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How to Use the Line Item Qty Field to Auto-Calculate Materials

Use formulas to automatically calculate material quantities based on project measurements like square footage, length, or volume. This makes your templates more accurate and eliminates manual adjustments as project sizes change.

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Written by Jorge Arias Silva

How it works

The line item Qty field at the top of your line item drives the overall project size (e.g., 300 Sq. Ft). When you set up a conversion formula on a material, that material's quantity will automatically recalculate whenever the line item Qty changes.

For example, if your line item is 300 Sq. Ft and one drywall sheet covers 32 Sq. Ft, the system can calculate that you need approximately 10 sheets — and update that number automatically if the project size changes to 500 Sq. Ft.

Step 1 — Set up your line item Qty

Make sure your line item has the correct Quantity and Unit filled in at the top. This is the value that your material formulas will reference.

For example: Quantity: 300, Unit: Sq. Ft.


Step 2 — Open the material and set up the conversion formula

Expand the line item and go to the Materials tab. Find the material you want to auto-calculate (e.g., Drywall sheets).

Click the three dots on the material row and select Set Up Conversion Formula.

Step 3 — Enter the formula

In the conversion formula setup, define how the material quantity relates to the line item Qty.

For example, if one drywall sheet covers 32 Sq. Ft:

  • The line item Qty (300 Sq. Ft) ÷ coverage per sheet (32 Sq. Ft) = 9.375 sheets, rounded up to 10

Enter the conversion values so the system knows how to calculate the material quantity from the line item Qty.

Step 4 — Save and test

Click Save to apply the formula. The material quantity should now reflect the calculated value.

To test it, go back to the line item row and change the Qty (e.g., change 300 Sq. Ft to 500 Sq. Ft). The material quantity should update automatically without any manual adjustment.


Video Overview

Embed the walkthrough video showing how to set up formulas so materials auto-calculate, using drywall sheets based on square footage as an example.

What Happens Next

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