Data link manager can't delete an Excel link

[gccdesign]

I'm messing around with tables and data links, parcticing.

I copied a range of cells in Excel, and did paste special to create a linked table.

Now I can delete the table object, but I cannot delete the link, cannot detach it.

When in Data Manager if I right click on the data link and click delete I get the error message "The data link is being used and cannot be deleted".

I have tried detaching, and the detach does not seem to take.

Now also, the table will not update from the source xls.

I'm sort of wary of using this link to spreadsheet feature if it breaks and is buggy.

Win XP, AcadLT 2011, Office 2010. Using compatible setting for saving spreadsheet, for Office 2007 (not xlsx).

If I create a linked table by starting with the Table icon, choose "from a data link", choose the excel spreadsheet, etc., then I am able to later update the table from the spreadsheet, detach, delete the link, etc. But I can only delete the link if the table is not selected when I open the Data Link Manager.

But the one that was created following the directions from the Autocad video, with the copy, paste special, that link will not detach nor delete.

GChapp

[pendean]

Is HELP working? If yes, look up DATALINK command and also explore the sidebar SEE ALSO section adjacent when you get a chance. Post back if you get stuck of if your right click button has been crippled to only perform <enter> function.

[hikerman]

Pendean,

Sorry, didn't type it fully. DATALINK gives you the data link manager, which I was using.

I did look through help when I had the problem, but not sure what the "section adjacent" is you are referring to.

I do have right click menu functionality and used the data link menu items.

Data link manager was unable to delete that particular data link. It was able to do it's functions on other data links (I tested it). It was just the data link that was created by using paste special that was stuck.

I have been messing with this some more, and when I use the table icon to creat a table and link it to an Excel spreadsheet, then all works fine. Updates, pushing changes back and forth, format updates,deleting, all work fine with other data links. Just that one link was frozen.

So I just won't use the paste special method to create linked tables. The create table icon method suits me fine.

I determined as best as I could that it just wasn't working in that file, so I created new file without it. So I don't have the stuck one to try things on anymore. Case closed.

I prefer to make tables in Excel, and I am happy with how easy it is to create a linked table, update it, etc. It seems stable as long as I don't use the paste special method.

Someday I'll try door & window blocks with attributes and the data extraction function to see if that is helpful for door & window schedules.

Thanks,

GChapp

[rickhebert]

Has this been resolved? I am having this problem with data linking.

I have 26 tables in a drawing and two of them will not delete, giving the same error as stated above.

There are no table objects corresponding to these links in the drawing.

I had to rename them to get them out of the way so I could create them again because of an unrelated issue I was having.

Please advise..

Thanks

[hikerman]

Nope, seems to be an occasional bug. Never was resolved so that it worked properly.

Have to use solutions like you did (renaming).

[rickhebert]

Ok thanks

[Rudedog2]

Has this issue ever been resolved?  It is not an "occasional bug" at all.  This bug is very consistent, and quite easily reproduced.

If you delete a linked table before you detach the datalink, then you're stuck.  You cannot delete the datalink, nor can you insert new linked tables, apparently because of the orphaned datalink..  Okay, guys?  This bug is very consistent, and quite easily reproduced.

I am always forced to scrap the corrupted DWG, and start a new one from scratch.  I have learned to create datalinks in external files that only contain linked tables, so that I do not have to scrap other drawing data with it.

[Rudedog2]

This is the instruction in AutoCAD 2015....

This is the result of right-clicking on a linked table....

Where is the alleged "datalink" selection.  It's not there, folks.  You cannot delete a link to an external file.  It's a bug that is easy to produce.

[pendean]

without access to your DWG file and all the other files that are part of this data link... Your screenshot would seem to indicate that table has nothing to detach.

[Rudedog2]

I hope this link to SkyDrive works.  I zipped the DWG and XLS together.

http://1drv.ms/1USJJtJ

I haven't used it in a few years.

I have trying to use the "Print Area" feature, instead of importing the entire spreadsheet, including hidden rows and columns.

Thanks, ahead of time.

[pendean]

Thanks.

You need to select all the cells inside the table, NOT JUST THE TABLE, then right-click and detach:

[Rudedog2]

Okay, thanks for that.  I also just figured out that if I click on the blank cell in the top-left corner of the table, that works, too.  But,  I still cannot seem to make the "Print Area" function work, not even when I have the files stored on my Windows 7 desktop. 

I can import the entire sheet, not problem.  I've set the Print Area in Excel, but ACAD refuses to import it. It tells that it cannot find the spreadsheet, or that  it may be inaccessible.

Thanks, again.

[pendean]

AutoCAD has no "Excel print area" Table feature.

[Rudedog2]

AutoCAD had an option to import data from a named range of cells, in this case one named "Print Area".  That's how you "filter" what part of a spreadsheet should be exported to a printer, or another application.  This is from the Edit Data Link dialog box.

You can name a range, or go to page layout and highlight a range of cells and "Set Print Area" on them.  Below is a print preview.... Notice how some rows and columns have been hidden in the sheet tab, so that they do not print.  This is with Office 2013 and Autocad 2015.

I will just work around it.  It worked in previous versions of AutoCad, though.  Thanks, again for all of your help and persistence.

[pendean]

Expand that pop-up (tiny arrow in the lower right corner, seems to then work fine (or at least it does here in AutoCAD2016) when I set a smaller print area in your Excel file:

[Rudedog2]

Thanks, for that, Dean.  I will explore your suggestion so more.  So far, whenever I try to do that, I import absolutely nothing. 

However, I have been investigating why is it that you cannot delete table data links.  To re-create the issue, simply delete the table in the sample file that I posted.  Now, try to delete the datalink.  You cannot.  Autocad tells me that the datalink is in use.  But, by what???  You just deleted the table that was using it.

What I have discovered is that the datalink can become associated with a TableStyle definition.  The only way I have found to determine whether or not a TableStyle definition has a datalink associated with it is to use the DesignCenter to drag/insert the suspect TableStyle into a clean fresh drawing.  If the TableStyle has a datalink definition associated with it, then the datalink definition will appear in the Data Link Manager Dialog Box.

I suspect that this datalink association to a TableStyle definition begins with how the TableStyle is initially defined.  In my case, I imported a spreadsheet from Excel, reformated the cell sizes and column widths to fit the data.  Next, I created a TableStyle that used that linked datatable as the "starting table" to define the TableStyle. 

I believe that using a linked table as the "starting table" imbeds the datalink somehow within the TableStyle definition.  Curiously, you cannot delete the suspect TableStyle, either.  I believe this reproduces the "bug" that people encounter when they cannot delete a datalink.  It's because it is associated with a TableStyle, and the TableStyle cannot be deleted because it would delete a datalink "that is in use."  It becomes a Catch-22.

Hope this helps.

[msisler · Accepted solution]

Going from there, we can delete the datalink.

Use the TABLESTYLE command;

Select the Table Style that has the Starting Table and click Modify;

Click the Delete icon in the upper left under "Select table to start from" as shown here:

 

and click Yes in the confirmation dialog box (the Delete icon will gray out);

Click OK and Close to exit out of Modify Table Style diaolog box.

You can now go to the DATALINK command and delete the link.

This thread is awesome by the way.

[phillong]

thanks Buddy! this worked for me. Eternally grateful.

[john.ipsc]

I nearly abandoned reading this thread as the above wasn't working, thanks a TON msisler.

[lindabondhill]

Sooo glad I found this thread!  I looked up "removing/deleting Excel Link" in the Help menu, but couldn't find the answer. Thanks!