Importing Data

When a job has 30 or more pieces, entering them one by one is slow and easy to get wrong. CutOptim supports two bulk import methods that let you bring a full cut list into the app in seconds — whether your data lives in Excel, Google Sheets, or a CSV file exported from a design program.

• Paste works for both the Stock table and the Parts table, in all three modes (2D panels, 1D linear, and wood).
• CSV file import is available on the Parts table (2D, 1D, and wood) — under the CSV ⌄ dropdown in each Parts section header.

Both methods are available on all plans, including Free.

Method 1: Paste from Excel or Google Sheets

This is the fastest path from a spreadsheet into CutOptim. There is no file to export — just copy, paste, and go.

1. 1

   Open your spreadsheet

   Open the Excel workbook, Google Sheet, or LibreOffice Calc file that contains your cut list or stock list.

2. 2

   Select the data range

   Select the cells containing your data, in the expected order (Name, Width, Length, Qty for 2D; Name, Length, Qty for 1D; Name, Qty, Width, Height, Length for wood). You can include the header row — it decides the column order in every mode, so your columns can be in any order. A title line above the header (the name of the job) is fine too. A row with a missing or unreadable dimension, or a quantity of 0, is skipped, and the message after the paste says how many rows were skipped.

3. 3

   Copy to clipboard

   Press **Ctrl+C** (or **Cmd+C** on Mac) to copy. The cells are now on your clipboard as tab-separated values. Text copied from a CSV file in Notepad or an e-mail (`Door;600;400;2`) pastes just as well — the semicolon or comma is recognised.

4. 4

   Paste into CutOptim

   In the **Stock** or **Parts** section for your mode, click the **Paste** button in the section header — or click the paste box under the header and press **Ctrl+V**. The paste box is a slim one-line row until you click it; then it opens to full size with the column hint, ready for Ctrl+V. The rows are read and added to the table.

5. 5

   Confirm the unit (wood Parts only)

   Pasting **wood into the Parts table** opens a short dialog with a preview asking which unit your numbers are in (mm, cm, or inch). Pick the source unit and confirm — the values are converted to your current working unit. Everything else — 2D, 1D, and **wood pasted into the Stock table** — is added straight away with no dialog; Stock wood is read in your current working unit, so set the unit before you paste.

How columns are read

Copy the header row with your data and CutOptim matches the columns by their titles, in every mode — in any order, with short titles such as w, h, l, Qty recognised as well as full words in every app language (Name/Név, Qty/Darab/Menge, Width/Sz/Breite, Height/M/Höhe, Length/Hossz/Länge …). Common alternatives are understood too — for the quantity Pieces, Count, Anzahl, Mennyiség, Spanish Cant.; for the price Cost, Kosten, Coût, Material price. In 2D, a list titled Name | Qty | w | l is read as width w, second side l, quantity Qty; in 1D, Qty | Length | Name is read as it says. A unit in a title — Width (mm), Länge [cm], Length (in) — is honoured, and the numbers under it are converted to your working unit.

Without a header row, columns are read by position, from left to right, in the order below. If a header is only partly recognised (for example a quantity column titled with a word CutOptim does not know), the rows are read by position and the message after the paste says so: check the table, and rename the column or reorder it if the numbers landed in the wrong place. If reading by position would contradict the header — the columns it did recognise are not where reading by position would look for them — nothing is imported, and the message names the unknown column: rename it (for example Name, Width, Length, Qty) or remove the header row, then import again.

In wood, the column hint the app shows in your language (for example Name | Qty | W | H | Length) works as a header row as it is, and a thickness column (Thickness, Dicke, Vastagság …) is recognised as a cross-section dimension.

If you leave out the Name column, start the row with the first dimension — CutOptim assigns an automatic label.

Pasting into the Stock table keeps your names in every mode, from the Paste button and the paste box alike.

In 2D, the template’s optional Rot. and Edge banding columns come through a paste too — with a header row wherever they are, without one right after the quantity. A 0 (or no) in Rot. gives that piece a grain along the sheet, so a grain-locked part stays grain-locked — its Grain icon shows the lines. Excel’s TRUE / FALSE is understood in the Rot. column in any language (FALSCH, HAMIS, FAUX …).

A Grain column sets the grain direction from the file. Write W (the grain runs along the Width) or L (along the Length) — words such as along Length or Breite work too — or none in any app language (nincs, keine, aucun …) for no grain. It works in the Parts table (CSV and paste) and in the Stock paste, where it sets the grain of each sheet row (none = a sheet without grain, such as MDF). The message after the import says how many rows got their grain direction from the file.

Cut lists exported from other tools

A list exported from another cut-list program (columns such as Length, Width, Qty, Material, Label, Enabled, Grain direction) is read by its titles like any other, and three of those columns do something:

• Enabled — a row marked FALSE / no / 0 is left out, and the message after the import says how many.
• Grain direction — a part with a grain direction is locked against rotation, but only when the column actually tells parts apart. If every row carries the same value (the exporting tool’s default), the column is ignored and rotation stays on — locking every part would only cost material — and the message says so. When the column holds both h and v (horizontal and vertical), the two are kept 90° apart: h parts keep the orientation they were entered in, v parts are turned 90° from it — the Grain icon of each row shows which. A Rot. column, when present, always wins.
• Material — in Material-specific mode a name that is already in your material inventory is assigned to the part. For names the inventory does not know, CutOptim asks once after the import whether to create them and assign the parts; with Material-specific mode off and two or more materials in the file, it asks whether to cut them separately by material (which switches the mode on). Say no and nothing changes. New materials take the size of your first stock row — the file does not say how big the sheets are — so check the stock size of each material before you run.

