You activate this option if you want to output the BOM to an ASCII file. In the AutoCAD Maskfiles list, the default mask file (print template) is GEN_POS (for an itemized BOM) and GEN_SUM (for a summarized BOM). The ASCII output template files have the extension *TXD.

If you wish, you can also specify the name of a user-defined template. This will also appear in the list if you store it in the appropriate subdirectory.

Since data is output to a template file, this means that the data records coming from the *.TXT file can be formatted so that they can be processed further. You can, for example, restrict the length of the data records, or sort the data records by field so that they can be processed by a database application.

• You can enter a file name for the .TXD file (if it is different from the name of the BOM file). The *.TXD file contains the BOM data, formatted in accordance with the template selected.
• Theoretically, the name of the drawing can be different from the name of the BOM, and the name of the BOM different from the name of the *.TXD file. However, it makes sense to give the drawing, the *.TXT BOM file, and the *.TXD ASCII output file the same name. This will enable you to find the files more quickly, and organize them better.