Excel cut list optimizer: keep the spreadsheet, get the layout

Four files, all free. Take the one that matches your material, keep the header row, and replace the example lines with your own parts. The XLSX and CSV versions of each contain identical rows, so pick whichever your workflow prefers.

These are the exact files the importer is built around, so if an import ever behaves oddly, start from one of these and the column mapping is guaranteed to be right.

The template is really a column contract between your spreadsheet and the optimizer. One row per part type with a quantity - not one row per physical piece, unless your shop prefers it that way.

You usually do not need to rename anything in your own workbook. Column matching recognises common variations such as “Width (mm)”, “Quantity” or “Part name”.

1. Download the template that matches your material. Sheet template for panels you cut in two dimensions (plywood, MDF, melamine). Linear template for parts cut to length from bar, stick, pipe or trim. Both come as CSV and XLSX.
2. Replace the example rows with your parts. Keep the header row and overwrite the sample lines. One row per part type with a quantity, not one row per physical piece. Keep units consistent within a file.
3. Import it into the optimizer. Open the free sheet or linear optimizer and import the file. Column matching handles common heading variations, so 'Width (mm)' or 'Quantity' are recognised without renaming anything.
4. Set your stock size and kerf, then read the layout. Enter the sheet or stock length you actually buy and your blade kerf. The layout redraws as you change values, so there is no Calculate button to press.
5. Export the cut plan, and the numbers back to your spreadsheet. Export a kerf-aware PDF for the shop floor, DXF if a CNC is in the loop, and CSV or XLSX to put sheet counts and offcuts back into your costing spreadsheet.

Do not mix the two in one file. Panel rectangles go through the sheet optimizer; parts cut to length go through the linear one. Cabinet jobs often need both - melamine carcass sides on sheets, 2×4 cleats on sticks - so run two imports rather than one messy file.

• Sheet template for anything with a length and a width: plywood, MDF, melamine, laminated panels, plate. Handles kerf, grain direction, edge banding and laminate faces.
• Linear template for anything cut to length only: lumber, trim, moulding, pipe, tube, bar, angle. Handles kerf, mitered ends and cross-sections, so a 45-degree return costs the stock it actually consumes.

Cabinet work is where spreadsheets get stretched furthest, because carcass sizing follows rules - fixed increments, standard depths, consistent reveals - that a spreadsheet expresses well and an optimizer does not try to. Keep that logic where it is.

Let the spreadsheet compute finished part sizes from your cabinet rules, then export those parts and import them. The optimizer answers the question the spreadsheet cannot: given these parts, this sheet size and this blade, how many sheets do you actually buy, and in what layout. If a carcass width changes, edit the rule in Excel, re-import, and the layout redraws.

Material codes are what make this work at scale. Give every part that should nest on the same SKU the same code - the 18 mm birch parts share one, the painted MDF fronts share another - and the optimizer keeps stock separate exactly where you buy it separately.

Worth being precise about the division of labour, because “use software instead of a spreadsheet” is bad advice. Excel keeps winning at quantities, costing, supplier exports and revision history. The optimizer covers the geometry:

• Nesting parts onto sheets and lengths - bin packing, which needs a solver rather than a formula.
• Removing kerf from every cut automatically, instead of a formula you maintain by hand.
• Re-solving instantly when one dimension changes, rather than silently invalidating a layout.
• Tracking usable offcuts between jobs as real stock with real value.
• Producing a cut diagram someone can follow at the saw, and DXF if a CNC needs the geometry.

If you want the fuller argument, including where Excel genuinely beats every optimizer, read cut list optimizer vs Excel.

The round trip matters. Cut lists and layout tables export to CSV and XLSX, so sheet counts, per-part sheet assignments and remaining offcuts go back into the workbook where your costing formulas already live. The spreadsheet stays the system of record for anything commercial; the optimizer just stops it guessing at sheet counts.

Test it against a job you have already cut. Import the spreadsheet, set your real kerf and stock size, and compare the sheet count with what you actually bought. If the numbers match, your existing process is sound and you have lost five minutes finding that out.