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Officially verified details CalcAuthor

Engineering calculation and report writing software. Live, unit-aware calculations and professional reports in one place. 7-day free trial.

CalcAuthor

CalcAuthor Reviews and Details

This page is designed to help you find out whether CalcAuthor is good and if it is the right choice for you.

Screenshots and images

  • Dashboard //
    2026-10-23
  • Report Editor //
    2026-10-23
  • Team Management //
    2026-10-23
  • Custom Styling for Report //
    2026-10-23
  • Help Documentation //
    2026-10-23

Features & Specs

  1. Unit-Aware Calculations

    Mixed units (kN/m, GPa, mm⁴) convert automatically within a single formula, catching unit-mismatch errors before they reach a reviewer.

  2. Natural Math Notation

    Formulas render as real typeset math — proper fractions, exponents, and italic variables — instead of plain text or spreadsheet cells.

  3. Automatic Table of Contents

    The table of contents renumbers itself as sections are added, reordered, or deleted, with no manual upkeep before submission.

  4. Cross-References

    Inline references to other sections, equations, or figures stay correct automatically as the document is edited.

  5. Auto-Numbered Citations & References

    Citing a source once numbers it correctly and keeps the reference list in sync, even when new citations are added later in the document.

  6. Pass/Fail Result Flags

    Calculated results flag their own compliance state directly next to the math, instead of requiring a separate checklist.

  7. Auto-Numbered Figures

    Diagrams get an automatically numbered caption, with a List of Figures that builds and renumbers itself as figures are added or reordered.

  8. Cover Page & Document Control

    Document number, revision, date, and sign-off blocks (Prepared, Verified, Approved) are generated automatically on every report.

  9. Running Header & Page Numbering

    Document identifiers and page counts repeat correctly on every page automatically, updating everywhere when changed once.

  10. Word-Processor-Style Pagination

    A live, Word-style page-break preview shows exactly how the document will paginate while editing, not just at export.

  11. Custom Team Style Presets

    Teams can define and share their own document styling presets, so every member's reports follow the same formatting standard.

  12. Per-Line Notes & Code-Clause References

    Individual calculation lines can carry notes or direct references to the design-code clause they satisfy.

  13. Autosave

    Work is saved automatically while editing, without requiring a manual save step.

  14. One-Click PDF Export

    Generates a submission-ready PDF report directly from the live document.

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Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing CalcAuthor.
  1. What makes CalcAuthor unique?

    Most tools either calculate or document — not both. CalcAuthor treats the calculation and the report as one connected object: units convert automatically within a formula, and the parts of an engineering report that normally require manual upkeep — table of contents, citations, cross-references, figure numbering, running headers — update themselves as the document changes. The output is a submission-ready PDF, not a raw result that still needs formatting.

  2. Why should a person choose CalcAuthor over its competitors?

    Spreadsheets don't understand units and produce no document structure. Legacy calculation tools like Mathcad require a desktop install and still leave document-level upkeep (TOC, citations, figure numbering) to the user. CalcAuthor runs in the browser, is built for teams (shared style presets, safe concurrent-editing via document locking), and turns a calculation directly into a submission-ready report without a separate formatting pass.

  3. How would you describe the primary audience of CalcAuthor?

    Structural, civil, and mechanical engineers — and the firms they work for — who need to produce calculation packages for permit submissions, peer review, or client deliverables. Both individual engineers and engineering teams.

  4. Which are the primary technologies used for building CalcAuthor?

    Built on .NET 8 (C#) for the API and Blazor WebAssembly for the client, with PostgreSQL via Entity Framework Core for data. Stripe handles billing, Resend handles transactional email, and Cloudflare Turnstile protects signup from automated abuse. Hosted on Render.

  5. Who are some of the biggest customers of CalcAuthor?

    CalcAuthor is used by individual structural, civil, and mechanical engineers producing calculation packages for permit submissions and client deliverables, as well as engineering teams and firms that need consistent report formatting and unit-aware calculations across multiple engineers working on the same projects.

  6. What's the story behind CalcAuthor?

    CalcAuthor started from the day-to-day frustration of writing an engineering calculation report: switching between a calculation tool, a word processor, and a spreadsheet just to produce one document. Every edit meant redoing work by hand elsewhere — adding a section meant renumbering the Table of Contents, List of Figures, and List of Tables manually; mixing unit systems meant tracking conversions yourself with no safety net; and keeping formatting consistent across a long report meant constant re-checking instead of writing. CalcAuthor was built to collapse that into one tool, where the calculation, the units, and the document structure all stay correct automatically as the report is written.

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