The DXF Layer-Naming Convention: Tag Cuts, Pockets, and Holes Automatically

DXF files are flat — they carry shapes, but not what to do with them. Normally that means a quick interactive step after upload where you click each profile and tag it as a through-cut, pocket, dado, or drill. But if you're producing DXFs regularly, there's a power-user shortcut: name your layers using our convention, and every feature tags itself the moment the file lands. No tagging — just review and confirm. It's built for CNC routing, and most of it carries over to fiber laser cutting — see the rules below.

The convention

Put each feature type on its own layer, and encode the operation — plus its dimensions — in the layer name. Layer names are case-insensitive (THRU, thru, and Thru all work), and the common synonyms your CAD or CAM template already uses are recognized too. Here's the vocabulary:

• THRU — everything on this layer is a through-cut, cut fully through the sheet. Use it for interior cutouts and windows. INSIDE, INTERIOR, CUTOUTS and HOLES mean the same thing, and round cutouts on these layers are quoted as holes.
• POCKET-0.375 — closed profiles on this layer are pockets machined 0.375" deep. Change the number for other depths: POCKET-0.5 is a half-inch-deep pocket, and Pocket 0.25in or pocket_6mm work too. A plain POCKET layer is recognized as well — we assume a depth and flag it for you to set.
• DADO-0.75-0.25 — dados (channels) 0.75" wide and 0.25" deep. Format is DADO-{width}-{depth}. Draw the dado's centerline or its outline; the width in the name governs. A single number (DADO-0.75, Dado 18mm) is the width — we assume a depth and flag it for you to set.
• DRILL-0.25-THRU — circles on this layer become 0.25" diameter holes drilled through. Format is DRILL-{diameter}-THRU.
• DRILL-0.25-0.5 — 0.25" diameter holes drilled 0.5" deep (blind). Format is DRILL-{diameter}-{depth}. Metric works: DRILL 5mm 12mm.
• ENGRAVE — lines and shapes on this layer are scribed, not cut out. ETCH, SCORE, V-CARVE and V-GROOVE mean the same thing — handy for text and logos, including letters with closed centers.

Your outer part profile can live on any other layer — typically 0 or OUTLINE — and is detected automatically as the outermost closed boundary. Everything the convention doesn't recognize simply falls back to the interactive tagger, so a partially named file still works; you'll just click the leftovers.

A worked example

Say you're cutting a 3/4" Baltic birch cabinet side: the panel outline, a shelf dado, a row of shelf-pin holes, and a rectangular wire-pass cutout. Your layer list would look like this:

• OUTLINE — the panel's outer profile
• THRU — the wire-pass rectangle
• DADO-0.73-0.25 — the shelf dado, 0.73" wide (the measured sheet plus clearance), 0.25" deep
• DRILL-0.25-0.5 — the shelf-pin holes, 1/4" diameter, 1/2" deep

Upload that file and the feature report appears already populated: one outer profile, one through-cut, one dado at 0.73" × 0.25", and a counted set of quarter-inch blind holes. You review it, confirm, and you're at a live price — the tagging step never appears.

Rules and edge cases

• Dimensions are inches unless you add a unit (in, mm, cm). In DXF layer names, write decimals (0.375, 6mm): AutoCAD and most CAD programs don't allow / or " in a layer name. Fractions like 3/8 are read too, where your software allows them (SVG layer and group names, for example). Don't write a fraction with a dash or an underscore (3-8, 1_4) — those read as whole numbers. In a millimeter drawing, a bare depth of 1 or more is read as millimeters.
• Case doesn't matter: pocket-0.375, Pocket-0.375, and POCKET-0.375 are identical.
• One depth per layer. Pockets at two different depths need two layers: POCKET-0.25 and POCKET-0.5.
• Drill layers expect circles. A circle on a DRILL layer is treated as a hole of the named diameter — if the drawn circle's diameter disagrees with the layer name, the report flags the mismatch for you to resolve.
• Profiles must be closed for pockets and through-cuts; the auto-cleaner will close hairline gaps, but genuinely open geometry gets flagged.
• Unrecognized layer names are harmless. Anything on them just routes to the interactive tagger.
• Drawing furniture is left out automatically: Defpoints, dimensions, notes, title blocks, hidden, center and construction lines, and any layer that's turned off, frozen or set not to plot. Name a layer NO CUT to keep it out on purpose. The cleanup report lists every layer we skipped.
• Layered artwork works. If your layers stack — a backer with letters or map regions laid on top, or an inlay and the opening it fits — each layer becomes its own set of pieces, named after the layer, so each can be cut from its own material.
• On the fiber laser, THRU, DRILL…-THRU and ENGRAVE layers read the same way — holes are cut rather than drilled, and engrave lines are etched — but POCKET and DADO layers can't be cut in metal, so the quote flags them. The laser file prep guide covers the rest of a laser file.
• You always have the last word. After upload, open Layers… on the quote page to see every layer in your file and set it to cut out, cutouts, pocket, engrave or don't cut. We re-read the file with your choices.

Why bother?

Speed and repeatability. If you're an exhibit house pushing out revision DXFs all week, the convention turns every upload into a confirm-and-price operation — and it makes your intent unambiguous, which is exactly what you want on the file your shop drawing is built from. Set up a layer template in AutoCAD, Fusion 360, Vectorworks, or Illustrator once, and every file you export after that is pre-tagged forever.

And remember the even shorter shortcut: if the part exists as a 3D solid, export a STEP instead. Depths come along for free and no naming is needed. The layer convention is for teams whose pipeline is natively 2D — for them, it's the difference between clicking through fifty features and clicking Confirm once.