Start the sketch at a definite end
Choose one end of the fence as the Plan origin and draw the path in the order you will enter it. Mark each straight stretch, Gate and right-angle Corner. Write the dimensions on the sketch with their reference surfaces. A Run is measured outside face to outside face of its terminal Posts. A Gate width describes its leaf. The clear opening between Gate Posts is the leaf width plus the two hardware allowances. Keeping those labels separate prevents the same opening from being counted twice.
Open the worked Gate-and-Corner Plan. It starts with a 40-foot Run, then a four-foot Gate, a right turn and a 24-foot Run. Those Run lengths total 64 feet, but the Gate is additional. Inspect the displayed drawing before editing. Its Bay labels match the result table, and its Post numbers match the position table. If the Gate appears on the wrong side of the turn, reorder the Segments rather than adjusting unrelated lengths to compensate.
Measure the leaf and its required clearances
The example Gate leaf is 48 inches wide. The Hinge Gap and Latch Gap both default to 3/8 inch, so the modeled clear opening is 48¾ inches. This is an example of how the arithmetic works, not a specification for your hardware. Read the selected hinge and latch instructions and enter their required allowances. If the leaf is custom built, establish which finished surfaces the width describes. A trim piece or cap added after measurement can consume clearance that the original number did not include.
Measure the opening at the relevant installed heights and check the Posts for alignment. A single rectangular opening cannot represent a tapered pair of supports or a leaf that changes width with added hardware. The planner does not test the Gate swing, ground clearance, sag, wind loading or latch engagement. Record those checks separately in your construction plan. The numeric opening reserves horizontal space in the fence line and prevents pickets from being placed inside it; it does not establish that the Gate assembly will operate correctly.
Understand which Posts are shared
The end Post of a Run immediately followed by a Gate is also the Gate’s first Post. The Gate adds its far Post. If another Run follows, that Run begins at the same far Post. You do not need to add a second support at each shared boundary just to make the Segment list connect. The Post roles identify Gate Posts and Corner Posts, including the case where one support serves both purposes. Verify those roles against the physical sketch before using the purchase count.
For the default Plan, the 40-foot Run uses six Posts to form five Bays. The Gate reuses the sixth Post and adds a seventh. The following Corner rotates around that seventh Post, so it adds no new support. The 24-foot Run begins there and adds three more Posts to form three Bays. The complete count is ten. Simply adding six, two and four would produce twelve because it would count two shared boundaries twice. The ordered Plan makes those connections explicit.
Check the two measurement systems
Post centers are useful for setting out, while Overall Length is easier to describe with outside faces. For a Run with 3.5-inch Posts, its first center is 1.75 inches from its starting outside face. Its last center is the Run length minus 1.75 inches. The local Run table uses that convention independently for each Run. The global Post table instead follows the fence centerline path from the first outside face, continuing through the Gate and around the Corner.
Do not add outside-to-outside Run lengths and expect the result to equal a global centerline coordinate. Shared Posts appear in the measurement envelopes of neighboring Runs, and a Corner changes direction around a center. Use the local Run centers to verify a Run’s own measurement. Use the Plan distance and drawing to identify its place in the entire path. If the two tables seem inconsistent, first check which origin each uses. The formula reference records the boundary conventions in one place.
Place interior Posts before laying out pickets
The maximum Bay input limits the clear opening, not the outside-to-outside Run or a structural rating. The default eight-foot value means 96 inches. The 40-foot example first chooses five Bays and then deducts all six Post widths, leaving five openings of 91.8 inches. The 24-foot Run chooses three Bays and deducts four Post widths, leaving three openings of 91⅓ inches. Those actual openings are below the maximum and slightly different from one another across the two Runs.
A structural design or product system may require a different support interval. Obtain that requirement independently and enter a suitable value. This planner does not choose Post dimensions, Rail sizes, footing depth or connections for the loads at your site. The tool’s role is to distribute the supplied dimensions into a consistent layout. If a product uses a specified center-to-center interval, translate that requirement carefully into the field’s clear-opening convention instead of assuming that “eight-foot spacing” always means the same surfaces.
Fit the pickets within the completed Bays
Once Posts and the Gate opening are established, each Bay receives its own Member calculation. With 3.5-inch pickets and a 2.5-inch target, the default eight Bays each select 15 pickets. The exact gaps differ slightly between the two Runs because their Clear Lengths differ. The total is 120 installed pickets, excluding the Gate leaf. Changing the Gate width changes Post positions in the path but does not insert pickets into the opening. Changing a neighboring Run length can change its Bay count and picket count.
Use Equal mode when you want the same opening beside the Posts as between the pickets in each Bay. Fixed mode holds interior gaps at the target and centers the remaining space at both ends. Inspect that difference before cutting spacers. A layout that is symmetric at its ends is not necessarily one with identical gaps everywhere. Keep a note of the chosen mode in your saved link so a second person can reproduce the same marks instead of relying on a count alone.
Mark, print and remeasure after adjustments
Before permanent installation, identify the origin Post, each Gate Post and the shared Corner on the site sketch. Use the local Run table to check its terminal center positions and the numbered plan drawing to avoid swapping supports. Once the actual Posts are established, remeasure the Bay openings. A small change to a support can change the clear length available to the pickets. Update those dimensions before printing or transferring the final pattern rather than forcing an old strip into a new opening.
Print one Bay’s marking strip at 100% on the selected paper size. Measure the six-inch calibration line, join matching sheet ends without overlap, and compare the final boundary with the physical opening. Transfer left-edge or center marks consistently from the Bay’s inside face. Save the final URL with Copy plan link and keep the hardware allowances alongside it. The materials list covers the modeled fence Members, Rails and Posts; maintain a separate list for the Gate leaf, hinges, latch and special connections so those items are not lost in an otherwise complete-looking takeoff.