How to Export a Crate Pro Cut List to Cutlistor (Excel & PDF)

Crate Pro is design and costing software built for the custom crating industry. It turns content dimensions into production-ready crate designs, material lists, labor estimates, and selling prices. What it does not do is nest every plywood panel and stick of lumber onto real stock for maximum yield.

That gap is intentional. Crate Pro’s own support docs explain that panel splicing rules are about company policy and structural consistency, not panel yield optimization. Saw capacity, grain direction, kerf, multi-design batches, and cutting-line constraints vary too much for one nesting engine inside the design app. The recommended path is to export the Pieces report as a flat file, then import it into a dedicated optimizer.

Cutlistor is listed on the Crate Pro support knowledge base as a web-based option for that next step. You can import the unmodified Pieces CSV or Excel export, split plywood from framing lumber automatically, nest both sheet and linear stock, and hand the floor a labeled PDF cut plan—without retyping every Long and Wide dimension.

Keep the two jobs separate. Crate Pro owns style templates, ISPM 15 tracking, fasteners, labor times, quotes, and cut sheets that describe what each crate needs. Cutlistor owns kerf-aware nesting: how those pieces fit on 4×8 sheets and 8 ft or 12 ft lumber so you buy the right stock and waste less.

Crate Pro support is explicit: Preferences settings such as “OK to Rotate Panelboard” reduce saw stops when splicing; they are not yield optimization. When you need true nesting, export Details → Pieces to CSV or another flat file and open it in optimizing software.

Crate Pro 6 exposes several ways to get piece data out of a design. For Cutlistor, the Pieces report is the one that matters.

• Details → Pieces: the full piece table for a design—plywood, lumber, and fasteners in one list. Export this to a flat file (CSV, Excel/XLSX, TAB, and related formats) for import into an optimizer.
• Print / Email: preview and print cut lists and manager reports as shop documents (including PDF-style print workflows). Use these for assembly and quoting; use the Pieces flat file for nesting.
• Design, Projects, and Reports modules: default exports for materials and related reports. Active maintenance is typically required to download flat-file reports.
• Custom ERP exports: fee-based flat files (CSV, TAB, XLSX, HTML, DBF, MER, XML) when a standard Pieces export is not enough.

A typical Pieces export is one CSV or Excel table. Columns include ItemID (material), Category (Plywood, Lumber, Fastener), Component (part name), Long and Wide (cut size), Thick, Qty (per crate), QtyTot (run total), QtyDes (design quantity), and flags such as OmitFromCutSheet. That is exactly the shape Cutlistor’s importer expects—no column rename required for a standard Crate Pro export.

Work from a finished design (or project) so splices, materials, and quantities are already calculated.

• Open the Design module and select the crate design you want to cut.
• Go to Details → Pieces to review the full piece list (panels, framing, fasteners).
• Export the Pieces report to a flat file. Prefer CSV or Excel (XLSX) for Cutlistor.
• Confirm Preferences used for the design if you rely on rotate-panelboard or minimum panel piece size—those affect piece sizes before export, not nesting after import.
• For multi-crate runs, note QtyDes and QtyTot: Cutlistor uses the run total so ten identical crates do not under-order material.
• Optional: use Print / Email if you also want Crate Pro’s native cut-list PDF or printed reports for the office; that is separate from the optimizer file.

Save the file somewhere easy to find. You will upload the same file into Cutlistor—no need to delete fastener rows or split plywood from lumber by hand.

Open Cutlistor in the browser and import the Crate Pro file. Use the sheet optimizer when you care about plywood panels, the linear optimizer for framing and skids, or a combined project when you want both from one Pieces export.

• Sheet import: keeps Category = Plywood (and similar panel labels), reads Long × Wide, uses QtyTot, maps ItemID to material, and ignores lumber and fastener rows.
• Linear import: keeps Category = Lumber (and similar), reads Long as cut length, maps ItemID to stock (2×4, 4×4, …), and ignores plywood and fasteners.
• OmitFromCutSheet = 1 (or yes/true): row is skipped so staples and other non-cut items never break the import.
• Imperial designs export inches; set Cutlistor to inches (or let the importer convert) so 42 × 40 × 1/2 CDX lands as the correct panel size.

Example: a light-duty run of ten crates may list TOP Panelboard with Qty 1 and QtyTot 10. Cutlistor nests ten tops, not one. Framing rows such as TOP F-A Framing with Qty 2 and QtyTot 20 become twenty sticks of the listed ItemID length.

After import, set stock to what you actually buy—common 48×96 in (or 2440×1220 mm) plywood, and the lumber lengths in your yard. Enter blade kerf so nested layouts match the saw. Enable grain constraints when standards require grain direction to match across panels.

• Group by material (ItemID) so 1/2 CDX and 3/4 CDX nest on separate sheet stacks.
• Run the sheet optimizer for all panelboard pieces from the Pieces file.
• Run the linear optimizer for framing, cleats, and skids.
• Compare layout methods if your saw prefers guillotine-style cuts versus freer nesting.
• Review sheet count, stick count, and waste before you buy or cut.

If you are new to nesting settings, walk through how to use a cut list optimizer, then read kerf and sheet-vs-linear guides for crate shops that cut both panels and sticks on every job.

When the nest looks right, export from Cutlistor for the floor and the office.

• PDF cut plans: labeled sheet diagrams and part tables the sawyer can follow. Use these beside (or instead of) retyping layouts from Crate Pro’s Print/Email cut sheets.
• CSV / Excel: optimized piece lists and summaries for purchasing, ERP handoff, or your own cost spreadsheet.
• DXF (on supported plans): for CNC or CAM when panels are cut on a router rather than a panel saw.

Typical shop loop: design and price in Crate Pro → export Pieces CSV/XLSX → import and nest in Cutlistor → print PDF layouts → cut → assemble from Crate Pro’s assembly and fastener data. Quoting stays in Crate Pro; yield and buy lists get sharper in Cutlistor.

• Export after materials and rules are final. Swapping 1/4 CDX for 1/2 CDX in Crate Pro changes joining pieces—re-run rules, then re-export Pieces.
• Batch same-size crates in one design quantity so QtyTot reflects the full saw run.
• When combining multiple designs, export each Pieces file (or a project-level pieces export when your Crate Pro build supports it) and merge in Cutlistor or your spreadsheet before nesting.
• Keep Crate Pro Preferences for min panel piece size and rotate-panelboard aligned with shop policy; Cutlistor will nest whatever finished sizes you export.
• Do not expect fasteners to nest—Cutlistor drops Fastener category rows on purpose.
• Use Cutlistor material groups so CDX thicknesses and lumber sizes purchase and cut as separate batches.

Design and cost the crate in Crate Pro. Export the Pieces report as CSV or Excel. Import into Cutlistor, nest plywood and lumber with real kerf and stock sizes, then print PDF cut plans for the saw. You keep Crate Pro’s strengths—styles, quotes, fasteners, and ISPM 15—and add clear yield and shop layouts without retyping the cut list.

• Import unmodified Crate Pro Pieces CSV / XLSX
• Auto-split plywood vs lumber; skip fasteners
• Use run totals (QtyTot) for multi-crate jobs
• Optimize sheet and linear stock in the browser
• Export labeled PDF cut plans and Excel lists