PioCut — User manual

PioCut 1.4.7 · October 2026

How to use this manual

This manual takes you from the blank board to the cutting plan, step by step, in the order you work. You don't have to read all of it: chapters 1–7 are enough for everyday work, the rest you open when you need it.

• Buttons are written in bold, exactly as on screen: Import list, Rotate.
• Images are screenshots from the app; the red numbers in them point to the explanations below the image.
• Pro next to a title means the feature is only in the Pro edition (for example edge banding, labels, phones, orders and books).
• Trade words are explained once, in the chapter “Words you will come across”.

1. What PioCut does

PioCut takes the list of parts you want to cut and shows you how to lay them out on the boards, so you use as few boards as possible and leave as little waste as possible.

Everyday work has three steps:

1. You choose the board — the material and its size (for example chipboard 2800 × 2070 mm).
2. You enter the parts — the length, the width and how many of each.
3. You read the plan — PioCut calculates on its own, in a few seconds, and draws each board with the parts laid out.

After that you can print the plan and the part labels, or send it to the phones in the workshop. In the Pro edition, the Office, Stores and Cutting work linked together: the order starts at the Office, Stores prepares the boards, Cutting cuts them, and the stock updates itself.

2. First steps and the main screen

On first start you accept the terms of use (EULA). You then get 7 days of trial with everything unlocked. After the 7 days, without a license, plans show only as outlines, and export, labels and phones are locked.

How to activate the license:

1. Press License (bottom right) and then Copy serial. The installation serial looks like this: PIO2-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.
2. Send the serial, together with your order number, to office@piogrup.com.
3. You receive a key. Paste it into the key field and press Activate.

The key also sets the edition: Lite or Pro.

The main screen

1. Menu bar — new project, project name, File, Workshop, Export, Stock.
2. Result bar — how many sheets you need, how much of the board is used, the cutting and edge banding metres.
3. Cutting plan — each sheet drawn, with the parts on it.
4. Parts list — this is where you write what you have to cut.
5. Sheet type — the material, the board size, edge band, trim and saw kerf.
6. Options — grain, decor face, machine, rotation and the way parts are laid out.
7. Variants — V1, V2… are different plans for the same parts.
8. Guide, Documents, License — quick help, company header on exports and the license.

The plan recalculates by itself at every change. There is no “Calculate” button: while it works, the message “Calculating variants…” appears.

3. Words you will come across

4. Step 1 — You choose the board

The Sheet type panel on the right tells the program what material you are cutting. Everything is calculated from these values, so it is worth checking them at the start of every project.

1. Board type — a click on OSB, MDF, Steel sheet, Aluminium sheet or Polycarbonate loads the usual sizes of that material.
2. L and W — the length and width of the sheet. You can correct them right here if your board has a different size.
3. Edge band (mm) — the thickness of the edge band you glue on (for example 2). PioCut subtracts this thickness from the part, on every side ticked for edge band, so the part comes out to size after edge banding. Pro
4. Trim (mm) — how much is cut off all around the sheet, to get rid of damaged edges. 0 means the board is used right up to the edge.
5. Kerf (mm) — the thickness of the saw cut. You choose it with the ▲▼ arrows, from a list of usual values.

The i icon next to each field briefly explains what the field does.

Board with your own size

If your material is not in the list, choose Custom and enter L and W.

Tip: when you change the board, the plan recalculates immediately. Always check the number of sheets in the result bar after the change.

5. Step 2 — You enter the parts

Each row in Pieces to cut is one part type: P1, P2, P3… At the top you see the total number of parts and how many sheets you need (for example “52 — Pieces to cut / 4 Sheets”).

1. Units — you choose what you write in: mm, cm or m (or inch). For the workshop we recommend mm.
2. + Add piece — adds a new row.

