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Getting started with IDA ICE

Last modified by Sven Moosberger on 2026/08/26 10:24

About this Getting started guide

IDA Indoor Climate and Energy (IDA ICE) is a dynamic multi-zone simulation application for accurate study of indoor climate of individual zones as well as the energy consumption of an entire building.

The user interface has been designed to make it easy to build and simulate typical cases, but also offers the advanced user the full flexibility of IDA. To provide both efficiency and flexibility, IDA ICE works with three user levels: Wizard, Standard and Advanced. This manual shows how to start working in the standard level.

IDA ICE is delivered in two editions: Standard and Expert. The screen shots shown are from the Expert edition of the program. Please note that unless specifically mentioned, all steps can be undertaken with the standard edition.

The introduction gives a brief overview of the user interface. It roughly explains what can be done where, but does not go into details. You should not worry about this and try to make it to the end of the introduction. The actual learning example starts in Chapter 1. From that point, take care in always trying to understand what you are doing.

Basically, the screenshots will show you how to act, while the text explains what you are doing and provides useful hints.

Caption for symbols in screenshots

1744017639186-550.png Numbers with reference from screenshot to text

👉 1744017655282-503.png Hints about possible actions, not belonging to the learning example. These can safely be omitted without losing the thread.

GettingStarted_a0ca1e76.png Indication of a screen segment

GettingStarted_35d1a9d6.png Single left mouse click

GettingStarted_26dc4e27.png Single right mouse click

GettingStarted_729f8e70.png Double left mouse click

GettingStarted_3974efb4.png Drag and drop

GettingStarted_36449e24.png Drag and drop with pressed Ctrl-key

Help texts

Make sure you take a look at the online help texts as well. These are easiest reached by pressing F1, when you have the dubious window active. Alternatively choose Help -> Help topic to find help texts, or use the GettingStarted_fe48b6cc.png cursor (in the toolbar) and point at the element in question on the screen.

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