ESX Exports Explained: How Xactimate® Translates Your magicplan Sketch

When exporting a magicplan sketch to an ESX file for use in Xactimate®, you may notice that some elements don’t appear as expected—walls may shift, objects may move, or rooms may not look the same. This article explains the most common differences between the two platforms, why they happen, and what you can do to reduce issues during the export process.

magicplan and Xactimate® Work Differently

Here’s the core reason behind most ESX-related issues:

magicplan builds floors using rooms as the foundation.
Xactimate® builds floors using walls as the foundation.

This fundamental difference in structure means that certain features and room configurations in magicplan may not translate perfectly to Xactimate®’s ESX format.

Common Issues When Exporting to ESX

Below are the most frequently reported problems and the technical reasons behind them.

1. Walls Appear Crooked in Xactimate® but Straight in magicplan

Even if a wall looks straight in magicplan, slight misalignments at connection points can cause it to appear crooked in Xactimate®. This is because Xactimate® reconstructs walls individually from coordinates, without using the same visual assumptions as magicplan.

💡 Tip: Double-check wall alignment in magicplan using grid or snap features. Even small errors in alignment can show up more noticeably in Xactimate®.

2. Wall Objects Like Vanities Are Pushed Away From the Wall

This typically occurs because magicplan allows objects to be inside a wall, which is not permitted in Xactimate®. For this reason, adjustments to the object are sometimes required during the translation from magicplan to Xactimate®.

💡 Tip: Make sure that objects are not intersecting with walls in the magicplan app before exporting your ESX file to avoid potential positioning issues.

3. Walls Are Broken Into Two Segments in Xactimate®

Although walls may look continuous in magicplan, Xactimate® often splits them into segments based on connection points or changes in angle. This is expected behavior based on Xactimate®'s wall-based modeling.

ℹ️ Note: This can sometimes appear behind mirrors or fixtures if adjoining walls connect at slightly different angles or positions, and is most common when three rooms connect with a T-shaped junction.

4. Rooms Overlap, Causing Unexpected Floor Plan Behavior

Overlapping rooms are supported in magicplan but not in Xactimate®. Overlaps cause open shapes or duplicate walls, resulting in:

Floating room labels
Full floor outlines instead of individual rooms
Merged or malformed spaces

✅ Upcoming Improvement: A warning will notify users when overlapping rooms are detected before exporting.

⚠️ Caution: Overlapping rooms can’t be exported reliably. Expect data loss or layout changes if overlaps are present.

5. Bathtubs or Fixtures Rotate on Upper Floors

In projects with more than one floor, some fixtures might appear turned the wrong way in Xactimate® because of how the app reads their position based on the first floor.

ℹ️ Note: This is a visual issue only. The geometry is exported correctly.

6. Reference Area or Labels Jump Position

This is another side effect of wall-based reconstruction. If walls are moved or combined in a different way, Xactimate® might place labels or reference points in the wrong spot. This effect is most notable when rooms overlap, as in section four above.

What You Can Do to Improve Export Results

Avoid overlapping rooms in your magicplan sketch whenever possible.
Use full-height walls to maintain predictable object placement.
Align walls carefully to avoid small misalignments that Xactimate® may magnify.
Check multi-floor symbols to ensure they’re correctly placed on each level.
Preview the project in magicplan’s 3D view to catch potential layout issues before exporting.

Exporting to ESX: What to Expect

Feature	magicplan	Xactimate®
Floor Foundation	Rooms	Walls
Wall Continuity	Visual/connected	Segmented
Overlapping Rooms	Allowed	Not supported
Object Positioning	Wall-based	Coordinate-based
Multi-floor Consistency	Aligned	May vary by floor

What We're Working On

magicplan’s development team continuously improves ESX exports with:

Automatic warnings for overlapping rooms
Better symbol rotation on multi-floor exports

Have an idea that would improve your experience? Feel free to submit a Feature Request for the ESX export feature here. If you have further technical questions about ESX File exports, please reach out to Support.