One part row, item by item

1. Name / note — for example “Base unit door” or the customer's name. It is optional; it appears on the plan and on the labels.
2. Edge band — the small rectangle is the part seen from above. A click on a side puts edge band on it or takes it off: top and bottom are the lengths, left and right are the widths. The orange side has edge band. Pro
3. L — the length of the part.
4. W — the width of the part.
5. Qty — how many pieces. The ▲▼ arrows go up or down by one.
6. Coloured tag (P4) — the short name of the part, in the same colour as on the plan. When the board has grain, this is also where you set the grain (see below).
7. Bin — deletes the row.

Enter the finished sizes of the part, edge band included. PioCut subtracts the edge band thickness on the ticked sides by itself, so it knows how much to cut.

Grain (the wood pattern)

Turn on Sheet has grain in the options. From then on, a click on a part's coloured tag makes it “with grain”: the tag gets stripes, and the part is no longer rotated on the board, so the pattern runs along its length.

If the pattern has to run across the width of the part, enter the sizes the other way round: the side the grain runs along goes in L.

The list from Excel

• Excel template — downloads an empty table with the columns ready: Name, Length, Width, Quantity, Grain and the four edge band sides (yes / no).
• Import list — loads the filled-in table (Excel, CSV or JSON) or a printed list: photo, PDF or Word (chapter 13). Pro
• Clear pieces — sets all rows to zero, so you can start again.

6. Step 3 — You read the result

The result bar above the plan tells you, in one line, everything that matters for the order.

The options: how the parts are laid out

• Rotate / No rotate — with Rotate, PioCut can turn parts by 90° so they fit better. Parts with grain are never rotated.
• Compact — free layout, with the least waste. Good for CNC or when the material is expensive.
• By rows — the parts are laid out in strips, easy to follow when cutting.
• Guillotine — every cut goes from one edge to the other, as on a sliding table saw or a beam saw.

For a part marked R on the plan (for example “P1 R”), PioCut has rotated it: on the board it lies turned compared to how you wrote it.

Complexity

The slider says how hard the program searches. Left is the usual, fast calculation. Towards the right, PioCut tries more layout orders: it may find one sheet less, but it takes longer. For big lists (hundreds of parts) leave it on the left.

Variants V1, V2…

PioCut calculates up to 20 different plans for the same parts. V1 is the recommended one (the fewest sheets and the best offcut). Click V2, V3… to compare them: some have the offcut in one single big piece, others are easier to cut. The chosen variant is the one that gets printed, exported and sent to the workshop.

7. The cutting plan

Each sheet is drawn, with the parts in the colours from the list. On screen you see up to 4 sheets at once; the rest are on the following pages (the Page arrows at the bottom).

• The title — the sheet number, how many parts it has, the material, the size and the project name.
• Cutting / Edge band — the metres to cut and to edge band on this sheet only.
• On each part — the short name (P1), the sizes and the name you wrote. R means the part is rotated.
• Orange sides — the sides with edge band. Pro
• LEFT — the piece that is left free, with its size. If it is big enough, it is worth putting in Stock.

Zoom (the magnifier)

The magnifier in the corner of the sheet opens it large, full screen, with guide lines that follow the mouse. It is useful when you check a small part or when you show the plan to someone.

Linear metres

The Linear metres button (bottom right) opens the full breakdown: cutting and edge band per sheet and per part. Here you can also enter the price per metre for cutting and for edge band: PioCut works out the total to pay by itself. Export CSV and Print / PDF give you the table for the customer or for accounting.

The waste allowance on edge band (5% by default) covers the ends trimmed off during edge banding. You can change it in the same window.

8. The decor face and the machine Pro

This chapter only matters for boards with decor on one side only (painted MDF, chipboard with a white back). For them, “edge band on the left side” means something different depending on how you look at the board: from the front or from the back.

1. Turn on Decor on one face only. From then on, the edge band ticks are read looking at the decor face.
2. Under Machine choose the machine you cut on. PioCut knows which face the board must lie on so that the saw teeth don't chip the decor, and writes underneath what it does:

The view from the back

When the decor lies down while cutting, the operator sees the board from the back. That is why the phones, the projector and the plan sent to the workshop show the board turned over like the page of a book (left becomes right). Above the sheets a button appears that lets you switch between the two views on the PC.

