Datalinking and Alternatives

[Anonymous]

Background:

I work with large project groups in my office. For various reasons, everyone has different versions of Autocad (LT vs Full, 2015 vs 2016 vs 2019, etc) and things like our local share drive is mapped by user preference. Everyone's skill level with autocad is also very different, ranging from no skill to "average" usage. 

Problem: 

Due to everyone's lack of autocad skills, many people prefer to make tables in excel. The file is then datalinked and the table is created in autocad and the sheet is made. I often run into the following issues:

- datalink will sometimes insists on a FULL PATH instead of a RELATIVE PATH, which often breaks because due to how people map to sharedrive

- tables refuse to update despite telling it to update

- big projects will easily have 50+ tables so constantly trying to fix the broken links or manually updating the tables is not ideal. 

Questions

1) Is there a better alternative than datalinking? Or is datalinking the only way to get excel files into autocad that can be updated later down the road?

2) Why does datalinking insist on full path sometimes? How can I fix this?

3) Why does it fail to update sometimes? Is relinking the only way to fix this? 

There are a lot of moving parts to this so I understand if there isn't a one solution all to this. Datalinking is constantly failing for us and I can't isolate if it's just because too many people are going in and out the files or due to different versions of autocad or sometimes just the simple issue of people taking work home and then changing the path. There's simply too many people and not enough time and money to bring them all up to the same skill level/computer set up/same versions. 

I've had one project where someone handed me 20 tables to update, I tried to update the datalinks and it failed so I spent the rest of the day fixing the links only for that same person to come back 2 days later with another 15 tables and it was a toss up which tables would update and which ones didn't. 

In a nutshell, is there a better method than datalinking? If not, what can I do to minimize the issues I keep running into? Do I have to insist that only one person can touch the files with datalinks in them? 

[pendean]

>>>...which often breaks because due to how people map to sharedrive...<<<
Establishing an office wide standard for doing things plus lots of training is how you overcome that.

>>>... Datalinking is constantly failing for us...<<<
Stop using it then and switch to in-AutoCAD options: training, training and more training of course.

>>>... someone handed me 20 tables to update... same person to come back 2 days later with another 15 tables..."
Training, training and more training: you've established an unfortunate workflow that needs to be forgotten with training.

What's your corporate training options? Might be time to establish some.

[Anonymous]

They are, unfortunately, largely inconsistent in regards to training. For example, my boss does his best to send people in his branch to autocad training, but when it comes to these large group projects you're working with people from not only outside of your branch but across divisions. And we got like hundreds of employees so yeah, trying to get people more training and more standardization is well hard. 

And even the autocad training offered isn't detailed enough according to my coworkers who have taken it. I got all my experience for autocad at a previous job and those who have gone to that class still come to me with autocad questions. I am by no means an expert at autocad but I appear to outpace most of my coworkers. So I do my best to teach them and bring up to my boss so he can take it higher about the consistency of training but it is very slow going and no guarantee to go anywhere. 

You mentioned "Stop using it then and switch to in-AutoCAD options" what would those be? Do you mean making the table in autocad? 

[JTBWorld]

You might find our JTB FixRefs app helpful to deal with fixing data links, changing to relative paths in batch and more. 

[dgorsman]

Project management (you may have a different name for it) *really* needs to step up here.  They should be dictating how things get done on the CAD side.  Users don't get a say, it shouldn't be a free for all.  Same thing with IT systems management, everyone should have the same drive mapping at startup, same versions, same patches. 

I've had a similar fight in the past, convincing everyone to do CAD in CAD and keep tables in Excel.  Using AutoCAD as a host for tables adds an extra step with all the complexity and problems that come with it.

[pendean]

Yes, Tables inside AutoCAD.

[TerryDotson]

... is there a better method than data linking ?

Alternative: You should evaluate the trial version of DotSoft's XL2CAD.  I know some of our users have an excess of 50 linked spreadsheet ranges (they can be 50+ sheets in one workbook or 50+ different workbooks).  Updating is not a problem nor is use of the XLS(x) files by multiple users or relative paths.  Depending on the complexity of your spreadsheets it's likely to more closely represent the appearance with support for dot hatches, shape graphics, etc.

[s.borello]

Sounds like your office needs internal coordination and some training.  It would be best if everyone was on the same version of AutoCAD.  I prefer to clipboard copy my excel file, and use command pastespec in AutoCAD to establish a link to the excel file, this way updates to the excel file will be captured in your AutoCAD drawing. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I'll look into them and see if any work best.

While I agree that we definitely need more training and standardization, it has been so far a pipe dream. I am, unfortunately, just a lowly peon, so while I keep bringing the issue up, I do not gain a lot of traction. So the best I can do is find patch fixes that allow me to do my job more efficiently in the mean time. 

[R_Tweed]

Depending on your formatting preferences, pastespec might be easier.

copy selection in excel and paste a link to excel worksheet in autocad. Do not use autocad entities.  To update dwg file you can use olelinks and then update all if you feel some of the data is not updating automatically.

I would keep a copy of the excel files local (same folder as dwg) and see if that helps with the linking and sharing problem.