Classroom chart with names
A floor plan with a name on every desk. Your own copy for the desk while the names are still being learned — and the same sheet works for a substitute teacher as it is.
For teachers
Classroom seating charts — students in the right seats, fast
Say once who must not sit together, who works well together and who needs a seat at the front. Let the app place the rest, or decide yourself. A new term, an exam or group work is a matter of seconds after that — and so is a new room.
Runs in the browser on a computer or tablet. Nothing to install, no account to try it.
On a phone you can browse and show a finished seating plan. Building one goes better on a bigger screen. Email this link to myself
▶ From an empty classroom to a finished chart
A seating chart is a teaching tool, not a furniture plan
A good seating chart makes the lesson run more smoothly. Students who help each other learn side by side, the one who needs the teacher's attention at the front, the ones who distract each other far apart. And all of it is supposed to be held in your head, every time the layout changes.
In Pulpetti you draw the classroom once and state the rules once. After that you seat the students however you like: drag a name from the list onto a desk, swap two students over, or let the app do the work. Rules belong to the group rather than to one chart, so they still apply in the next layout — and the one after that.
Automation is never compulsory. You can build the whole classroom chart by hand, lock the seats you have already thought through and draw only the rest. If a rule is not met, the note below the chart says whose seat it is about and why.
Everything happens in the browser: nothing to install, no permissions to request on the school computer. The same tool opens on the classroom computer, at home and on a tablet.
Sound familiar?
Four situations that come back term after term.
- I drew the classroom chart on squared paper. It lasted one term — and the next autumn I started again from a blank sheet.The classroom is drawn once and stays on its own. A new class means a new name list, not a new floor plan: the same room serves year after year and group after group.
- The same group sits in five different rooms during the week. Each one would need its own layout — and the same things remembered every time.Rules belong to the group, not to the room. Draw each classroom once and make the same group its own seating plan in every one: the same rules apply in all of them without your writing them down again.
- I made a new layout between terms and only noticed in the lesson that those two had ended up side by side again.Mark it once — "these two not side by side" — and it stays with the group. Draw a new layout as many times as you like: the rule applies every time, and you do not have to hold it in your head.
- A new layout means five minutes of confusion: who sits where, and the chart is the wrong way round as well.Show the chart full screen on the classroom wall — that works on the free plan too. One button turns the view around, so the chart faces the way the students see it and left and right do not cross over.
You build the classroom chart once — seating students yourself or stating the rules — and the rest of the term is seat changes, not starting over.
How to make a classroom seating chart
01
Add the students
Type the names one by one or paste the whole class at once: select the name column in your list, copy and paste. Besides a name, a student can have a tag and a note — the tag groups and colors the names on the chart, the note is a free remark such as "needs a seat at the front".
02
Draw the classroom
Start from a ready-made template or drag the desks into place one at a time. Besides desks there are round and rectangular group tables, a teacher's desk and single chairs — plus more than ten other objects: the board, windows, a door, walls, pillars and a fire exit. No tape measure is needed, but you can have an exact plan by entering the dimensions of the room and the desks.
▶ Building the classroom
03
State the rules and seat the class
Ten rule types, with the ones that matter in a classroom at the top: who must not sit side by side or at the same table, who works well together, who always sits in the front row and who sits at the back. Then either move the names onto the desks yourself, or press "Draw all" and fine-tune the rest by hand.
▶ Seats change by dragging
04
Print it or show it
The classroom chart with names for a substitute teacher or for your own folder, the name list alphabetically or by table. In presentation mode the chart fills the screen for the classroom wall — and the view can be turned around so that it matches the direction the students see it from.
Try it yourself and see how easy it is to make a seating chart. Try it free
Rules belong to the group, not to one chart
This is the difference from paper and from a spreadsheet. When you record a rule, it is not a mark in one layout but something you know about your group. It travels into every layout you make for that group — including next term's.
Say it once, it holds every time
When you mark "these two not side by side", the app keeps it. Draw the layout again as many times as you like — the rule applies every time.
Front row and back row as rules of their own
Support needs, hearing or eyesight, concentration: the reason is yours to know, but the seat stays without your having to remember it each time. "Always in the front row" and "Always in the back row" are rule types of their own.
You see at once if a rule is not met
Below the chart there is a plain-language note about every broken rule, naming names. It does not stop you saving, it makes sure the matter is noticed.
