DATALINK to an Excel Spreadsheet

[Dorrie52]

Since upgrading to AutoCAD LT 2016 I have been unable to use the DATALINK to Excel spreadsheets.  I have gone through the help desk and had 4 different people from AutoDESK work on it, and they are unable to get it to work.  The error message I continue to receive is:

 "Only Excel 2000, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007 file formats are supported.  You will need to save the Excel file into one of these formats."

Since we are using MS2010 here, I can't go back to 2007.  It doesn't make sense to me that as AutoCAD is upgraded it doesn't allow other formats to load into it at the same rate.

Anyone out there know how to get around this?

[Dorrie52]

Hello John.

We removed and then reinstalled Office 2010, verifying all updates to Office and to ACAD were performed, all patches were performed, and none of these did the trick. We ended by sending a request to the support desk, using the old case no (11589163), requesting someone contact myself and my IT person to try a Remote Support, and maybe see what is actually occurring.

Fingers still remain crossed. 🙂

Dorrie Martinchek


[Gamry-225]

_____________________________
Office: (215) 682-9330 ext. 143
Cellphone: (620) 710-1095
Email: dmartinchek@gamry.com
_____________________________
Gamry Instruments = 734 Louis Drive = Warminster, PA 18974 = USA
Phone +215.682.9330 = Fax +215.682.9331 = http://www.gamry.com

[Dorrie52]

Hello John.

We removed and then reinstalled Office 2010, verifying all updates to Office and to ACAD were performed, all patches were performed, and none of these did the trick. We ended by sending a request to the support desk, using the old case no (11589163), requesting someone contact myself and my IT person to try a Remote Support, and maybe see what is actually occurring.

Fingers still remain crossed. 🙂

Dorrie Martinchek


[Gamry-225]

_____________________________
Office: (215) 682-9330 ext. 143
Cellphone: (620) 710-1095
Email: dmartinchek@gamry.com
_____________________________
Gamry Instruments = 734 Louis Drive = Warminster, PA 18974 = USA
Phone +215.682.9330 = Fax +215.682.9331 = http://www.gamry.com

[Dorrie52]

Hello John.

We removed and then reinstalled Office 2010, verifying all updates to Office and to ACAD were performed, all patches were performed, and none of these did the trick.  We ended by sending a request to the support desk, using the old case no (11589163), requesting someone contact myself and my IT person to try a Remote Support, and maybe see what is actually occurring.

Fingers still remain crossed. 

[john.vellek]

HI @Dorrie52

I misunderstood your post. I apologize.

You indicated that you had contacted support with a case number but I am not sure what process you followed but the case did not reflect this. I reached out to the support specialist that worked on the original case number and he will be contacting you to help you resolve the problem.

[Dorrie52]

Thank you.  However, customer support has not contacted me regarding this.  I am still baffled.

[Dorrie52 · Accepted solution]

Problem located!  It turns out that I have the 64-bit version of AutoCAD LT installed, as I should.  However, my Excel resigns on my 32-bit loaded Office.  They do not see each other.  Because of some additional programs I run, I must retain the 32-bit Office on my machine.  According to Microsoft, 64-bit Office 2010 will not load if any 32-bit Office Apps are loaded.  They specifically refer to 32-bit versions of Office 2007. 

The recommended solution for this problem is a VM (virtual machine).  AutoCAD and Excel 64-bit would run in a VM.  Microsoft recommended using their  free VM.

We will try this.  I would definitely consider this an Accepted Solution.

I am very thankful to Autodesk for their help this past Friday.  Zachary Travis (Autodesk) was able to use a TeamViewer with my computer, and he located this error.  Many many thanks.

[Anonymous]

Running a VM (virtual machine) really isn't a good solution. I ran across this forum just now, but have been ignoring trying to fix this problem until I couldn't stand it any longer. I "need" this feature now and am struggling to fix it.

I have used this feature more times than I can count over the past 5 years with different versions of AutoCAD and am currently running 2014. I am using all of the same files I've inserted in the past (with great success). I've never had a problem until recently. I upgraded from Win8 to 10 it worked fine for months. I am now getting the same error:
" only excel 2000, excel 2003, and excel 2007 file formats are supported. you will need to save the excel file into one of these formats."
I believe it is a result from a recent Microsoft windows 10 update. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling AutoCAD 2014, uninstalling deleting all local cad directories, uninstalling deleting all local cad directories AND uninstalling Microsoft C++ Redistributables (all of them). And I still can't get it to work. It's such an integral part of my drawings that I think it's worth the time, but I'm running out of ideas myself but I don't want to go through the hassle of running a VM every time I want to use this built in CAD feature unless I absolutely have to.

I think this problem needs to be revisited.

[john.vellek]

Hi, @Anonymous,

I have never installed 64bit Office. Only the 32bit version. Can you tell me where this is breaking for you? Are you creating new datalinks? Can you share a couple of files? I would like to see a drawing file and the associated excel file.

[Anonymous]

Attached are copies of the original files. I've removed what I would consider proprietary (tried to link files again with same result), but all of the data in the excel file and the linked data in the CAD file are there. I'm running AutoCAD LT 2014, the person that started the thread was using a 2016 product.

I looked at the Microsoft update history, and the first post for on this forum thread subject cropped up 4 days after an OS update. See the following.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12387/windows-10-update-history

April 12, 2016 — KB3147458 (OS Build 10586.218)

Again, this feature worked great until recently, however I ignored it until I had to deal with it, I don't know the exact day I noticed it stopped working but it was recent (past several months).

