Boardsmith documentation
Boardsmith draws a whole deck from one layout and one table. These pages explain that idea, and then everything built on top of it.
If you have just installed it, read Getting started — it takes you from an empty window to a printed page in about ten minutes. Everything else here can be read out of order.
The idea, in one paragraph
A blueprint is a layout: text, artwork and shapes on a card-sized canvas.
A deck is a table — one row per card, columns holding the words and numbers
that differ. A field on the blueprint reads a column by writing
{name} or {cost} in its text, so one layout draws two
hundred cards. Change the layout once and every card changes; change a row and one
card changes. Where a single card genuinely needs to break the rule, it can override
the blueprint on its own — but that is the exception, not the way the tool works.
Where to go
| Getting started | Install, first project, first export |
| Blueprints | Fields, layers, groups, guides, card size and bleed |
| Decks and data | CSV and spreadsheets, columns, copies, per-card overrides |
| Text and markup | Inline bold, colour, icons, auto-size, overflow |
| Variables | Project-wide values a hundred cards share |
| Export | Images, sheets, file names, scale, merging decks |
| Printing and pre-press | Bleed, cut lines, CMYK, PDF/X, print-shop presets |
| Tabletop Simulator | Sheets, saved objects, importing an existing mod |
| Languages | One deck, several languages, side by side |
| Keyboard shortcuts | The whole list, and how to rebind it |
| Licence and activation | What Pro is, keys, machines, refunds |
Something missing or wrong here? Say so on Discord — these pages are written from the questions people actually ask.