Configuration

Setting the units

Navigate to the Projects screen and tap on the Gear button

Tap on the unit style and select the type of unit to match your needs

Setting the blade/kerf width

Navigate to the Projects screen and tap on the Gear button

Tap on the Saw Blade Width edit box. You can override this value on a project by project basis via the Cut List Option screen

Note

Blade width must be less than 1/2 an inch or 12mm

Project Management

Creating a project

Tap on the Add Project button

Enter the project name and optionally the project's description.

Note

The project name must be unique

Copying/duplicating a project

Tap on the ellipse(three dots) button next to the project you want to copy and select Duplicate

Renaming a project

Tap on the ellipse(three dots) button next to the project you want to rename

Tap on the Edit button.

Enter the name and/or description for the project.

Note

The project name must be unique

Delete a project

Tap on the more (three dots) button next to the project you want to delete and select Delete

Project Folders

Delete/Rename a Folder

Select your project, tap on the more (three dots) button, and select Rename or Delete.

Move a Project to a Different Folder

Tap on the more (three dots) button to the right of the project name and select "Move to Folder"

Importing from Excel

Importing

Tap the Import button

Select the Excel file to import

Prerequisites

The Excel file must be in a specific format to be imported. The column names and order must be as shown below. If it's not, you'll get an error message

Offcuts can create this file for you by opening an existing project and click on the "Export to Excel" button.

The values for length, width and height must match the settings. If the settings of Offcuts are for decimal inches, the values inside the Excel file must also be in decimal inches.

Validation

The validation dialog allows you to correct any issues that need to be fixed before the file can be imported into Offcuts.

To find any problems, look for a warning icon in the left-most column.

Required:

Description is required
Group can be blank
The material type must contain material that's contained in the inventory database
Quantity must be greater than zero
Length, width and Thickness must be valid numbers, and format must match Offcut's current settings. Don't include units like cm, mm or " with the value

The validation dialog only performs a preliminary validation on the file, in short, making sure the values are valid. Once imported, the parts screen will indicate if any part doesn't fit within the selected material.

Editing

To modify the imported data or to fix errors, just tap on a row in the grid. Once tapped, an editor will be displayed, allowing you to change any value. When you're done, just tap on the Apply button.

Note, when you press Apply, the editor doesn't disappear; it will just update the grid - if there are no errors. To modify another part, just tap on another row.

To import the file into Offcuts, tap on the Create button.

Export to Excel

Exporting a Project File

Tap on the ellipse(three dots) button next to the project you want to export and select Export to Excel.

What are Assembly Groups

When you have a project comprised of several parts, just the part's name may not give you a good indication of where or how the piece is used. For example, assume we have a bookcase that contains 76 parts. Which parts are for the frame? Which are for the drawers? How about the doors? This is where Assembly Groups help.

Assembly Groups allow you to organize your parts into groups, making it easier for you to visualize your project. Using the example above, we can create an assembly group for Frame, one for Drawers and a final one for Doors. When parts are added or modified, we can assign each piece to a group. Of the 76 parts used in the project, the Frame group would have 34 parts, Drawers having 18 parts, and Doors have 24 parts.

Assembly Groups are not only useful for the parts list. When you look at each of the cut lists, assembly groups will color-code each part, making it a breeze to see where the parts are used.

Create

Tap on the Groups button

To add a new group:

Tap the Add New Group button
Enter the group name
Tap on the checkmark button

Assign a part to a group

To change an existing part to use the new group, either double tap on the part or swipe and select Edit

Select the new group and tap on save.

The modified parts are displayed within the new group. If there are no parts in a group, the group name will not be displayed

Hide Groups

Tap on the arrow button

The contents of the group are now hidden. Tap on the arrow again to show the items

Project Parts

The Part screen is where you enter all the parts for your project.

Add a part

Tap and the Add button

Enter details for the part and press Add. Once the part is saved, Offcuts will clear the commonly unique fields (description, length and width), allowing you to enter another part. When you're done, tap on the Close button.

Edit a part

To change an existing part, either double tap on the part or swipe right and select Edit

Bulk Edit/Delete

Long tap on a part (tap and hold)

You'll know you are in bulk edit/delete mode with the screen's title bar is gray with two buttons.

To exit bulk mode, just tap on the arrow on the top left side of the screen or the Close button on the top right.

Single tap on each part to you want to edit/delete. Multiple parts can be selected at once.

To delete selected parts, just tap on the the Delete button

When you edit multiple parts, the description cannot be changed as this must remain unique. If the selected parts share the same values, the dialogue will show the shared values. If the values are different, the edit controls will be blank. In this example, Length and Width aren't shown as the values are different for each part.