Lock whatever you have already thought through
Some seats are decided in advance. Locked seats stay put when you draw the rest again.
- Not side by side — two named students apart
- Not at the same table — apart at group tables
- Side by side — a working pair together
- Same table — a group together
- Always in the front row — a seat close to the board
- Always in the back row — when that is the seat that works
- At a given table — a named seat
- Sits alone — a desk of their own when the situation calls for it
The chart does not stay on screen
The same seating chart produces the papers a classroom actually needs.
Name list
Alphabetically by surname or grouped by table. Tags and notes come along only if you choose them.
Name cards for the desks
Folded cards with the name on both sides. In the first weeks with a new class the names can be read straight off the desk, and on an exam day everyone finds their own seat without being shown.
Group table signs
The table number and the students at that table on a standing sign — on a group work day everyone finds their table themselves.
You see a preview of every printout before printing. The same is available as a PDF, so the chart can be sent on or printed on the staff room computer without the file changing. Next term's starting point does not have to be found in a pile of paper: seating charts stay in the app, and an old one gives you a copy to build the new one from.
Paste your own class list and try printing it. Try it free
One tool, many situations
Exam layout
Copy the classroom and pull the desks apart in the copy — the everyday room is left untouched. Make it its own seating chart for the same group: the same rules apply, but friends end up in different rows. When the exam week comes you open a finished chart instead of making one in a hurry.
The chart in your hand
The chart is first of all your own tool: it shows you at a glance what the class looks like, and the names are right even while you are still learning them. When there is a substitute teacher, the same chart tells them what they could not know from anywhere else: who sits where.
Group work tables
Keep the classroom in rows and make a copy of it with the desks gathered into group tables. Both exist at the same time, and you switch working methods by opening the other chart. The grouping can be drawn again for every task, and the rules make sure the same set does not always end up together.
A new class in the autumn
While the names are still being learned, the chart on screen is a memory aid. Name cards on the desks help both you and the students through the first weeks, and the layout can be changed as you learn who works well together.
Everything a classroom chart needs
From drawing the room to the finished printout — in one tool.
Draw the classroom
- Desks whose seat count and row length can be changed at any time
- Group tables as circles, squares and rectangles — same students, different layout
- Copy the classroom into another layout — the original stays untouched
- Teacher's desk, board, windows, door and fire exit
- Exact dimensions if you want them: the room in meters or feet, the desks down to the centimeter or inch
- Ready-made templates that build a whole classroom in one choice
Group the students
- Paste the class list from the clipboard, duplicates caught at once
- Colored tags and rules built around them
- A note on a student: "needs a seat at the front" recorded, not remembered
- Ten rule types: who apart, who together, who in the front row
- Drag a name onto a desk or swap two students over
Use it and share it
- Lock a single seat before a new draw
- A seat change mid-lesson: drag a name to another desk on a computer or a tablet
- Several layouts for the same group: everyday, exam, group work
- Presentation mode full screen — the chart on the classroom wall
- Turn the view 180°: the chart the same way round as seen from the front of the room
- Printing and PDF: classroom chart, name list, name cards, table signs
Data protection
A tool that asks for as little as possible
These are minors, and it shows in what the app asks for. Everything below is built in, not settings you would have to go looking for.
- A name is enough. No date of birth, no address, no guardian details. First names or nicknames alone if you prefer — the app needs nothing more than something that tells students apart on the chart.
- No attendance tracking. In the other settings a person can be given a status (coming, not coming). For schools it has not been built at all: attendance belongs in the school's own systems, and there is no reason to collect it here.
- You decide what ends up on paper. A printout always carries names and seats — that is what it is for. The tag and the note are choices of their own in the export view, and the note is off by default: "needs a seat at the front" does not start circulating unless you chose it. On name cards, table signs and the chart shown on the classroom wall, neither appears at all.
- In the cloud the data is on your account only. Storage runs over a secure connection. The same groups and charts open on the school computer and at home. You can download everything as a backup or clear the cloud data entirely — either one in a single action, at any time.
Why not paper or a spreadsheet?
A paper chart survives one version. A spreadsheet knows names but not the classroom. Neither remembers the rules for you or tells you when one of them breaks.
| Pen and paper | Spreadsheet | Pulpetti | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rules survive from one layout to the next | – | – | ✓ |
| Seating that follows the rules | – | – | ✓ |
| A note when a rule is broken | – | – | ✓ |
| Front row and back row as rules of their own | – | – | ✓ |
| A classroom plan to scale | laborious | – | ✓ |
| The same room in rows and as group tables | – | laborious | ✓ |
| Several layouts for the same group | – | partly | ✓ |
| A classroom chart with names as a printout | laborious | – | ✓ |
Frequently asked questions
Is the free plan enough for one group?
