very obedient shadow. You tell it, “Stand exactly 5 meters to the left of me,” and it does, with no wobbling, no squinting, and no “that looks about right.” Figure 20, below, shows options in the Offset dialog box, where you can set X and Y offsets. Note that you can also set negative offsets, and you can check the Delete original shape(s) option, highlighted in red within Figure 20, if you want the offset shape to replace the original shape.
Figure 20: Offset shapes using SimpleDim
Without the Offset option, you would drag a copy of a shape across the slide and nudge it until it looked close enough. That is like hanging a picture frame by eye and stepping back three times to check. Of course, you can use PowerPoint’s size and position options, but those would only work with centimeters or inches. SimpleDim’s Offset is the tape measure and the spirit level in one. Type the distance, and the copy lands exactly where it should. It is handy for aisle widths, setbacks, clearances, or any gap that has to be right. When a gap needs to be exact, guessing is expensive.
C. Mirror
Think of Mirror as the paper heart trick from school. You fold a sheet, unfold it, and both sides match perfectly. Mirror does the same for your shapes. You draw a line with two clicks, as shown in Figure 21, below.
Figure 21: Mirror objects in any direction
Based on your line, SimpleDim creates a reflected copy on the other side, as shown in Figure 22, below. The fold can run in any direction: up and down, side to side, or at an angle.
Figure 22: Reflected copy
So, if you have designed one half of a warehouse, you do not need to redraw the other half. Mirror it, and the dock doors, racking blocks, and aisles all land on the opposite or any other side, perfectly matched. Mirror works with individual, multiple, and grouped objects.
D. Count
Think of Count as the teacher who counts heads on a school trip. Nobody wants to point at each child and mumble numbers, and nobody trusts a “looks about right” when a bus is about to leave. Count does the headcount for you, and it gets the number right every time. Select one or any number of objects on the slide, then click Count. You can also use the Ctrl + A keyboard shortcut to select all objects on your slide. SimpleDim finds every matching object and reports the total, as shown in Figure 23, below.
Figure 23: Count in SimpleDim
Notice the Copy button highlighted in red within Figure 23, above. Clicking on this button copies a tab-delimited list of all slide objects to the clipboard.
E. Name Block
Every shape in PowerPoint has a unique name, and these names can be as mundane as Rectangle 3 or similar, which makes no sense in a CAD environment. So, this Name Block option lets you rename shapes and slide objects to something more sensible, such as Storage Area. To use this option, first select a single slide object. This option does not work if you have multiple slide objects or even a group selected. Next, click on the Name Block button. You will see the Name Block dialog box, shown in Figure 24, below.
Figure 24: Name Block dialog box
You can now overwrite the name with something more descriptive. Do note that renaming slide objects using the Name Block option is almost the same as renaming slide objects in PowerPoint’s Selection Pane.
More Thoughts
SimpleDim makes the most sense when you see it in a real project. Paul described one. A client supplied a PDF floor plan, which his team pinned to the slide background. On top of it, they built several racking layout options, complete with area calculations and shape counts. The client reviewed each configuration and picked one, without a formal CAD drawing at that stage.
The format helped. The work lived in PowerPoint, so Paul could share it live over Teams or Zoom and settle questions on the call. There was no waiting for file exports or engineer revisions.
The tool has a clear boundary. It cannot bring native AutoCAD geometry into PowerPoint as editable shapes. For now, you export the drawing as an image, a screen capture, or a PDF, then place it on the slide as a reference to trace or annotate.
Paul’s own evolution points to the same practical mindset. SimpleDim grew out of what he needed for his consulting work in warehouse and distribution program management, the field covered by his firm, PL Programs, and by his book Practical Floor Supervision, used in Auburn University’s supply chain curriculum.
The Bottom Line
Think of AutoCAD as a professional kitchen: huge, powerful, and built for trained chefs. SimpleDim is the well-organized kitchen drawer at home. It will not cater a banquet for 500, and it does not try to. It does help you whip up something accurate, shareable, and presentable without enrolling in culinary school. If you work in operations, consult for a living, or have never touched CAD, that is exactly what you need. It also happens inside the one application almost everyone already has open.
Here is the neat part. SimpleDim does not care whether the thing on your slide is a CAD drawing or just a plain old PowerPoint shape. A rectangle you drew five minutes ago gets the same treatment. Its CAD-style tools, Array, Offset, and Mirror, work on regular slide objects too. Copy a shape 40 times in a perfect row, place a copy exactly 5 meters away, or flip a design across a line. These are tricks PowerPoint never learned on its own.
So, SimpleDim hits two birds with one stone. You get CAD-style precision for imported drawings, and you get power tools for everyday slide editing. It is a Swiss Army knife for your slides: small, handy, and always in your pocket.