Left / right parts

A part with edge band on a long side and an adjacent short side (“L-shaped” edge band) has a mirror pair: the left side panel and the right side panel. PioCut recognises them by itself and puts a triangle in the edge-banded corner, on the plan and on the label. Next to the edge band appears the Add the mirror part button: it makes a new row with the edge band moved to the other side.

On the labels, for these materials, the small drawing of the part has the letter D (decor face), so anyone knows how to hold the part when edge banding.

9. Book cutting (the beam saw) Pro

The beam saw can cut several stacked sheets at once, if they have the same cutting pattern. PioCut groups identical sheets and even looks for plans in which the same pattern repeats, so you pass the blade fewer times.

1. Machine — choose Beam saw. Only then do the book settings appear.
2. Max book (mm) — how tall the book can be on your machine (how far the blade sticks out, usually 75–130 mm). Take it from the machine's manual.
3. Max sheets — the most sheets you put in one book. It is optional: if empty, only the height counts.
4. Thickness (mm) — the thickness of the board. Without it, it can't work out how many sheets fit in a book. Below the fields the result is shown, for example “4 sheets per book” (75 : 18 = 4).
5. Cutting priority — you choose what matters more:
   • Least waste (usual plan) — the plan does not change; identical sheets are grouped only if they come out that way.
   • Same sheets, fewer cycles — PioCut looks for a plan with repeated patterns, without a single extra sheet. Recommended.
   • Fewer cycles (at most one extra sheet) — accepts one extra sheet, if that lowers the cycles.

What you see after the calculation

While it searches, the result bar says “looking for repeated patterns…”. When it finishes, the plan found becomes V1, marked in green in the variants bar. The other variants stay there, in case you want to go back to them.

• 2 patterns · 2 saw cycles — how many different patterns you have to cut and how many times you pass the blade.
• Cutting per book — the metres the machine actually cuts (once per book, not for each sheet).
• repeated patterns: 2 cycles instead of 6 — how much you gained compared with the usual plan.
• The sheet title says in simple words what you have to do, for example: “Sheet 1 — 6 identical sheets, cut in 2 stacks: 4 sheets, then 2 sheets · 4 parts on each sheet”. The plan shows each pattern only once.

If it says “the plan already has the fewest cycles”, PioCut did not find anything better than the usual plan.

In Compact mode, repeated patterns are searched in Guillotine mode, because the beam saw only cuts from one edge to the other. They are not searched when the plan uses sheets from Stock. The number of labels and the stock deduction stay the same.

10. Stock: sheets and offcuts

Stock is the list of everything you have on the racks: whole sheets and offcuts. One single list for all projects. PioCut uses it in the calculation (it tries the offcuts first) and updates it after cutting. The Stock button is at the top, in the menu bar; the number on it shows how many items match the open project.

What you enter for each item

With + Add sheet / offcut you add a row. The columns:

• Type — Full sheet or Offcut.
• Material and Thick. (mm) — must be the same as in the project, otherwise the item is not taken into account.
• Name, Finish — for example “white MDF”, “oak”.
• L, W, Qty — the size and how many pieces you have.
• Location — where it is kept, for example “rack A2”. The storekeeper sees it on the phone when preparing the order.
• Source, Date in — where it came from (the invoice, the project the offcut was left over from).
• Use — the tick that says whether the item may be used in the calculation. Untick it for a board reserved for another customer.

How stock goes into the calculation

1. Enter the project thickness (the Thickness field in Stock). Without it, PioCut does not use the offcuts.
2. PioCut only takes the items with the same material and the same thickness, ticked under Use.
3. Offcuts are used only if they lower the number of new sheets. Otherwise the message “The matching stock offcuts do not reduce the number of new sheets — left untouched.” appears.
4. When the offcuts help, the result bar shows for example “3 new sheets + 2 from stock”.

After cutting

• With orders (Flux) — everything is automatic. When Cutting presses ✓ Cut, the sheets used are deducted from stock, and big offcuts go in as new items, with the location “to be shelved”. PioCut must be open on the PC.
• Without orders — you tick Cut on the items used and press Apply cuts. PioCut suggests the new offcuts; you choose Add to stock or Don’t add.

