topic Re: Excel data link not showing in AutoCAD Forum

Excel data link not showing

marcbartolucci — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 14:34:56 GMT

Hello,

I am trying to link in data from excel. I go through the manager and set everything up, when thats all done I press ok, then there is nothing... My table isnt there and there isnt an option to insert it either.

Any ideas?

I am using Autocad 2017

Thanks

Re: Excel data link not showing

john.vellek — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:01:50 GMT

Hi @marcbartolucci,

Can you share your dwg and your Excel file? I would like to verify the datalink is constructed properly and then use the Table command to insert a new Table based upon the link.

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

Re: Excel data link not showing

marcbartolucci — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:43:03 GMT

Hi John,

Attached are the files

Thanks!

Re: Excel data link not showing

leothebuilder — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:59:23 GMT

Do you want to insert as an OLE ?

Or insert as a data link in an Autocad table?

For the first method, in Excel select the range of cell and copy to the clipboard.

In Autocad paste from the clipboard.

The OLE link should update automatically when changing the source file

If using a data link, in Autocad start the DATALINK command.

Click on the start a new data link button, and browse to your excel sheet

You can specify the range of cells you want to show in your Autocad table object.

Data links need to be updated when you change the source (Excel) file each time.

Re: Excel data link not showing

john.vellek — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 19:13:58 GMT

Hi @marcbartolucci,

I made a quick video showing how I can use your datalink to insert the door schedule into your drawing. I typically like to place datalinks into paperspace as that way I (usually) don't have to apply any scaling of the Excel table. Note, I did not apply any of your pages setups to the layout I used so the table looks like it is too large.

Please let me know if the steps I illustrate in the video work on your side.

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

Re: Excel data link not showing

john.vellek — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 23:38:53 GMT

Hi @marcbartolucci,

I am checking back to see if my post helped you with your problem or question. Please mark my post as the solution if it resolved the issue or give me a bit more detail on this issue so we can continue to work towards getting this solved.

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

Re: Excel data link not showing

Light_Guy — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:16:28 GMT

We are having a similar issue but with 2018. We just upgraded to 2018, did anything in the datalink process change from 2017 to 2018? If not, I will forward the video on to my users who are having the issue.

Re: Excel data link not showing

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 19:30:16 GMT

Thanks, John for the video, it helped me.

Re: Excel data link not showing

bhackett — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:09:35 GMT

Would using Paste Special to copy and insert the excel data satisfy your needs? I've been looking for years for a replacement for the glitchy XL2CAD, and using this method may be just what i need. It updates changes from the Excel file on the fly. Pretty nifty. My only issue with it is that the scheds do not show if you link the CAD file into Revit.

Re: Excel data link not showing

prowden — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 18:53:30 GMT

This is late in coming but I just had the same problem today. I copied an old Excel Finish Schedule for a new project and overwrote the data - I wanted to keep the old Excel formatting. I decided to hide one of the columns and then saved the file. After that AutoCAD would not create the data link table. Even if I went back to Excel and unhid the column and resaved it still would not create the Table. It turns out you can delete the column and it works, or just pick a cell range when you create your data link. If at any point you hide a column or, maybe, a row and save your Excel file, it will no longer work as a data link in AutoCAD. Hope this helps anyone out there.