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For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt. This page is also available as Markdown.

BOM + Export

Generate a bill of materials, manage supplier info and pricing, and export your board as CSV, PDF, or screenshot.

Goal

Turn your validated board into procurement-ready outputs: a bill of materials with pricing, and export files you can hand off to purchasing or share with your team.

Opening the BOM view

clicking the cart icon to open the BOM
Show the Bill of Materials fullscreen view opening after a click on the activity-bar cart icon.
1

Click the BOM icon

Click the cart icon in the left sidebar to open the BOM view as a fullscreen panel.

2

Review your parts

The BOM displays a grouped table listing every part on your board with quantities, unit costs, and total costs. Parts are grouped logically so you can see the breakdown at a glance.

BOM features

Pricing and suppliers

Each part can have one or more suppliers with the following details:

  • Vendor name: who sells the part

  • Purchase URL: direct link to the vendor listing

  • Vendor part number: the vendor's own part identifier

  • Price: unit cost

  • Pack quantity: how many come in one package

  • Min order quantity: smallest purchase quantity

  • Stock availability: whether the part is in stock

You can select the active supplier for each part to control which pricing is used in calculations.

Cost calculations

Protoboard calculates costs at two levels:

  • Per-item cost: unit cost multiplied by quantity, accounting for pack size (so you know how many packs to order)

  • Board-level total: the sum of all part costs for the complete board

BOM statistics (hover over the BOM icon) give you a quick summary:

  • Estimated total cost

  • Total number of parts

  • Number of unique parts

  • Number of unique suppliers

Working with the BOM table

Cells in the BOM table are editable. Click any cell to update supplier information, pricing, or quantities directly in the table.

Click column headers to sort the table by name, quantity, cost, or any other column. This helps you quickly find the most expensive parts or the ones with the highest quantities.

Click Refresh BOM to update pricing and availability data. This pulls the latest information for all parts in your bill of materials.

Exporting

BOM export

Export your bill of materials in two formats:

Format
File name
Best for

CSV

{board-name}-bom.csv

Importing into spreadsheets, ERP systems, or purchasing tools

PDF

{board-name}-bom.pdf

Sharing with stakeholders, printing, or archiving

The exported file name is based on your board name. Give your board a clear name in the Board Identity tab before exporting so the files are easy to identify.

Screenshot export

Capture a visual snapshot of your board layout:

1

Open the screenshot tool

Go to Project menu and select Screenshot. A preview dialog appears.

2

Choose your options

  • Toggle between light and dark theme for the screenshot

  • Preview how the image will look

3

Save or copy

  • Copy to clipboard: paste directly into documents, chat, or presentations

  • Download as PNG: save as an image file to your computer

Common failures

The BOM total seems wrong

Check the pack size for each part. If a part comes in packs of 10 but you only need 3, Protoboard calculates the cost of one pack (since you cannot buy fewer). This is correct for procurement but may seem higher than expected if you are thinking in terms of per-unit cost.

A part shows no supplier or price

Not all parts in the library have pre-populated supplier data. Click into the part's row in the BOM table and add supplier information manually (vendor name, price, purchase URL).

My exported CSV is missing parts

Make sure all parts on your board are properly placed on the canvas. Parts that were deleted from the canvas but remain in the template list are not included in the BOM. Use Refresh BOM to ensure the table reflects the current board state.

Related pages

PreviousFixing Errors
NextSharing / Collaboration

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