An offcut is only suggested if it is worth keeping: it is on the edge of the sheet and big enough (short side of at least 20 cm and area of at least 0.1 m²).

Movements

The Movements tab is the stock log: every receipt, use, new offcut, correction or loss, with date and project. Nothing is deleted; a mistake is fixed with the Correct button.

The other tabs: Import (you bring the stock in from Excel or CSV, with a check table first) and Print (stock report, inventory sheet, shopping list). A damaged board is taken out with Remove from stock, with its reason.

11. The workshop: phones and the projector Pro

The office PC becomes the workshop “server”: people's phones and tablets connect to it over Wi-Fi and see the plan on screen, without paper. No internet is needed, only the same Wi-Fi network for the PC and the phones.

• Projector — shows the plan large on a second screen connected to the PC (a TV over HDMI). First move the PioCut window to the second screen, then press Projector. Exit with the Esc key.
• Wi-Fi — opens the connection with the phones (below).
• Meeting, Launch, Orders — discussions and orders between the office and the workshop (chapter 12).

Connecting a phone, step by step

1. On the PC: Workshop → Wi-Fi. The window with the QR code opens.
2. On the phone: open the camera and scan the QR code. A PioCut page opens in the phone's browser.
3. Choose the department: Stores, Cutting, Archive or Scratchpad.
4. Enter a display name (for example “Ana”) and press Continue to diagrams.
5. For Stores and Cutting, the phone asks once for the department PIN (you get it from the Office).

The phone remembers the choice. Next time, you scan the code and go straight in.

The codes, explained

The Wi-Fi window: the two buttons at the bottom

• Close QR — closes only the window. The phones stay connected.
• Turn off Wi-Fi — stops the connection for all devices. Next time it is turned on, a new QR is needed.

While someone is reading from a phone, the Wi-Fi button blinks orange and says, for example, “2 devices are reading — do not close PioCut”. If you close PioCut on the PC, the phones no longer receive the plan.

The first time you turn on Wi-Fi, Windows may ask about the firewall. Choose Allow, for private networks. Otherwise the phone says “Cannot reach the PC”.

What people see on the phone

The plan, sheet by sheet. At the bottom: « » changes the variant, ‹ › changes the sheet. To tablet turns the screen so you see more sheets at once.

From Menu: you save or send the sheet as an image, make a PDF, open Flux (the department's orders), photograph a parts list with Scan list (chapter 13), change the department and write Messages to the office.

• Archive — only views the plans, confirms nothing and does not ask for a PIN.
• Scratchpad — a quick calculation on the phone, for a few parts (usually on offcuts). It is not saved and does not go into orders.
• Wi-Fi projector — the second QR code in the window opens the plan on a smart TV or a tablet on the same network. View only: no projects, messages or orders.

12. Orders: Office → Stores → Cutting Pro

An order is a project sent by the Office to the workshop, with the plan locked. Stores prepares the boards, Cutting cuts them, and the Office sees on the PC, in real time, where each order is. Orders only move as a whole: if something is missing, the order stops at the Office and the Office decides what to do.

On the normal route the order passes through three places. Any problem at Stores or at Cutting takes it back to the Office, which chooses one of the three decisions below.

The states of an order

Step 1 — The Office launches the order

1. Enter a project name (at the top, next to New), for example “Bucătărie Popescu”, and save the project.
2. Choose the variant you want to cut (V1, V2…). Exactly this one is locked.
3. Workshop → Launch. The window shows the plan, the material needed and where it is (“shelf A1”, “in stock” or “to buy”).
4. Optional: tick Urgent, set a Due date and a note for Stores.
5. Press Launch V1.

When you launch, the material is reserved in Stock: other orders can no longer use it. If the stock is not enough, the window says “Not enough stock in theory”, and the button becomes Launch as waiting (the order goes straight to “Waiting for material”).

