Seating Chart
Getting started
Create or select a classroom on the left. Enter one student name per line, then arrange rectangular desks and round tables. Add color choices, student wishes or seating rules when needed, choose a search level and press Place students randomly. Changes are saved automatically with the selected classroom.
Classrooms, saving, export and import
Create classroom starts a new classroom. Rename changes its name, Duplicate layout makes an independent copy, and Delete layout permanently removes it. Export classroom saves the complete classroom to a file, including desks, round tables, students, rules, wishes, color choices, placements and Group Generator data; Import classroom loads that file again. There is no separate Save button because normal changes are saved automatically. Use Align all to grid in the Seating Chart tools when you want rectangular desks aligned to the grid.
Students and color choices
Enter one student name per line. Editing or adding names does not clear the current seating plan; press Place students when you want a new placement. In Color choices, check one or more students and assign a choice; the checkmarks clear automatically afterwards. Students without a color choice are neutral. Use the hide/show buttons to collapse the editor or hide/show colors in the chart and teacher view.
Student wishes and seating rules
Student wishes are prioritized: the first name is preference 1, the next is preference 2, and so on. Sit together and Do not sit together are mandatory and use places that physically touch. Near and Distance apart are preferences; Not near is mandatory. Front row, Back row, Left wall and Right wall are mandatory position rules. Every place at the same round table counts as both touching and nearby every other place at that table. Select a rule and press Delete selected rule to remove it.
Desks, round tables and room size
Add desk creates a rectangular desk. Empty prevents a place from receiving a student, Lock keeps the assigned name there, Move lets selected desks move together, and Delete removes the desk. Move all marks every place for group movement and becomes Move none when everything is marked. For a round table, choose 1–8 seats and press Add round table; each seat has its own Empty and Lock control. Drag the table to move it, and drag a student-name row around the table to change the order while the other names shift one place. Snap to grid and Align all to grid help align rectangular desks. Room size can be Small, Medium, Large or Extra large and orientation can be Horizontal or Vertical. The BOARD/top edge stays fixed; width changes equally left/right and height changes only at the bottom. Zoom changes only the on-screen Seating Chart view.
Placing students
Place students randomly creates a new seating plan. Locked names stay in place. Mandatory rules are handled first, then student wishes, color-choice preferences and other preferences are improved during the selected search rounds. The progress bar and counter show the search; Stop improvement keeps the best valid result found so far. Previous seating can try to avoid the same touching-desk neighbor from the last 1, 3 or 5 placements and reports repeats. Place in numbered order ignores all rules while assigning student 1 to Desk 1, student 2 to Desk 2 and so on, then reports any broken rules.
Simple Class Group Generator
Choose any number of groups, including 1, and press Generate groups. This uses the Seating Chart student list, pair rules, wishes and color-choice preference; position rules are ignored. Groups are still created when a mandatory rule must be broken, and the broken rule is shown beside the affected student. Previous groups can try to avoid groups identical to the last 1, 3, 5 or 10 generations. Alphabetical order and Random order only change the order of names inside each group. Copy groups copies clean text, Show on external display shows clean groups, and Hide/Show color choices controls the displayed colors.
Teacher view, printing and attendance
Teacher desk chart shows the same seating plan from the BOARD/teacher side while keeping names readable. You can hide/show the view or colors, zoom the on-screen view, Crop image to remove unused space, Reset size, print the chart or copy a clean teacher image. Attendance checkboxes are editing controls and are not included in printed or copied images. Mark absent students, use Mark all or Clear all marks when useful, then Register absence to save one name per line with date and time. Absence folder chooses the storage folder and is remembered until you change it. The main Seating Chart can also be copied as an image or shown cleanly on an external display.
Group generator
Getting started
Select a classroom, enter one student name per line in the Group Generator list, then add color choices, student wishes or group rules when needed. Choose the number of groups and the maximum size of each group, choose a search level and press Generate groups. Group Generator data is saved automatically inside the selected classroom.
Student list and color choices
The Group Generator has its own student list. Editing a name updates existing groups, rules, locks, color choices and wishes without generating new groups. To assign a color choice, check students and choose a choice; the checkmarks clear automatically afterwards. Students without a color choice are neutral. The color-choice rule can require or prefer same choices together, same choices apart, or different choices apart; rules that say must are mandatory and rules that say should are preferences.
Student wishes and group rules
Select a student and enter preferred groupmates in priority order; the first name is preference 1. Import wishes from Seating Chart copies wishes for matching student names. For two selected students you can add Must be in the same group, Must be in different groups, Should be in the same group or Should be in different groups. The selected students remain selected after adding a rule. Select a rule and press Delete selected rule to remove it.
Group setup and previous groups
Choose how many groups to create and set the maximum size separately for each group. A group with maximum 1 may contain one student and is filled first; other groups are kept at two or more students whenever the setup allows it. Previous groups can prefer that no group is identical to a group from the last 1, 3, 5 or 10 generations. This history preference has lower priority than student wishes, color-choice preferences and the other group preferences, and any repeated group is reported.
Generate groups and search
Generate groups first searches for a grouping that satisfies mandatory rules, locks and group maximums, then uses the selected improvement rounds to improve preferences. Quick is fastest; higher search levels try more possibilities. The progress bar and counter show the improvement rounds, and Stop improvement keeps the best valid grouping found so far. If the mandatory setup is impossible, the app reports the conflict so you can change a rule, lock, group count or maximum size.
Results, locks and manual moves
Beside each student, the result shows only relevant preference information or a rule that is not met. Problems that apply to a whole group, such as too many students, are shown under the group. Use the checkboxes to select students; Mark all and Clear marks change all selections. Lock marked keeps selected students in their current groups when you generate again, and Unlock marked removes those locks. Move marked to moves selected students directly to a chosen group; manual moves ignore rules and maximum sizes, then report any resulting problems. Hide/Show color choices controls colors in the result.
Copy and external display
Copy groups copies clean group headings and student names to the clipboard. Show on external display presents clean groups on a second monitor or projector. Editing checkboxes, lock icons, preference text and rule-status text are not included in copied text or on the external display.