# Build a bookcase round a doorway

Remove the cells where the door goes, give the doorway its size, and the frame wraps round it.

A removed cell is a gap in the carcass: the panels round it become its edges.

![A bookcase round a doorway: a tower each side, a bridge of shelves over the door](/docs/img/how-to/carcass-doorway.jpg)

## Make the bookcase

1. Select **File ▸ New ▸ Bookcase…**.
2. At **Width**, type `2600`. At **Height**, type `2400`.
3. Click **Create**.
4. In the **Layout** section, at **Column widths**, click **+** two times.
5. At **Row heights**, click **+** two times.

## Choose the shelves

Do this first. Contents that you set over a range also replace a removed cell. Row 1 goes over the door and is about 300 mm high, so it gets no shelves.

1. Click cell **A1**, then hold Shift and click cell **C1**.
2. Click **Contents…**.
3. At **Shelves**, type `0`.
4. Click **Apply to A1:C1**.
5. Click cell **A2**, then hold Shift and click cell **C3**.
6. Click **Contents…**. At **Shelves**, type `2`.
7. Click **Apply to A2:C3**.

## Remove the cells for the doorway

1. Click cell **B2**, then hold Shift and click cell **B3**.
2. Click **Merge**.
3. Click **Contents…**, and select **Remove cell**.
4. At **Doorway width**, type `850`. At **Doorway height**, type `2050`.
5. Click **Apply to B2:B3**.

The doorway width and height are the clear opening that the bookcase must leave. If the door has an architrave, measure across the architrave.

The grid shows **B2:B3** as a gap. Merge the doorway's cells before you remove them, so that the check measures the doorway as one gap.

![The Layout section: B2:B3 removed, and the check with its two fixes](/docs/img/how-to/carcass-doorway-grid.jpg)

## Make the gap the doorway's size

The check under the grid gives the gap's clear size. The width is between the panels each side. The height is from the floor to the panel over the gap.

1. If the check shows ⚠, click **Make column B 850 mm wide**.
2. Click the **Make rows 2 to 3 … mm high** button.

The check then shows ✓ **850 × 2050 mm clear**, and each tower has spaces of about 310 mm. The panels each side of the doorway go down to the floor. The bottom, the plinth and the back stop at the doorway.

## Build it as separate carcasses

In one frame, the top is 2564 mm long, longer than a sheet. The check ⚠ **Top 2564 × 300 mm: longer than a 2440 × 1220 mm … sheet** says so.

1. In that check, click **Build as separate carcasses**.

Each tower is a carcass, and the bridge over the door is a shorter carcass. The gap is now the bridge carcass's outside width, so it is wider than the door.

2. In the check, click **Make column B 814 mm wide so the gap is 850 mm**.

![The same bookcase as separate carcasses: the bridge is its own carcass over the doorway](/docs/img/how-to/carcass-doorway-boxes.jpg)

A gap does not go under a raked top, or with sliding or in-frame doors. Every row and every column keeps one cell at least, and the cells that you keep must touch side to side.

Next: [Fit a carcass into an alcove](/docs/how-to/furniture/fit-a-carcass-into-an-alcove/).