Method 2: Import a CSV File

If your cut list is exported as a CSV from a design program, CAD tool, or ERP system, you can import it directly into the Parts table. There is no upload — the file is read in your browser.

1. 1

   Prepare the CSV

   Save your parts as a `.csv` file (a tab-separated `.txt` from Excel's *Text (Tab delimited)* works too) with the columns in the order for your mode (see the reference below). An optional header row is fine — CutOptim uses it to match the columns, and skips a title line above it.

2. 2

   Click the CSV button

   In the **Parts** section for your mode (2D, 1D, or Wood), open the **CSV ⌄** dropdown in the section header and choose **Import CSV**. A file picker opens.

3. 3

   Choose your file

   Select the `.csv` file from your computer. It is read immediately — nothing is sent to a server — and the parts are added to the Parts table.

4. 4

   Confirm the unit (wood only)

   A **wood** CSV opens the same unit-confirmation dialog as paste: preview the rows, choose whether the numbers are in mm, cm, or inch, and confirm. 2D and 1D CSV rows are added directly.

CSV Format Reference

CSV import populates the Parts table. If your file has a header row, columns are matched by name (so you can include only the columns you need, in any order, and add optional ones); without a header they are read by position in the order below. Dimensions are in your current working unit (millimetres by default), except wood, where you choose the source unit on import.

2D Parts (panels)

Example: Side Panel,600,400,4,1

1D Parts (linear pieces)

Example: Rail,1200,6

Wood Parts (length × cross-section)

Example: Leg,4,50,50,700

With a header row, a Thickness column is recognised as a cross-section dimension, and the app’s own wood column hint in your language is accepted as the header.

Offcut inventory CSV

The Offcut Inventory has its own CSV ⌄ dropdown (see Offcut Inventory). A file without a header row is read by the number of values in each row: 4 values = name, width, height, quantity (a panel off-cut); 3 values = name, length, quantity (a bar off-cut).

Commas, semicolons or tabs — all three work

You do not have to convert your file. CutOptim looks at the first line that contains a separator and picks whichever of comma, semicolon or tab it finds most of, then uses that for the whole file. This matters if you are on a European Windows locale, where Excel’s “CSV” is usually semicolon-separated — save it and import it as is.

Quoted fields are handled properly, so a name containing the separator ("Shelf, long") survives the trip.

Numbers, units and file encoding

• Decimal comma or point, with or without thousands separators. 600,5, 600.5, 1 220,5, 1.220,5 and 1,220.5 are all read correctly. When a number carries both marks, the last one is the decimal mark. A lone 1.220 or 1,220 is ambiguous: it is read as a decimal unless other numbers in the same file prove which mark is the decimal one — and the message after the import names the value so you can check it.
• A unit written in the cell — 720 mm, 72 cm, 2.44 m, 28 3/8", 2' 3 5/8" — is converted to your working unit, whatever the app is set to. Inch fractions (23 5/8) work without the inch mark too, in the working unit. This is how a SketchUp OpenCutList parts list comes in: its Designation becomes the name and its raw cutting size (Length - raw, Width - raw) is used.
• A unit in the column title — Width (cm), Länge [mm] — applies to the plain numbers in that column.
• File encoding. Excel’s “CSV” on Windows is not UTF-8 but the Windows code page of your language (Windows-1250 for Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Romanian and Croatian, Windows-1252 for Western languages). CutOptim detects this, so Ajtó, Tür or Listwa ścienna arrive intact. UTF-8 (with or without BOM) and Excel’s Unicode text work as well.

The price columns and header rows

The two price columns are optional everywhere, but there is one thing to know:

A column named plainly Price maps to the cost column, not the selling price. For the selling price use a header containing sell or selling.

Preparing Your Spreadsheet

A few habits make imports go smoothly every time:

• A header row is optional. Both paste and CSV import recognise a header row and never import it as a part, so you can keep your column titles in either method.
• Column order or names. With a header row, CSV import and paste match columns by their titles, in any order, in every mode; without one, columns are read by position. Extra columns after the last needed one are ignored.
• Use whole numbers for quantity. Fractional quantities are not supported. Round up if a job calls for 2.5 sheets — enter 3. A quantity written as 2 db, 3x or ×4 is read as 2, 3 and 4; a quantity of 0 skips the row.
• Use one unit throughout. Mixing units in a column (some values in mm, some in cm) produces wrong results. Convert the sheet to one unit first (for wood, just tell CutOptim the unit on import).
• Labels can contain spaces and special characters. Left Side Panel – Oak is a valid label. In a CSV file, wrap a label in double quotes if it contains a comma.
• Empty rows are skipped. Blank lines between data groups do not cause errors. A title line above the header is skipped too.

After Importing

Imported rows appear in the Parts or Stock table exactly as if you had typed them. From here:

• Review each row before running. Check that dimensions look right and quantities match your job.
• Edit individual cells by clicking on them. If a value came in wrong, click the cell and correct it.
• Add or remove rows as normal — imported rows behave identically to manually entered ones.
• Run the optimization when you are satisfied. Click Run optimizer or press Ctrl+Enter.