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Is there really no way to import Excel directly into REVIT?

22 REPLIES 22
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Message 1 of 23
SteveR...
28868 Views, 22 Replies

Is there really no way to import Excel directly into REVIT?

Searching through prior threads it seems that this is the case.  It is baffling that Autodesk hasn't included a simple way to do this.  It seems that their excuse is that this defeats the purpose of a BIM model.  Excel is a very powerful calculation tool, not to mention just a very efficient way of presenting data, until REVIT can do the same things, Excel will continue to be necessary.

 

Autodesk people, do you do ANY market research to determine how people in the real world actually use your software?  It seems that you have absolutely no understanding of the need to do things quickly.

22 REPLIES 22
Message 2 of 23
abulla
in reply to: SteveR...

I agree it's frustrating at first, but give Revit schedules a chance. They use the same formula formatting as Excel, and they're just as powerful, if not more so once you get them down. That being said, getting them down does take a while, and we still combine AutoCAD drawings with Excel schedules on them with our Revit plans.

Message 3 of 23
SteveR...
in reply to: abulla

Tens of thousands of users should not need to re-write perfectly functional macros, formulas, etc just because Autodesk refuses to provide an appropriate solution to Excel.  Not to mention there are just too many things that Revit schedules simply can't do as well or at all that Excel does.  If Autodesk had any competition they would be forced to do stuff like this.

 

Hopefully one day Google will create some BIM or CAD software.

Message 4 of 23
CoreyDaun
in reply to: SteveR...

I'm a heavy user of Excel and feel the pain when dealing with Revit's amputated formula's and functions, which is one of my top issues with Revit currently. (See my posts in this thread for specifics). I create a network database for our electrical panels/systems in Excel which works very well, and is imported into AutoCAD via a script that is written by the program. When we first began using Revit this was a major issue for us. We would create an AutoCAD drawings and create our schedules there, and then link that .dwg into Revit.

 

However, now that we are moving forward more and more into Revit and it's systems, the scheduling power of Revit is (for the most part) eclipsing the use of the excel spreadsheets. Why? Because Revit's schedules directly interact with the elements with a Revit Project. If fact, one of the more powerful features is that if you make changes directly to a Revit Schedule (could be a single element or even all elements), that change is carried on to all applicable elements in the Project instantly. Revit's schedules directly interact with the database, rather than simply report data. At this point, our longing to be able to link Excel files into Revit has greatly diminished.

 

Again, as mentioned above, I WISH that Revit has even the most basic functions of Excel, but this Revit program is in continuous evolution (albeit extremely slow) and perpetual development. I doubt that it will ever reach Excel's potential, but there is evident of advancement, notable with the addition of the ROUND functions.

Corey D.                                                                                                                  ADSK_Logo_EE_2013.png    AutoCAD 2014 User  Revit 2014 User
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Message 5 of 23
AmeliePhaine
in reply to: SteveR...

I know this question is ages old, but I was looking for a solution to the same thing. I'm in a small firm and running its first Revit project alone. There simply isn't time for me to develop everything (namely schedules that look like the principal wants) the first time around. So for the pricing set, I imported an Excel sheet as a data link into an empty AutoCAD file and then linked that file into my Revit sheet. It's absolutely backward, but it works! Hope this helps someone.

Message 6 of 23
abulla
in reply to: AmeliePhaine

Nice, good tip. I've also recently found an add-in that has some neat Revit to Excel and Excel to Revit functionality. Check out Excel 2 Revit. We've used the trial version, and it works pretty well.

Message 7 of 23
Sinha
in reply to: CoreyDaun

I link EXCEL into AutoCAD as a TABLE, then Link AutoCAD into Revit. Long Process but works.

 

Update EXCEL File 

Then Reload/Refresh TABLE in AutoCAD,

Then Reload your LINKED AutoCAD File in Revit.

 

🙂

Message 8 of 23

I found this free app to do this but I have no idea if it actually works so I'm curious if anybody has used this yet and if it works

 

https://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/RVT/en/Detail/Index?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com%3aschedules...

 

Brent Morris

Message 9 of 23
bejenaru.a
in reply to: SteveR...

