If you’ve ever built a lighting rig’s paperwork across four different spreadsheets, a Vectorworks file, and a Notes app, paperwork.show is worth a look. It’s a web-based production planning tool built specifically for the technical side of live events — equipment lists, patch, circuiting, labeling, and inventory — and it handles the full chain from pre-production paperwork through to the label printer on the truck.

The core workflow: create a Project, break it into Parts and Positions, build your equipment list against your inventory, patch your fixtures, circuit your power, and generate reports and labels for the crew. Everything is collaborative — share a project with your co-workers so the board op has the same patch sheet the rigger has, without anyone emailing spreadsheet versions back and forth.

What It Does

• Projects — Organized into Parts and Positions with shared color systems, reports, notes, to-dos, and position hints
• Equipment lists — Bulk entry with inventory matching to correct spelling/shorthand; sort by Part, Position, Case, or Bundle
• Inventory — Shared vendor inventories plus personal gear lists; aliasing for variant spellings; category filtering
• Fixtures — Fixture type repository with custom creation, DMX layouts, modes, and aliases; shared across users with your inventory
• Patching — Drag-and-drop with AutoPatch for entire positions; patch sheets in Fixture Number view (board ops) or Universe view (techs); universe sorting and cleanup
• Circuiting — Multi and single circuits (Socas and Edisons), per-circuit fixture assignment, rack management, phasing/voltage, service grouping, load breakdowns, reports and labels per service and rack
• Cable/Looming — Build looms with labels; duplicate, extend, generate by length; auto-attach to circuits and fixtures to track universe and circuit info
• Packaging — Create cases, assign equipment, generate pull lists; auto-case generation from inventory packing settings
• Ordering — Track gear as ordered and received; filter by unordered; mark received on delivery
• Labels — Pre-built labels for fixtures, cables, breakouts, and universes; custom Labelmaker; shareable label templates via Labelsharing
• Truss Tapes — Vectorworks symbol to browser-printable truss tape with position, length, and start/stop labels
• Vectorworks Integration — Bidirectional plugin: push from Vectorworks to create fixtures and import existing info; update in paperwork.show and send back; jumpers, attachments, cables, and looms from symbol data

No pricing is listed publicly — sign up to find out what a licence costs. Worth exploring if you’re currently duct-taping together a production folder from Google Sheets and exported Vectorworks reports.

Learn more about paperwork.show by visiting paperwork.show.