How to Add a BOM to FreeCAD TechDraw

Adding a Bill of Materials (BOM) to a technical drawing in FreeCAD allows you to display part lists, quantities, and component properties directly on your drawing sheet. This guide outlines how to prepare your part data, generate a BOM table, and project it onto a TechDraw page using the Spreadsheet View tool.

Step 1: Create the BOM Data in a Spreadsheet

FreeCAD uses the Spreadsheet workbench to drive data tables in TechDraw.

  1. Switch to the Spreadsheet Workbench from the workbench dropdown.
  2. Click Create sheet to add a new spreadsheet to your model tree.
  3. Double-click the newly created spreadsheet in the tree view to open it.
  4. Enter your BOM headers in row 1 (for example: Item, Part Name, Qty, Material).
  5. Populate the rows below with your project components and details.
  6. Note the cell range that contains your table (for example, A1:D6).

(Note: If you are using the FreeCAD Assembly workbench, you can use the Create Bill of Materials tool to automatically generate this spreadsheet from your assembly hierarchy.)

Step 2: Open Your TechDraw Page

  1. Switch to the TechDraw Workbench.
  2. Double-click your existing drawing page in the tree view to open it in the main viewport. If you do not have a page yet, click Insert default Page or Insert Page using Template.

Step 3: Insert the Spreadsheet View

  1. In the tree view, click on the Spreadsheet you created to select it.
  2. In the TechDraw toolbar, click the Insert Spreadsheet View tool (icon showing a spreadsheet grid on a page).
  3. FreeCAD will insert a table projection onto your active TechDraw page.

Step 4: Configure the Table Range and Appearance

  1. Select the SpreadsheetView object in the tree view.
  2. In the Property panel on the lower-left, locate the Data tab.
  3. Adjust the following properties:
    • Cell Start: Enter the top-left cell of your table (e.g., A1).
    • Cell End: Enter the bottom-right cell of your table (e.g., D6).
    • Font: Change the font type or size to match your drawing standards.
    • Line Width: Adjust border thickness as needed.
  4. Drag the table on the drawing page to position it in your preferred location (typically the bottom-right or top-right corner).

Step 5: Refresh the Drawing

If you update part names, quantities, or rows in your spreadsheet later, return to your TechDraw page and click the Redraw page button (or press Ctrl + R) to update the table display.