topic Re: Sheet List Table default column settings in AutoCAD Forum

Sheet List Table default column settings

braydenlQXBRP — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 05:08:38 GMT

Hi,

I am wondering if Auto desk has added support to modify the default column list.

Additionally which system variable controls the automatic update settings of the data.

I would like it to update on saving/printing

Kind regards

Brayden

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

natasha.l — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 16:27:16 GMT

Hello @braydenlQXBRP,

With sheet sets you have a Column Settings Area it displays a list of the column definitions in the sheet list table. Each line in the list represents a column. The top-to-bottom order of the list represents how the columns will be displayed in the table.

Also there is a Data Type Column, selecting a column definition and then clicking on an entry in the Data Type column displays a list. From the list, you can change the type of information that is going to be displayed in the columns of the sheet list table.

Set auto updates for DataExt tables/file with the DXEVAL system variable

If the functionality you are looking for regarding the default column settings is not there, please provide your feedback to the AutoCAD Customer Council.

Please "Accept Solution" if a reply or replies have helped resolve the issue or answered your question, to help others in the community.

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

braydenlQXBRP — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 00:16:09 GMT

Hi @natasha.l

What I was asking in regards to being able to change the default information is:

At the moment every time I want to insert a table I have to manually add each column in the column settings and specify the data type and heading.

To speed up the process, is there a way to have this information stored as a default as every job will require the same column information.

In regards to the auto-update settings, I currently have DXEVAL variable set to 12 which should update on saving and opening, but at the moment this does not happen for the sheet list table, although it does happen for other data extraction tables I currently use. So for the tables I have to select them and manually tell them to update.

Thanks for your help.

kind Regards

Brayden

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

natasha.l — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 23:03:27 GMT

Hello @braydenlQXBRP,

You can use fields or attributes with document properties in your table to populate data. Take a look at this video on how to.

Please "Accept Solution" if a reply or replies have helped resolve the issue or answered your question, to help others in the community.

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

braydenlQXBRP — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 04:01:08 GMT

Hi @natasha.l

I am not sure I following you. I do understand the use of fields and attributes, which is how we have set up our drawing title block to work.

Which is then populated by data we have specified for each drawing in the SSM, such as drawings titles, numbers, and revision details.

We are wanting to use the auto cad feature that allows you to insert a sheet list table into a cover-sheet drawing, that will be populated with the data from the SSM, with all the sheets and current revision for each project.

I have been able to get that working fine, apart from the 2 problems I have posted here and they are:

1. At the moment when I go to insert the sheet list table using the SSM it brings a dialog box up with the options to set up the table as you require. Here is how it appears by default:

So that would give a table with just the Sheet title and Sheet number.

I need to have Sheet title, Drawing number (for us is project number and sheet number) and current revision.

Now I know how to get that information in there, using the add, and selecting data type and specifying the heading text. What I would like to know, but I have heard that it may not be possible, is to be able to tell autocad what I want the default option to be, the image that I attached to the previous post is the same setup that we will be using on all projects. This is all for the purpose of saving time, as we are doing 450+ projects per year.

2. In order to avoid the potential for the drawing to be sent out with incorrect data in the table, I would like it to update automatically when saved. Which you said should be able to set with DXEVAL system variable, which is currently set to update upon saving and opening.

For other data extraction tables we currently use, this variable updates this works fine, and they update when the drawing is saved or opened. This does not happen for the sheet list table.

Hopefully that has clarified my query better.

And thanks again for your continued help with this.

Kind Regards

Brayden

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

natasha.l — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 23:44:00 GMT

Hello @braydenlQXBRP,

I have gathered the information I have & presented it as best I can below:

1. Sheet List Table

Data Type Column

Selecting a column definition and then clicking on an entry in the Data Type column displays a list. From this list, you can change the type of information that is going to be displayed in the columns of the sheet list table. You can not create your own data type.

Heading Text Column

Allows you to change the title text for each column in the sheet list table. You can double-click each item in this column & enter text.

2. Automatically Update Extracted Data

When you open multiple drawings at the same time, and the DXEVAL setting in each drawing is 1 (to check for updates as the drawing is open), a dialog box displays for each drawing that contains a data extraction table that is not current. Does this happen? Review this section Auto-Updates Data Extraction Data.

Please "Accept Solution" if a reply or replies have helped resolve the issue or answered your question, to help others in the community.

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

natasha.l — Sat, 26 Oct 2019 00:22:21 GMT

Hello @braydenlQXBRP,

Please let me know if this information helped. Thank you.

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

PaytonHH — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 19:09:18 GMT

I was wondering if you would know why the drawing index text and alignment will switch back to the standard settings after a particular user goes in the drawing.

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

miketuter — Wed, 17 May 2023 16:24:03 GMT

Greetings,

I am not sure why this post was marked as a solution, because I don't think it answered the OP's question. When you right-click on your sheet set in Sheet Set Manager, the second option from the bottom is "Insert Sheet List Table". you then see the Sheet List Table dialog box. Under the Table Data tab for the Column Settings, is there a way to change the default from just two (2) columns? That is what the original post was asking. Is there a way to save those column settings beyond just the two default data types for future use? My users right now have to add a third column to create a sheet list table that meets our internal CAD standards. It would be great if there was a way to edit this table once and save those settings to be used on future projects. Thanks for reading and I hope someone might have a solution for this because it really is a handy tool if you are using sheet set manager, but a real pain to have to add that 3rd column for each project.

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

braydenlQXBRP — Fri, 19 May 2023 01:16:26 GMT

Hi @miketuter,

No the solution provided did not answer my original question, though I got the impression from the post and other research that I did that there was no solution, so I had given up. In our office we add 3 extra columns per project and are probably doing between 500-1000 projects per year so yes it would be a significant savings to be able to set a default.

I do feel that there are a number of features within AutoCAD that have been neglected due to the progression of Revit. though for our projects Revit does not appear to be that worthwhile.

Another feature that I think needs to be updated, is how AutoCAD utilises tables, especially formula functions being very limited.

If you come across a solution I would be very interested.

Kind Regards

Brayden

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

plantpower — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:53:39 GMT

I think the best you can do to create a new default with a new third column each time is to create that new table style. Then you can copy of over that table into your template file. One issue I can see that can come about is when you've created "SheetID" through SSM sheet properties, you might need to create that same exact sheet property each time you create a new DST file.

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

robvanderveen — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:08:25 GMT

Has anyone found any work arounds for this issues in the last three years?

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

cb_cad — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 02:13:49 GMT

You could do a custom plugin such as this:

Re: Sheet List Table default column settings

obulesub — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:23:41 GMT

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