Use this article when your shop wire-binds or spiral-binds gathered sheets — notepads with hard covers, recipe books, instruction manuals, presentation calendars — and you need Estimator to price the punching pass and the wire or coil consumable on every quote. After this you will have a wire-o category that appears in the create-estimate product picker, prices the punching and binding pass on the price breakdown, and ties the bind step to your wire-o or coil binder.
Steps
1. Create the category
Open Estimate Setup → Products → Categories, then select + Add New. Fill in the fields below.
Identification
Name — the customer-facing product family (e.g., "Wire-O Bound Book", "Spiral Notebook"). Use the label your estimators recognise on the wire range — wire-o for double-loop wire, spiral for coil.
Display Name — leave the same as Name.
Category Type — choose Spiral & Coil Binding. This single type covers double-loop wire-o, plastic coil, and metal spiral; the binder editor distinguishes them. The type unlocks the cover/wraps fields on parts.
Calculation and imposition
Price Model — set to paper_calc. Estimator prices by parent sheet and run length.
Price Adjustment Model — pick VA per Press Hour for higher-volume calendar-style runs, or Gross Profit% for short-run training material.
Bleed — default bleed in millimetres (e.g., 3 mm).
Flags
Allow Same Size Sheet — leave No unless your wire-o line accepts a no-bleed economy spec.
Mixed Production Enabled — leave No.
Markups
Labor / Machine / Delivery / Outwork — default markup percentages (e.g., 20% each).
Spine grind-off — particular to wire-o
Gutter Grind Off — millimetres trimmed off the binding edge before the punching pass (e.g., 3 mm). Wire-o needs a clean square edge, so the trimmer takes a small strip before the punch. Estimator applies this when calculating the working signature width.
Save the row. The Pending Changes count increments by one in the sidebar.
2. Define the parts
Open Category Parts for the new category. Wire-o books usually carry two parts that price independently: the printed inner sheets and a heavier cover sheet, often laminated.
Add an inner part row first:
Name —
inner.Is Cover — No.
Is Wraps Preceding — No.
Production Steps — typically print → cut → bind. Wire-o inners stay flat — no folding, no signature gathering.
Tags — pair with the inner substrate (e.g.,
uncoated-text-100,digital).
Add a cover part row second:
Name —
cover.Is Cover — Yes. The cover is a single heavier sheet on each side of the block.
Is Wraps Preceding — No. Wire-o covers do not wrap; they sit flat and are punched alongside the inner.
Production Steps — typically print → cut → laminate → bind.
Tags — pair with a cover-grade substrate (e.g.,
coated-cover-250,digital).
For a presentation calendar add a third back board part if the back is a heavy unprinted board.
Save each part row. Pending Changes increments again.
3. Configure the quote inputs
Open Finish Sizes, Page Limits, Page Colors, and Field Rules under Products.
Finish Sizes — add common wire-o sizes (e.g., A4 portrait, A5, US Letter, square 8 × 8 in). Wall calendars often use a larger landscape size — list it as Custom Size if your range varies.
Page Limits — set a minimum of around 12 pages and a maximum your wire-o machine can punch in one pass (commonly 250 pages for plastic coil, 100 for double-loop wire).
Page Colors — list the colour options per part.
Field Rules — surface wire colour, wire diameter, and any tab/index conditional inputs so estimators only see options that apply to this category.
4. Apply the changes
Open the Pending Changes panel in the sidebar and review the staged category, parts, and quote inputs. Select Apply Changes to publish to live setup.
The Pending Changes count returns to zero, and the wire-o category appears in the create-estimate product picker with the inner/cover parts routed through your wire-o or coil binder.
Things to know
Wire and coil consumable cost lives on the binder editor (wire pitch and wire cost per length), not on the category. Set them once on the wire-o binder; the category routes through.
Spiral & Coil Binding covers wire-o, plastic coil, and metal spiral as one Category Type. If your shop sells all three as separate product lines on the quote, create three categories with this same type and different names — the binder editor's wire / coil / spiral configuration handles the cost differences.
The Is Wraps Preceding field is misleading for wire-o covers — wire-o does not wrap. Leave it No and the cover will price as a separate sheet, which matches how wire-o is actually produced.