Cut list software that generates the geometry too.
A spreadsheet records the numbers you worked out. It cannot tell you whether they are right, how the parts nest, or whether the piece will stand up.
Most woodworkers start with a spreadsheet, and for good reason: it is fast, free and completely under your control. The limitation is not the tool, it is that a spreadsheet holds no geometry. It records dimensions you derived somewhere else, and it cannot check them.
That gap is where mistakes live. A transcription slip, a thickness not accounted for, a part that will not nest on the sheet you bought — none of it is visible in a spreadsheet until you are at the saw.
A spreadsheet: a record
Rows and columns you maintain. No geometry, no validation, no relationship between a dimension changing and every other part that depends on it.
Plank CAD: a model that emits a cut list
The cut list is derived from real geometry that has passed a structural audit. Change a dimension and the parts, the nesting map and the material cost all follow.
Where the two differ.
| Dimension | spreadsheet cut lists | Plank CAD |
|---|---|---|
| Source of the numbers | You calculate them | Derived from generated geometry |
| Error checking | None | Structural audit, collision and containment checks before export |
| Changing a dimension | Update every affected row by hand | Re-validate; dependent parts follow |
| Sheet layout | Sketched on paper or guessed | FFD bin-packing with sheet count and offcuts |
| Units | Whatever you typed | Metric and imperial, normalised in millimetres |
| What you can hand to a machine | Nothing directly | DXF with cut, joinery and drill layers |
| Visual check | Imagination | Interactive 3D — assembled, exploded, X-ray |
When a spreadsheet is still fine
- The piece is simple enough that you can hold it in your head.
- You are working from a plan you already trust and only need to track stock.
- You want total manual control over every number, and the piece is one-off.
- You are costing materials rather than designing anything.
Keep the spreadsheet if you like it
Cut lists export as CSV, so the numbers land straight back in the spreadsheet you already use — with the difference that they came from a model that was checked before it produced them. Plank CAD does not replace a CAD environment for every task. It replaces the drafting phase — the hours between "I know what I want to build" and "I have cut lists and files".
Plank CAD and spreadsheet cut lists.
Nothing, for simple work. The limitation is that a spreadsheet holds no geometry — it records dimensions you derived somewhere else and cannot check them. Transcription slips, unaccounted thickness and parts that will not nest on your sheet stay invisible until you are at the saw.
Yes. Cut lists export as CSV, so the numbers land back in the spreadsheet you already use — the difference being that they came from a model that was structurally checked before producing them.
Both. Dimensions are normalised in millimetres internally and can be displayed and exported in either system.
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