Build an equipment schedule and export CSV

What you'll do

Read the equipment list out of a kitchen or foodservice drawing, check it, find each item on the plan, and download it as a spreadsheet file.

This works on drawings whose equipment tags carry their data as block attributes, as kitchen-design libraries such as KCL do: each tag holds the item number (KCL-ITEM), quantity, category, manufacturer, model, electrical and plumbing data, and remarks. Other drawings have no Equipment tab.

Steps

1. Open the drawing, ideally from its project folder so its linked drawings load too.
2. Click the Equipment tab above the drawing. Its label shows how many items are on sheets, for example "Equipment (88)".
3. Read the schedule: Item, Qty, Equipment, Manufacturer, Model, Electrical, Plumbing and Where.
4. Pick what to list in the menu above the table: Every sheet, one sheet, Not on any sheet, or Everything tagged in the drawing. Each choice shows its count.
5. Type in the filter box ("Filter: category, maker, model…") to narrow the list, for example refrigerator or 208.
6. Click an item's sheet name in the Where column.
7. Look at the drawing: BimCraft switches to that sheet, zooms in on the item and draws a ring round it. The status line says "Item n, category is ringed on sheet."
8. Click Equipment to go back to the schedule.
9. Click Download CSV.

What you should see

• A file named "drawing name equipment.csv" (with the sheet's name in brackets when you listed one sheet) in your downloads folder. It opens in Excel, Numbers, LibreOffice or Google Sheets.
• The status line: "Downloaded file name (n items)."

The CSV has these columns: Item, Qty, Category, Manufacturer, Model, Electrical, Plumbing, Remarks, Electrical remarks, Plumbing remarks, Sheets, Placed (how many tags). It downloads exactly the rows the table shows, after the menu and the filter.

How the schedule is built

• It is read from the tags themselves, not from the schedule table drawn on the sheet. The note above the table says how many tags were read.
• One row is one item number with one set of data. Its quantity is the sum of its tags, the way a printed schedule counts it: shelving tagged "5" in one place and "3" in another is 8, shown as "5 + 3".
• Where lists the sheets that show each item, worked out from what each sheet's viewports show, which is what prints. "Model only" means no sheet shows it.
• Number used twice marks one item number on two different pieces of equipment. The row has an amber mark.
• Tags no sheet shows are kept apart under Not on any sheet. They are often left over from earlier plans or other jobs, and are never mixed into Every sheet.
• Electrical shows amps, kW, HP, volts, phase, connection and plug as tagged. Plumbing shows connection sizes: CW cold water, HW hot water, DD direct drain, ID indirect drain, and gas. Other tag fields are not shown yet.

Common mistakes

• No Equipment tab. The drawing has no KCL-ITEM tags, or its equipment is drawn without data. There is nothing to read.
• Counts differ from the printed schedule. A printed schedule may list spare numbers or use shorter names than the tags. Trust the tags for what is placed; check differences with the designer.
• Opening the CSV shows odd characters. The file is UTF-8. Open it with your spreadsheet's import command and choose UTF-8 if the program asks.
• A cell starts with an apostrophe. Values that begin with =, +, - or @ get a leading ' so spreadsheets do not run them as formulas.
• FF and PP do nothing. They work on the drawing, not on the schedule. Click a sheet tab first.