How to Fill In the Lettering & Inscription Card (Lettering Work Orders)

Tell the engraver exactly which lines to cut on a stone that is already standing, and which lines to leave alone.

Written By Dennis Rodin

Last updated About 1 month ago

A lettering job cuts new text into a stone that is already standing. The Lettering & Inscription card is where you tell the engraver which lines are new and which lines are already carved, so nothing gets cut twice.

Before this card existed, the only place to type names and dates was the sketch, and the sketch is cut word for word. Type Mary Jones there for reference with a 2026 under it, and Mary Jones gets cut into the stone a second time when all you needed was the 2026. This card exists to stop exactly that.

The one rule that matters: a line is cut only when its Engrave this box is ticked. Unticked means it is already on the stone, do not re-cut it. Nothing is ever ticked for you.

Where to find it

Open the New Quote wizard and go to Step 3: Items & Configuration. Click Service at the top to switch to a service order. The Lettering & Inscription card is the second card down, directly under Service Details. Its subtitle reads "What the engraver receives. Only ticked lines are cut into the stone."

The card is on every service order, whatever service type you picked, so you can use it for a lettering job, and skip it for a cleaning or a reset. It is also there when you reopen the order with Edit Quote or Edit Order, so you can fill it in after the cemetery visit.

Monument orders do not have this card. On a monument order the names and dates come from Step 4: Sketch & Inscription instead, because the whole stone is being cut new. See How to Use Sketch and Inscription.

Which stone

The first block, headed Which stone, is four free-text fields. They tell the crew which memorial to walk up to and where on it the new work goes. They are identification, not instructions: nothing typed here is cut.

  • Family name: the surname already carved across the die, for example BERKELEY.

  • Inscription location: where the new work goes, for example Front die - right panel.

  • Stone type: Upright, Flat marker, Bench, or however your shop describes it.

  • Stone color: the granite, for example Gem Mist. Type what you see at the cemetery.

Below the four fields is the one exception. Tick The family name also needs cutting (it is not on the stone yet) when the surname has never been carved, for example on a stone that only ever carried first names. The family name then appears in both places on the shop ticket: under Stone so the crew can identify the memorial, and under ENGRAVE THIS because it is real work. Leave it unticked on a normal lettering job.

Names and dates

The second block, Names and dates, is four rows. Each one has a text field and an Engrave this tick box. The helper line above them reads "Untick means it is already on the stone and must not be re-cut."

  • Deceased name, for example Mary Jones.

  • Date of birth, for example 1940.

  • Date of death, for example 2026.

  • Other names on stone, for example Robert Jones 1938-2011.

Fill in every row you can see on the stone, whether or not it needs cutting. The rows you leave unticked are what protects the existing carving: they print on the shop ticket under a DO NOT CUT heading, so the engraver knows the text is meant to be there and is not something they forgot.

Typing a value does not schedule it for cutting. A row with text and no tick is a reference line. A row with no text at all is skipped entirely.

Copy from plot details

Click Copy from plot details, top right of the Names and dates block, to pull in the decedents you already entered on the order rather than retyping them. It fills:

  • Family name from the first decedent's last name.

  • Deceased name, Date of birth and Date of death from that same first decedent.

  • Other names on stone from everyone else on the order, each written as name then dates and separated by commas.

You get a green Copied from plot details toast that says "Nothing is marked to engrave yet — tick only the lines that need cutting." That is the point: the copy deliberately ticks nothing. You still choose what gets cut.

If the order has no decedent names yet you get a red No decedent details to copy toast reading "Add the decedents under plot details first, then copy them here." Add them in Step 2: Cemetery & Logistics and come back.

It is a one-time copy, not a live link. Editing the plot details later does not change what is in this card, on purpose: once a job is with the engraver, a correction somewhere else in the order must not silently change what gets cut. If you fix a spelling in plot details, click Copy from plot details again and re-tick your boxes.

Inscription needed — cut exactly this

The last field on the card is a free-text box labeled Inscription needed — cut exactly this, with the note "Always goes to the engraver, exactly as typed."

Anything you type here always lands under ENGRAVE THIS. There is no tick box, because this field exists only for new work. Use it for the exact wording, spacing or layout instruction you want cut, for example 2026, matched to the existing font and centered under 1940 –. Leave it blank when the ticked rows above already say everything.

What the shop ticket prints

Generate the shop ticket from the order with Document Generation → Generate Shop Ticket. On a service order the lettering work order replaces the monument build summary, and it prints as three separate blocks in this order:

  • Stone: Family Name, Stone Type, Stone Color, Inscription Location.

  • ENGRAVE THIS: every ticked row, plus the Inscription. Printed in larger type than the rest so it cannot be skim-read.

  • Already on stone — DO NOT CUT: every unticked row that has text in it.

A worked example. You are adding a death date to an existing Jones upright:

  • Stone — Family Name: JONES. Stone Type: Upright. Stone Color: Gem Mist. Inscription Location: Front die - right panel.

  • ENGRAVE THIS — Date of Death: 2026. Inscription: 2026, matched to the existing font and centered under 1940 –.

  • Already on stone — DO NOT CUT — Deceased Name: Mary Jones. Date of Birth: 1940. Other Names on Stone: Robert Jones 1938-2011.

A block only prints when it has something in it. If you tick nothing, no ENGRAVE THIS block prints at all, and the ticket sends no cut list to the shop.

Where else the lettering shows up

The same three blocks, same headings, appear in two more places so you can check the work without generating a PDF:

  • Review & Create, the last step of the wizard: a Lettering & Inscription recap at the bottom of the Service Details card. ENGRAVE THIS is green and Already on stone — DO NOT CUT is amber, so the two can never be confused at a glance. Read it before you save.

  • Order Details on a saved order: a read-only Lettering & Inscription row under the service summary, captioned "Only lines under Engrave This are cut". To change anything, reopen the order with Edit Order and go back to Step 3.

Common mistakes

  • Ticking every row after copying. The copy fills the fields so the engraver knows what is already there. Tick only the new work, usually just the date of death.

  • Typing the new date into the sketch as well. On a lettering job the card is the work order. Anything typed on the sketch is cut too, so you would get the line twice.

  • Leaving the existing carving blank. An empty Already on stone — DO NOT CUT block tells the engraver nothing. Fill in the names and dates you can read on the stone even though none of them are ticked.

  • Looking for the card on a monument order. It only appears once you have switched Step 3 to Service.

  • Expecting a price from it. The card is instructions only. Price the job in the Pricing & Measurement block below it, where By Letter Count is usually the right fit for lettering.

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