topic data extraction on entity TEXT in AutoCAD Forum

data extraction on entity TEXT

-didier- — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 11:04:27 GMT

Hello
I'm here to share with you what I've just noticed:
When drawing TEXT entities we are given the possibility to choose a justification,

It is possible to choose to draw the text from the point MIDDLE CENTER, LOWER RIGHT etc...

BUT

when extracting the data (DATAEXTRACTION) and asking for the insertion point of the TEXT entity

AutoCAD ignores the justification and indicates the LOW LEFT point ignoring the chosen justification.

This picture describes what I just explained:

Three texts of color magenta, orange and blue each inserted at point 10.0,10.0 but with a different justification and below the table delivered by the data extraction where we can see different coordinates of position.

The same happens if we send the data in an Excel workbook instead of a table in the drawing.

and I find it inaccurate because the Excel data could be used to query contact information and then you lose information.

I know perfectly well that the insertion point is convoluted in the list of the TEXT entity in the case of a justification different from LOW LEFT but I would have liked the programmers of the software to think about this "detail".

And in your case, it is the same?

My test was performed on a full 2021 version.
more precisely R. 118.0.0 AutoCAD 2021.1

Friendly

this is a software translation because I'm not really bilingual like many French people...
but I speak perfectly autoCAD

Re: data extraction on entity TEXT

cheryl.buck — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 20:27:02 GMT

Hi @-didier-,

Thank you for posting your observations and question. This is correct for data extraction since the AutoCAD text box is not being extracted, only the text contained in it. The XY position is based on only the text itself and will change with the justification of the text.

Please let me know if this helps.

Click the Accept Solution button to mark any posts that provide the answer or solution.

Likes are always welcome.

All the best,

Re: data extraction on entity TEXT

sjxyz — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 14:43:31 GMT

Hi, well, it helps in the sense that it explains it; but it doesn't help if you want to use the insertion point of the text as the coordinates you are trying to data extract. I'm placing sequential numbers centred on circles: I have to choose LEFT for the text justification for the data extraction to give the centres of the circles, but visually it looks a mess! I can think of workrounds (like a duplicate set of numbers on another layer justified MC) but this is likely to lead to mistakes. Better if the DataExtract had the Insertion Point coordinates as an option. Thanks

Re: data extraction on entity TEXT

R_Tweed — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 17:12:46 GMT

Considered using a block with attributes. More data is available to extract aside from an insertion point, "text" can then be independent from the insertion point.

The below table is an example of data that can be available and is not meant to be an answer to a specific solution.