Import MS word incl. footnotes and header notes into Autocad 2016

Import MS word incl. footnotes and header notes into Autocad 2016

DGRL
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Message 1 of 9

Import MS word incl. footnotes and header notes into Autocad 2016

DGRL
Advisor
Advisor

Dear forum users

 

Just want to know if it is possible to import *.doc or *.docx into AutoCAD 2016 but the header and footers NEEDS to be included

InsertOBJ only seems to see the text area.

 

Kind regards,

 

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Kind Regards
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Message 2 of 9

Alfred.NESWADBA
Consultant
Consultant

Hi,

 

I don't know about importing MS-Word files, but could you use PDF instead?

PDF has described the whole page, it does not differentiate which part if text that is, so this issue could be avoided I guess.

 

- alfred -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alfred NESWADBA
ISH-Solutions GmbH / Ingenieur Studio HOLLAUS
www.ish-solutions.at ... blog.ish-solutions.at ... LinkedIn ... CDay 2026
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(not an Autodesk consultant)
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Message 3 of 9

DGRL
Advisor
Advisor

I cant use PDF

As pdf does not auto-update when saving the DOC file

 

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Message 4 of 9

pendean
Community Legend
Community Legend
Not an option for free, you'll need to plot to an image file or PDF as noted by others.
Then you have to remember to always replace that PDF or image as your MSWord document changes.
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Message 5 of 9

DGRL
Advisor
Advisor

@Alfred.NESWADBA @Alfred.NESWADBA

 

So autodesk made it possible to import word document but forgets to include the footer and header?

Little bit weird and for a program costing a lot of money unacceptable if you ask me

 

 

If this was of any help please kudo and/or Accept as Solution
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Message 6 of 9

jggerth
Advisor
Advisor

AutoCAD is not a word processor, nor a page layout application.  ignoring the information that Word add to make letter format documents more useful in a letter-size print makes it more useful in the majority of situations I've need to import text from MS files.

 

For the situations where you absolutely require that -- the simple answer has been given.  Print to PDF, attach the PDF to your drawing, and whenever the word document changes, print it to PDF again.  That adds about 5 seconds to your workflow, and save the rest of us the hassle of futzing around with imported headers, footers, page numbering, etc that does not work with our drawing files.

Message 7 of 9

Alfred.NESWADBA
Consultant
Consultant

Hi,

 

>> So autodesk made it possible to import word document

>> but forgets to include the footer and header?

That statement is not really correct, Autodesk made it possible to use OLE-import functionality.

 

When you start command _INSERTOBJ Autodesk only looks to which OLE handlers are installed, if you choose anyone (like MS-Word in your case) it's up to this handler to work with the data/the file you select, it's out of control of AutoCAD what it gets back from that handler.

 

If you think it's really AutoCAD then try to start INSERTOBJ and see what you get when you start this on a system that does not have MS-Office installed. You even won't get MS-Word listed.

 

Other test: try to get the full word document into MS-Excel ... if you get the footer and header then please let me know how you did it 😉

 

So it's definitely nothing Autodesk can do, please ask in Microsoft forums.

 

Having that said please think about that statement.

>> Little bit weird and for a program costing a lot of money unacceptable if you ask me

Is it Autodesk or Microsoft ....

 

- alfred -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alfred NESWADBA
ISH-Solutions GmbH / Ingenieur Studio HOLLAUS
www.ish-solutions.at ... blog.ish-solutions.at ... LinkedIn ... CDay 2026
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(not an Autodesk consultant)
Message 8 of 9

DGRL
Advisor
Advisor

@Alfred.NESWADBA

 

Thanks for your answer

On the system I am now I cant do that much
I will test this at home on my own system where I am admin.

 

I think the issue comes from within here ( system config )

 

Will let you know the results

 

 

 

 

If this was of any help please kudo and/or Accept as Solution
Kind Regards
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Message 9 of 9

jggerth
Advisor
Advisor

If you choose to go the OLE route, be aware that there are limitations you will encounter that may result in a less-than-desirable outcome.

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