In this example, we want the selected parts to use plywood that's .75 inches thick and to ignore the grain pattern.

The three parts now reflect the changes we've made. A faster way of editing/delete of multiple parts.

Duplicating parts

Swipe right on the part you want to copy and select Duplicate

Copy of the part is created

Deleting parts

Swipe right on the part you want to delete and select Delete

Sorting Columns

Tap on the column heading to sort. Tap multiple times for ascending, descending or natural order

Renumber Parts

In the following example, the parts aren't in sequential order.

Tap on the reorder button

Parts are now ordered sequentially based on the assembly group

What is Ignore Grain?

Not all parts in your project need to follow the grain pattern. By Selecting Ignore Grain, you allow Offcuts to try and rotate the part when it generates a cutting list. The result may produce a more optimized layout, minimize waste.

What is the warning icon and why are the length and width red?

You can get the warning icon and red text when Offcuts can't find any material in the inventory large enough to cut from.

Check the inventory tab, make sure the material still exists, and add a large enough size to cut the parts from.

Inventory

Inventory is where you define the supplies for each of your projects. The Inventory is broken down into three major categories:

Sheet Goods. This is rectangular material. For a woodworker, this would be plywood. However, you're not limited to just one type of material. You can create other materials such as Glass, Metal or fabric.
Lumber. Offcuts works with dimensioned lumber, not rough-cut nor parts that are to be resawn from each piece.
Other Items. A project isn't just made up of material that you mill out. You may need to consider and price items like Hinges, Glue or labour. These items fall into the other category.

You can add and remove items inventory at your leisure. If the material you need isn't in stock, add it.

Not all of us have an unlimited amount of material at our disposal. For each item in the list, you can define how much of that material you have available. Offcuts will do its best to make use of all available items in stock.

Inventory items are shared between all projects. If you delete an item from inventory used by another project, you may cause the other projects to have a part that can't be placed when creating a cut list.

Adding

When you install Offcuts, a small number of raw materials is included in the inventory. Depending on your project, the material or sizes of these stock items may not exist.

It's easy to add new items to the inventory. Just follow the following steps. Remember, all items in the inventory are shared amongst all projects.

Tap on the Add button.

If the material you want isn't listed, tap on 'Add new material' and type in the material name

Fill in size and quantity. Price and Vendor are optional though pricing information will help you understand the project's total cost.

The new stock item is now in inventory and can usable by all projects.

Edit inventory

Swipe right and select Edit or double-tap on the item you want to edit

All projects share offcuts inventory. When you modify the inventory, it affects all projects. If Offcuts determines that the stock item you're adjusting is in use, it will not allow all attributes to be changed. In this example, the 'Material Type' and 'Thickness' can't be changed.

Delete

Swipe left on the item you want to delete and tap on the delete button

Duplicate

Swipe right and select Duplicate to make a copy of the selected material. Once selected, a dialog will appear, allowing you to enter new size information.

Sorting columns

Tap on the column heading to sort. Tap multiple times for ascending, descending or natural order

Amount of material available

Most of us don't have an unlimited amount of wood to cut from. You may have only one 4x8 sheet of plywood but multiple 4x4 sheets. In Offcuts, you can tell it how much material you have, and Offcuts will work through your inventory making the best use of the inventory levels you have.

In the following example for 1/4 inch Baltic Birch plywood, we don't have any 4'x8' sheets in inventory and only one 4'x4' and ten 4'x2' sheets. When Offcuts calculates the cut list, it will ignore the 4'x8' sheet and only use one 4'x4' before moving on to the 4'x2' sheets. If Offcuts runs out of materials to cut from, a warning message is displayed on the cut list screen.

It's important to note, Offcuts DOES NOT maintain inventory levels for you. This is a manual process left up to you to manage.

To adjust inventory levels, double-tap on the selected stock item, adjust Quantity, and press save

Generating Cut lists

Warning Icon

The warning icon will be displayed when Offcuts cannot generate a cut list for all your parts.

To see what parts were not able to be placed, tap on the Warning icon.

The list will display all the parts and the reasons. In this example, there were two problems. I ran out of material, and a piece is too large for the material I have available.

This list is scrollable, so swipe up and down to see more items - if applicable.

The Inventory screen will show that I don't have enough material available for my project. Once I increase the quantity, the error will go away.

The Parts screen will show that I made an error when entering the width of the part. Instead of 58 inches wide, it should have been 38 inches. Once fixed, the error will go away as it will fit the material I have available.