Use this reference when you are editing a substrate row in the Substrates table and you want to know which field controls which part of the quote, when to change it, and which downstream calculations depend on it. The article is a field-by-field guide to one editor surface — the substrate row in Estimate Setup. Finishing-step fields, press fields, and customer-level brand requirements live in their own clusters and are not covered here.
Fields on a substrate row
Every row in the Substrates table is one buyable sheet, with the fields below. The "When to change this" column names the operational trigger; the "What depends on it" column names the downstream calculation or selection that moves when you change the field.
Field | What it controls | When to change this | What depends on it |
Name | The display name shown for the substrate in the Substrates table, in the substrate dropdown on a new quote, and in the Estimate Setup table. | When the shop stocks two substrates that resolve to the same display name (for example, two SRA1 rows) and operators confuse them. Add a coat or weight suffix to the name so the dropdown reads unambiguously. | Substrate selection in the chat-driven quote flow and the substrate dropdown in Estimate Setup. The Name is also what shows on the substrate line of the price breakdown. |
Weight | The paper weight in grams per square metre (gsm) for the row. | When the shop restocks the same sheet at a different weight, or when a supplier changes specification. Always re-verify against the merchant invoice — paper weight is the field most often mistyped on import. | The substrate cost on every quote that picks the row (cost-per-ton converts to a per-sheet cost via weight and sheet area), the press eligibility check (each press has a weight envelope), and finishing-step compatibility (folding, stitching, and laminating each have weight thresholds). |
Coat | The paper coat — Silk, Uncoated, Matte, Gloss, Recycled, or a similar manufacturer-named coat. | When the shop stocks a new coat of the same paper, or when a supplier substitutes a coat on a known SKU. | Substrate selection rules on product parts (a part that wants a coated sheet drops uncoated rows), press compatibility (some presses are configured to reject specific coats), and finishing-step compatibility (lamination, for example, is typically restricted to uncoated stock). |
Material | The broader stock family — paper, board, vinyl, canvas, foamex, or another non-paper material. | When the shop starts stocking a new family of substrates (most commonly when adding a large-format or board product line). | Route selection between sheet-fed and large-format paths. A substrate marked as a non-paper material is filtered to the large-format presses; a paper substrate is filtered to the sheet-fed presses. |
Sheet Size | The named sheet size on the substrate — RA1, SRA1, SRA3, B1, LONG, or any custom size the shop has added. | When the shop adds a new sheet size to its purchasing plan, or when a merchant retires a size and replaces it with another. | Sheet-cut yield calculations (how many small pieces the sheet yields), parent-sheet eligibility (whether the row can serve as a parent for cut-to-size), and press compatibility (each press has a minimum and maximum sheet size). |
Sheet dimensions (width and height in mm) | The exact trim size of the parent sheet in millimetres for a metric shop, in inches for an imperial shop. The values are normally pre-filled when you pick a Sheet Size but can be overridden for non-standard cuts. | When the shop buys a non-standard cut, when a merchant resizes a sheet (most commonly when an SRA1 supplier moves between 900×640 mm and 904×640 mm), or when correcting a row imported with the wrong dimensions. | Sheet-cut yield calculations, parent-sheet eligibility, and the per-sheet area used by the cost calculation. Wrong dimensions are the most common cause of a substrate cost line that disagrees with the merchant invoice. |
Cost | The price the shop pays the paper merchant for the substrate, in the unit shown next to the field (per ton for paper, per sheet for some boards and large-format substrates). | When the paper merchant changes price, when the shop switches supplier, or when the per-ton/per-sheet unit on the row needs to change to match how the shop is being invoiced. | The substrate line on the price breakdown for every new quote that picks the row. Re-quoting an existing estimate after a cost change re-prices it at the new cost. |
Grain Direction | The physical grain of the paper relative to the sheet — long, short, or not specified. | When the merchant ships the same paper with a different grain orientation, or when correcting a row imported with the grain blank. | Fold quality and bind quality on quotes that route through folding or stitching, and the cut yield for cut-to-size operations that must keep grain aligned. See How grain direction works with substrates for the routing implications. |
FSC | Whether the substrate carries an FSC certification mark. | When the shop receives certified stock from a new supplier, or when a supplier's certification status changes. | Substrate selection for quotes where the customer has set an FSC requirement on the quote. Non-FSC rows are filtered out for those quotes; FSC rows remain available for non-certified quotes too. |
Brands | The paper-brand label the substrate carries — for example, Atlantis or Munken — or empty when the substrate has no brand label. | When the merchant changes the brand stamp on the paper, or when the shop adds a paper from a manufacturer whose brand a customer asks for by name. | Substrate selection on quotes where the customer record requires a specific brand. See How brands work with substrates — the customer record carries the brand requirement; the substrate row carries the brand label the requirement matches against. |
Stock Type | Whether the substrate is regular stock the shop keeps available, or a special-order paper that is procured per job. | When the shop changes how it sources the paper — moving a special-order paper into routine stock, or moving a stocked paper to special-order because supply is unreliable. | The estimator's preference between two otherwise equivalent substrates: when both a stocked and a special-order substrate satisfy a quote, the stocked one is preferred. Special-order rows remain quotable but are deprioritised. |
Available as parent sheet | A toggle that marks the row as one the shop is willing to cut into smaller sheets. | When the shop sets a row as available for cut-to-size routes, or removes that availability because a merchant no longer supplies the parent at scale. | Whether the row appears as a parent on cut-to-size routes. A row with the toggle off cannot be cut down by Estimator even if its dimensions allow it. |
Mandatory pre-cut | A toggle that forces a job to take a parent-sheet route even when a direct purchase of a smaller sheet would be cheaper. | When the shop is committed to pre-cutting (for example, when the merchant only delivers in parent sizes, or when the shop has standardised on a single parent for a category). | The route Estimator chooses: when the toggle is on, the parent-sheet route is forced; when it is off, Estimator picks whichever route gives the lowest substrate cost given the available rows. |
Limits and permissions
The Substrates table is an Estimate Setup surface. The same role rules apply to it that apply to the rest of Estimate Setup:
Action | Who can do it | What the user sees if they cannot |
View the Substrates table | MIS Admin, MIS User | The Substrates table is visible but the row editor is read-only. |
Add or edit a substrate row | MIS Admin | The Edit and Add buttons are hidden; the row opens in read-only mode. |
Import substrates from a spreadsheet | MIS Admin | The Import button is hidden. |
Apply Pending Changes (publish substrate edits) | MIS Admin | The Apply Changes button is hidden in the Pending Changes panel. |
The Substrates library has no hard cap on the number of rows. Substrates are identified internally by a unique row identifier that is never shown in the UI and never customer-facing; operators identify substrates by the Name plus Weight plus Coat plus Sheet Size combination.
Related articles
How brands work with substrates
How grain direction works with substrates
Add or edit a substrate
Assign substrates to products and parts
Why a substrate is missing from a quote