Not for a whole class: the free plan allows up to 15 students, one group, one classroom and one seating chart. That is enough for trying it out and for a small group, but an ordinary class is bigger. The limits are counted per setting, and the limit cannot be worked around by splitting a class into several groups.
Do I have to create an account to try it?
No. You can open the app straight in your browser and try it with the ready-made example class or with your own names. Without signing in, your data stays in your own browser.
Can I make several seating charts for the same class?
Yes, on the paid plans. A seating chart is always a combination of a group and a classroom, and the rules belong to the group — so the same set of rules applies to every layout. If the desks stay where they are, you can make as many layouts in the same classroom as you like and switch between them from the list. If the furniture changes — desks apart for an exam or gathered into group tables — copy the classroom and edit the copy: the original layout and its charts stay untouched.
How do I mark that a student needs a seat at the front?
With the rule type "Always in the front row". It is the student's rule rather than a mark on one chart, so the seat stays even when you draw the layout again. The counterpart "Always in the back row" exists in the same way. The reason is not recorded anywhere unless you write it in the note yourself.
Does the chart show the room the way it looks from the front of the class?
It does, if you want it to. One button turns the chart 180 degrees: "From the teacher" draws the room from where you are standing, "From the students" from where they are sitting. The content of the chart does not change, only the direction you look from — which removes the usual confusion of left and right crossing over.
Can I import the class list from a file?
There is no file import. Names are pasted from the clipboard: select the name column in a spreadsheet or a list, copy and paste — one name per line. The app points out duplicates and removes them in one click.
Does this work on the classroom computer and on a tablet?
The app is designed for computers and tablets — drawing the room needs room on the screen. Nothing has to be installed, so no installation rights are needed on the school computer. Touch gestures work on a tablet: pinch to zoom, and a name can be moved with a finger, so moving one student to another desk works mid-lesson too. One thing to note about devices: without signing in, the data is only in the browser where it was made. For the same chart to open on another device, you need cloud storage on a paid plan.
What is stored about the students?
Only what you write yourself: a name, and if you want, a tag and a free note. No dates of birth, no guardian details, and no attendance field at all in school use. Without signing in, the data stays in your own browser; on the paid plans it is in a secure cloud and you can export or delete it yourself.
Before you draw the classroom, it is worth deciding what you want the seats to do. We collected what the research says about rows, group tables and how often seats should change into a guide of its own.
Read the guide: what really matters in a classroom seating chart →A fair price
A class is bigger than the free plan's 15 people, so for teaching the subscription is the right choice — the one-off purchase suits a single group and a single chart.
Free
€0
Permanent, not a trial
- 1 group, 1 classroom and 1 chart
- Up to 15 students
- The full room editor, tags and rules
- The same draw as on the paid plans
- No printing and no PDF
- Data only in your own browser
One-off
€4.99
One payment, does not renew · valid for 3 months
- 1 group, any number of students
- 1 classroom and 1 chart
- Printing and PDF export
- Cloud storage and sync between devices
- Valid for 3 months from purchase
- Covers the school setting only
Recommended
Subscription
€2.49/ month
or €27.39 / year (€2.28 / month)
- Unlimited groups, rooms and charts
- Everyday, exam and group work layouts side by side
- Printing and PDF export
- Cloud storage and sync between devices
- All four settings on the same account
- Cancel at any time
Start free
Prices include VAT. Charged in euros. At checkout you can pay in your own currency.
Behind Pulpetti
Pulpetti came out of a practical need. My partner is a teacher and needs the seating to help keep the classroom calm. Holding every constraint in your head at once takes time, and next term the work starts over from nothing.
I have organised events myself, so I have seen the same work from the banquet hall side as well. I am a software developer by trade, and I decided to build a program that runs in the browser and keeps the rules between people unchanged from one occasion to the next. If something puzzles you or you want to suggest a new feature, write to me. I hope you like it!
Tomi NevalainenMaker of Pulpetticontact@pulpetti.com
Try it with your own class
Paste the names, draw the classroom and see what kind of chart comes out. No account needed.
Try it free