Where Does Lettering and Etching Go? Choosing the Right Field

MonuDesk records text and etching in four different places, and they do different jobs. Put something in the wrong one and it either never reaches the shop, gets cut twice, or gets charged twice. This article tells you which field to use, and what each one does to your paperwork.

The four places, at a glance

1. The Lettering & Carving popover — Step 4: Sketch & Inscription, monument orders.

• There is one button per field, not one per person: Given Names, Surname, Dates and Additional Text each have their own Lettering & Carving button, for each decedent.

• It records how that text is cut: Lettering Style, Litho Color and Carving Type.

• It does not hold the words, and it does not add a price.

2. The Etching accessory — Step 3: Items & Configuration → Accessories.

• Toggle on Etching, then pick Laser Etching or Hand Etching, and In-house (manual fee) or Vendor quote.

• This is a priced line item on the order. In-house adds Your Price to Customer ($), an Instructions box for the engraver, and a Color Etching switch. Vendor quote adds a description box and Upload Artwork.

3. The Lettering & Inscription card — Step 3: Items & Configuration → Service, service orders only.

• This is the engraver's work order for a lettering job on a stone that is already in the ground.

• Three parts: Which stone (family name, inscription location, stone type, stone color), Names and dates with an Engrave this tick box on each line, and Inscription needed — cut exactly this.

4. Text typed on the sketch canvas — Step 4, the Text tool in the Sketch Builder.

• This is a picture, not a data field. It does not feed the pricing panel, the decedent grid, or any lettering summary. It only appears as part of the drawing image.

Which one do I want?

• "How should this name be cut?" — the Lettering & Carving popover on that field, Step 4.

• "What are the actual words?" On a monument order, the decedent fields in Step 4: Given Names, Surname, Dates, Additional Text. Additional Text is where an epitaph goes.

• "The family wants a laser portrait and my vendor prices it." — the Etching accessory, Step 3, set to Vendor quote.

• "I etch in house and want to charge for it as a line." — the Etching accessory, set to In-house (manual fee).

• "This job is adding a final date to a stone that is already set." — a service order, and the Lettering & Inscription card.

• "I want to show the family where the text will sit." — the sketch canvas, with the Text and Arrow tools.

The double-charge trap: etching lives in two places

Laser Etched and Hand Etched appear both as a Carving Type in the Step 4 popover and as the Etching accessory in Step 3. They are not the same thing:

• Carving Type describes the technique used on text or artwork that is already on the order. It is a spec for the shop and carries no price of its own.

• The Etching accessory is a separate item with a price, artwork, and a vendor path.

Use the Carving Type when etching is simply how that line is being cut. Use the accessory when the etching is priced separately or is going out to a vendor. Never both. Entering it twice sends the shop two instructions for one piece of work and lets the same etching be charged twice.

The double-cut trap: the sketch is cut word for word

Your sketch is saved as a drawing on the order and printed on the shop ticket, contract and quote. The shop cuts from that drawing, so any text you typed on the canvas reads as text to cut.

Type an epitaph into Additional Text and onto the canvas and it can be cut twice. Keep them apart:

• Additional Text and the other decedent fields carry the words that go on the stone.

• The canvas carries layout: where the text sits, how big it is, which side it is on, and arrows pointing at what you mean.

If you do want the words shown on the sketch for the family's benefit, say so in Design Notes under the canvas, so your designer knows the canvas text is a placement reference rather than a second inscription. Design notes print on the shop ticket in their own Design Notes block, so the shop reads the same instruction.

Where each one lands on your paperwork

• Lettering & Carving shows on the Shop Ticket, in the Order Details box, beside each decedent's fields. The style reads as a short list, for example Sunk, Black, Laser Etched. It is deliberately kept off the customer's paperwork: the invoice, contract and quote print the inscription content only, never the engraving style, so the family never reads "V-Sunk, Black, Laser Etched" on their contract.

• The Etching accessory becomes its own Etching line in the item table on the invoice, receipt, contract, shop ticket and purchase order, and it feeds the Accessories line in the Live Quote panel. A free-text description moves out of the cramped line item into the Additional Details or Order Details box.

• Lettering & Inscription prints on the Shop Ticket as three blocks: Stone, then ENGRAVE THIS in larger type, then Already on stone — DO NOT CUT. It also shows read-only on the order under Pricing, and as a recap on Review & Create.

• Sketch text appears only inside the drawing image, on the documents that carry drawings.

On a service order, nothing is ever ticked for you

The Engrave this boxes are the whole point of the Lettering & Inscription card, and MonuDesk never ticks one on your behalf:

• Ticked means cut it. Unticked means it is already on the stone and must not be re-cut.

• Copy from plot details pulls the decedents from the order into these fields. It is a one-time copy and it ticks nothing, on purpose, so you decide line by line what actually needs cutting.

• The Inscription needed — cut exactly this box is different: it always goes to the engraver, exactly as typed. Use it for a bare final date, or for wording that is not one of the name and date lines.

• The family name has its own tick box, worded "The family name also needs cutting (it is not on the stone yet)", because on most lettering jobs it is already carved.

Related articles:

• How to Set Up Lettering and Carving

• How to Add Accessories

• How to Use Sketch and Inscription

• How to Create a Service Order