Step 2 — Stores prepares the material

On the Stores phone “New order in your queue.” appears. The storekeeper opens Menu → Flux and taps the order.

1. For each row in Material to prepare, they go to the rack and press ✓ Found or ✗ Missing (for Missing they write how many they found and a note).
2. When all rows are ticked, they press ✓ Material complete and confirm.
3. If something is missing or damaged, they press ⚠ Material incomplete, choose the reason and write what happened (required). The order stops at the Office.

If Stores found fewer sheets than the stock showed, the Office receives a proposed inventory correction (“System showed 4 pcs — Stores found 3”) and chooses Correct stock or Reject.

Step 3 — Cutting cuts

The order appears on the Cutting phone, with the locked plan. The operator cuts according to the plan, then:

• ✓ Cut — with an optional note, then Confirm cut.
• ⚠ Problem — the machine, damaged material or something else, with a required note. The order stops at the Office.

On Cut, PioCut deducts the sheets used from Stock by itself and adds the new offcuts. The office PC must be on, with PioCut open.

The Office keeps track: Orders

On the PC, each step appears as a message in the corner of the screen (for example “Stores: material complete · Bucătărie Popescu”).

Workshop → Orders opens the orders board, in columns: Stopped — office decision, At Stores, At cutting and, with the Finished tick, those from the last 30 days. On each order you see the Stores ticks (“☑ 0/1”), the variant and how long it has been in the current step; if it goes over the delay threshold (2 hours by default), the time turns red. An urgent order has 🔴.

Click an order → on the right you see the Order thread (everything that happened and the messages) and the possible decisions:

• Order material — when material is missing; you enter the estimated date, the order goes to “Waiting for material”.
• Resume order — sends it to Stores again, as it was.
• Recalculate — opens the project so you can change it; the Launch button becomes Relaunch, and the order starts again from Stores, with the new plan.
• Cancel order or Undo last step — with a required reason. Undoing a “Cut” puts the material back in stock.
• Urgent / Normal, Due date and messages to the workshop (Ctrl+Enter sends).

The department PINs

So that not just anyone with the QR code can confirm, Stores and Cutting each have a 4-digit PIN. You see it under Orders → ⚙ Settings.

• The phone asks for the PIN only once, when you choose the department. The PIN is not in the QR code: you tell it only to the people in that department.
• Regenerate makes a new PIN (for example if someone has left). All phones of that department will ask for it again.
• The On tick can switch it off; then anyone with the QR code can confirm.
• The PIN only protects confirmations. Plans and messages can be seen without a PIN; Archive and the office PC don't need a PIN.
• After 5 wrong attempts, the phone waits 60 seconds.

The report

Orders → Report shows, per day, week or month: how many orders were launched, cut or cancelled, the stops, the metres cut and the average time for each step. It can be printed or exported to CSV.

All order data is kept on the office PC, in Documents\Piogrup\PioCut\Flux. General messages between the office and the workshop (not tied to a specific order) are written under Workshop → Meeting; there you can also show a sheet or an image on the “board”.

13. Parts lists from a photo, PDF or Word Pro

Many lists arrive printed or by e-mail, from the designer or from the customer. PioCut can read them by itself, without you typing them in by hand: it finds the table, recognises the columns (name, L, W, quantity, material, thickness, grain, edge band), whatever their order, and puts them in a check window. Reading is done on the computer, without internet.

There are two ways:

• From the computer — Import list now also accepts a photo (JPG, PNG), a PDF or a Word file (.docx).
• From a phone or tablet — Menu → Scan list: you photograph the sheet of paper, and the photo reaches the office over Wi-Fi.

You photograph the list with the phone

1. On the phone (or tablet), connected to the workshop Wi-Fi (chapter 11), open Menu and press Scan list.
2. Photograph the sheet of paper straight from above, with the whole page in the frame and good light. The phone can also be held sideways: PioCut turns the photo by itself.
3. Press OK. A green circle with ✓ “The list reached the office” and the time it was sent appear on screen. The message stays until you press Got it, and in the Menu, under the button, “Last list sent: … ✓” is shown all day. There is no need to take the photo again.
4. If sending fails (weak Wi-Fi), a red ✕ appears with the Send again button, which resends the same photo.