There are lots of plugins exporting and importing revit schedules to and from excel and lots of them are really working but maybe we are losing the point here. I'm not aware of any new functions/formulas in the last editions. I would really love to have a "case" or "find in array" function available and of course some text functions. I prefer having some build in functions then exporting and importing from revit, so I hope these will be soon available.
Andrei Bejenaru
Message 10 of 23

I found the plugin and gave it a trial and it works well as far as just linking an excel file into Revit, the only bad thing is it's not free.

https://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/RVT/en/Detail/HelpDoc?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com:excel2rev...


Brent Morris
IT - CADD Manager
218-316-3649 | Direct
218-330-6650 | Cell
[cid:image001.png@01CFDE5F.3E99A5F0]
7804 Industrial Park Road | Baxter, MN 56425-2720
WidsethSmithNolting.com
Engineering | Architecture | Surveying | Environmental
Message 11 of 23
BarryBebart
in reply to: AmeliePhaine

It depends upon how you are using the excel schedule.

 

If you are using Excel mostly as a text formatting tool - as a Code Matrix for instance - then you can convert excel to a jpeg and import into revit as an image. The revit file doesnt have any intelligence that contributes to the code matrix but excel is a great tool for creating such text based information into a readable matrix format.

 

To do this you print the excel file as a pdf then convert the pdf into a jpeg (Convert pdf to jpeg with adobe acrobat. You also need to crop the image in Acrobat and eliminate any border to get the image to appear nicely as jpeg) then insert the jpeg as an image into revit. Its not a linked file with any intellegence (unlike autocad OLE) and if you update the excel file you need to go through the process all over again. But for simple schedules or preexisting schedules this is a decent workaround.

 

Another use is Light and Ventilation schedules to confirm building code compliance. I eventually created one in Revit (and it has some Text cheats within the Revit schedule to  make up for data that couldnt be extracted from revit) and it took most of two days. I could have banged it out in excel in a couple of hours.

Message 12 of 23
xsinh9000
in reply to: SteveR...

Bentley is Autodesk's competition. :)))
Message 13 of 23
bluecore25
in reply to: xsinh9000

Hello,

 

I found youtube which it might be help. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQfd0_pBtBc

 

This video is pretty clear. 

 

 

Greeting, 

Message 14 of 23
shmoo916
in reply to: bluecore25

bluecore25,

 

Did you actually give that a shot? Revit only supports importing from the following formats:

 

.dwg, .dxf, .dgn, .sat, .skp

 

Recent versions of Excel cannot export to any of those formats. Sorry bud.

Message 15 of 23

Yes and users just laughed at the process that you have to create an Autocad file, link the excel file, then link the Autocad file into Revit, but it works.
Brent Morris
IT - CADD Manager
218-316-3649 | Direct
218-330-6650 | Cell
[cid:image001.png@01D18A8C.16838E70]
7804 Industrial Park Road | Baxter, MN 56425-2720
WidsethSmithNolting.com
Engineering | Architecture | Surveying | Environmental
Message 16 of 23
Mahmoud.Ziedan
in reply to: SteveR...

There are a lot of Plug-ins that deal with excel. Some of them are really awesome.


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Mahmoud Zeidan
BIM Manager/Mechanical Engineer
Message 17 of 23
jveron
in reply to: Sinha

This works perfectly for me.

Just need a complex table to be show on Revit from an engineer on Excel with the ability for updates.

 

Legend!!

Message 18 of 23
m.voss.alvine
in reply to: jveron

be careful with some of those excel add-ins.  they will bring in the schedule as text and lines, which means you cant update the schedule.  you have to delete and re-import.

Revit MEP 2015 Certified Professional
Revit Architecture 2015 Certified Professional
AutoCAD 2015 Certified Professional


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Message 19 of 23

Could not agree more with the comments 

Dynamo is marketed as assisting Revit and cannot  readily do this simple operation (which can be done via AutoCAD) 

 

It is pathetic - Interoperability is required 

If we can now import pdf direct into Revit it would be expected to do this also for excel without even need for Dynamo 

Message 20 of 23
RobDraw
in reply to: SteveR...

Even with the many viable solutions posted, people still demand native functionality. Amazing. No matter what platform you are forced to use, there are going to be shortcomings. 


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.

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