I can still update these tables but I can't insert any more. I can go in modify that Excel file, save, then update the table in the CAD file with the new excel file revisions. The link to the excel file is still there but I can't create a new one even if I'm trying to reference that same excel file.

[john.vellek]

Hi 3randonC,

In Windows 7 I did the following:

• I created a new sheet in Excel and then saved the file.
• I opened your drawing in AutoCAD 2014
• I created a new datalink,
• I inserted a table using the datalink.

Everything worked fine.

So with all of that done, I need to state that if you are using AutoCAD 2014 on Windows 10, that is not a supported configuration. Please see here for the supported configurations.I have reattached your files.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I am checking back to see if my post helped you with your problem. Please add a post with your results so other Forum users can benefit.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I thought a quick excel table data link in our AutoCAD 2017LT would be a quick solution for importing a materials list for this project and i am faced with the same problem the OP and  3randonC have listed- "This specified Excel file is not valid or not supported."

Now from reading the other posts, everyone,  including my self, which are facing this issue know how a data link works with Excel and they know how to save down a current (newer than 2007) Excel file to 2003 (Excel 97-2003 Workbook). A month ago, this process was working fine as we have developed our workflow around this. Since I sold the office on this workflow I am tasked to fix it.

A little less than a month ago, we gracefully upgraded to Windows 10 (which was painful) and upgraded to ACAD2017LT. My bet is there is a bug with either Windows 10 or ACAD that is not allowing this feature to work. 

Has there been any replication or resolution to this issue?

Computer: 64-bit, Windows 10, Version 1511, OS Build 10586.494

ACAD: 2017LT, N.52.0.0

Excel: Office 2013, 15.0.4841.1002

-Brad

[Dorrie52]

Hello Brad.

Unfortunately, I am still unable to make the two work together, mainly because I have a combination of 32bit and 64bit programs. They don't talk to each other.

I don't see any progress or any attempt either way for this to get better. It is tedious and time consuming, but I have resorted to one of 2 things: 1) starting a table from scratch with each new ACAD document, or making an excel spreadsheet document, then cutting and pasting it to my ACAD document. I am unable to update the Excel in ACAD, but I can always go back to Excel, modify the table there, then again perform a cut, copy, paste.

Thank you for reaching out. It's good to know others are hoping for a solution.

Dorrie Martinchek


[Gamry-225]

_____________________________
Office: (215) 682-9330 ext. 143
Cellphone: (620) 710-1095
Email: dmartinchek@gamry.com
_____________________________
Gamry Instruments = 734 Louis Drive = Warminster, PA 18974 = USA
Phone +215.682.9330 = Fax +215.682.9331 = http://www.gamry.com

[Anonymous]

I too have spent quite a bit of time developing a more stream lined process for importing Excel Documents into AutoCAD that I have not fully introduced to my company. It's both good to hear, and unfortunate that you have 2017LT and and it is not working for you either. I was thinking other than doing Virtual Desktops and running the software on the VD I would need to upgrade to "resolve" this. At this time my hard work and months of development to streamline excel to link to AutoCAD is looking pointless as well.

It won't go over easy telling my coworkers that I've made excel linking easy and streamlined, but you have to use a virtual desktop to get it to work. It won't fly.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks Dorrie, I have never thought to cut/copy and paste the excel spread sheet. It just didn't occur to me. This will save me some inconvenience and work.

[Dorrie52]

Yes.

We toyed with the Virtual Desktop issue at our office as well, but again, it didn't work because some of the programs were 32bit vs 64 bit within our actual system. Workarounds appear to be our best bet at this time.

Best of luck, and let me know how it finally pans out.



Dorrie Martinchek


[Gamry-225]

_____________________________
Office: (215) 682-9330 ext. 143
Cellphone: (620) 710-1095
Email: dmartinchek@gamry.com
_____________________________
Gamry Instruments = 734 Louis Drive = Warminster, PA 18974 = USA
Phone +215.682.9330 = Fax +215.682.9331 = http://www.gamry.com

[Dorrie52]

Yes.

We toyed with the Virtual Desktop issue at our office as well, but again, it didn't work because some of the programs were 32bit vs 64 bit within our actual system. Workarounds appear to be our best bet at this time.

Best of luck, and let me know how it finally pans out.



Dorrie Martinchek


[Gamry-225]

_____________________________
Office: (215) 682-9330 ext. 143
Cellphone: (620) 710-1095
Email: dmartinchek@gamry.com
_____________________________
Gamry Instruments = 734 Louis Drive = Warminster, PA 18974 = USA
Phone +215.682.9330 = Fax +215.682.9331 = http://www.gamry.com

[Anonymous]

Hi,

My excel is RTL, and when I create a table in Autocad it reverse all the content: the last column will be the first ETC. 

Any ideas?

[Dorrie52]

Good morning.

My first impression would be to do a Transpose while the table is in Autocad so that the columns are backwards to begin with, then transfer to AutoCAD and see if it turns out the way you want. If it re-transposes it, then it should be correct?

Not actually seeing the work, I am going off of the way I understand your problem. By RTL, you mean the columns only, and not the text?

Dorrie Martinchek


[Gamry-225]

_____________________________
Office: (215) 682-9330 ext. 143
Cellphone: (620) 710-1095
Email: dmartinchek@gamry.com
_____________________________
Gamry Instruments = 734 Louis Drive = Warminster, PA 18974 = USA
Phone +215.682.9330 = Fax +215.682.9331 = http://www.gamry.com

[Anonymous]

That's right, the text is OK but the columns are reversed. 

Theoretically it's possible, but the table isn't a simple one, and it's too complicated to do that (merged cells, formulas, design ETC ETC).