At the office: Received lists

On the PC a notice “List photographed by …” appears, along with the Received lists button, next to the parts list. The window shows each list with a thumbnail of the photo (click the thumbnail = large photo), who sent it and when. Open starts the reading; Delete removes it.

The check window

Nothing goes into the project before you check it. On the left you see the photo, on the right the parts that were read.

1. Material and thickness — the parts are split into groups (for example Oak chipboard 18 mm, Painted MDF 18 mm, Hardboard 3 mm). Tick the group that goes into the open project.
2. How to work with the list — the blue box with the steps, always in view.
3. The table — name, L, W, quantity, grain and edge band on each side. Any value can be corrected directly; with × you remove a row.
4. Yellow = uncertain reading. Check the cell against the photo on the left.
5. Replace the list puts the parts in place of the existing ones; Add to list adds them to the existing ones.

If all ticked parts have the same thickness, PioCut sets the project thickness; if some have grain, it turns on Sheet has grain.

A project is calculated on a single sheet thickness. If you tick different thicknesses, a yellow warning appears.

A list with several thicknesses

A furniture list usually has several materials and thicknesses. You add them one at a time, in different projects:

1. Open (or create) the project for the first thickness, open the list from Received lists, tick the group and press Add to list.
2. The list stays under Received lists, showing “1 of 4 groups added”. The groups already used are marked ✓ added.
3. Open another project, reopen the list: the next group is ticked automatically. Add it the same way.
4. When all groups have been added, the photo moves to the archive: Documents\Piogrup\PioCut\Scan\Folosite. It is kept there for 90 days and you can reopen it at any time from Received lists → Used (archive).

For a list loaded from the computer (PDF, Word, photo), you add the other groups by importing the same file again into another project.

For a good reading

• the whole page in the photo, taken straight from above, without strong shadows;
• if you have the list as PDF or Word, load that one: it is read exactly, in a few seconds;
• a photo of a monitor reads less well (because of the screen grid) — the file is better;
• a rotated photo takes longer (up to half a minute): PioCut tries every position of the page.

You can also try reading a photo, a PDF or Word on piocut.com/demo, in the free web version (without a phone and with at most 30 parts).

14. Saving, projects and export

Projects

A project keeps everything: the board, the parts, the settings and the chosen variant. Projects are kept on the PC in Documents\Piogrup\PioCut.

• New (on the left of the bar) — clears the parts; the sheet type and the language stay. If you have unsaved changes, it asks you first.
• Project name — the field next to New. It appears on plans, on labels and in orders.
• Open (Ctrl+O) — the list of saved projects; one click opens it. From another file… opens a project from anywhere.
• Save (Ctrl+S) and Save as… (Ctrl+Shift+S, a copy with another name).
• Interchange — a file for partners who draw in CAD programs; you open it with Open or with Import list.

Exporting the plan

Documents (bottom right) puts the company name and a second line (address, phone) on PNG, JPG, PDF and on the Stock printouts.

Part labels Pro

Under Export → Labels you choose the label size (50 × 30 mm by default) and the code type (QR, Code 128 or both), then press Preview and Print. One label per page comes out, suitable for a thermal roll printer.

What a label shows:

• the project name and the short name of the part (P1; R if it is rotated on the board);
• the name you wrote (“Base unit side panel”);
• 1/12 — which piece it is out of how many of this type;
• the size and a small drawing of the part with the edge-banded sides (and “D” or the triangle from chapter 8);
• a text code, for example BUCATARIE_POPESCU_P1_01, and the barcodes.

What the barcodes contain:

The text code is made like this: the project name (without diacritics, with _ instead of spaces) + the part type (P1) + the piece number (01, 02…). Two parts never have the same code in the same project.

15. Frequently asked questions

For questions, write to office@piogrup.com. Also send the installation serial (you find it under License), so we can help you faster.