Updating multiple drawing files with one excel spreadsheet

[Glover_anton]

Hi All,

Is it possible to update the title block for multiple drawing files from one spreadsheet?

As a bit of context, I have 30 individual .dwg files making up a standard drawing set. I need to roll that standard set out to 4 different sites and update the title block to make them site specific, so that involves changing drawing numbers, names, locations etc. What I would like to do, is create an excel sheet to update all the drawings details there in one place, then open the .dwg files up and export the pdf update from there. 

I've looked on some other forums and from what I can gather it requires a full version of AutoCAD not the LT, and a VBA script to do this. Is there a way for AutoCAD LT to do something similar. Being that I have a Standard drawing set, I am able to make some modifications or new fields to make this happen before rolling it out to the site specific drawings.

Thanks in advance.

[steven-g]

Without seeing any details I would say no, there is certainly no way to run a script in LT that will automate the opening, editing and saving of multiple files, that is indeed something you would need to have access to full AutoCAD to be able to do.

You could possibly save some time in the whole manual process of making these changes by using Excel to create a script (or scripts depending on the details) that you could run on each file after you have manually opened the files, but for that process, we would need to know a lot more about what you are trying to do with these drawings. And it would depend a lot on the information currently in the drawing. By far the easiest method is to have the drawings created in the first place with this type of operation in mind so that edits can be easily carried out and that the information you use is consistent across all your files.

It is quite possible to automate some tasks in LT by using a script or macro, in order to save a considerable amount of time, but it is also possible to spend weeks learning how to write these scripts only to find it doesn't work in all circumstances.

So post an actual .dwg along with details of what is in the Excel file and what you hope to achieve, we might be able to point you in the right direction (or confirm it isn't actually something you can do, at least not in LT).

[pendean]

A not-free Script processor may be the help you need http://www.multi-batch.com/features.htm
If you know who to write/create basic ascii script files for AutoCAD http://www.lee-mac.com/scriptwriting.html

Read this too https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-lt-forum/run-a-script-from-excel-vba-acad-2014-lt-and-2016-lt...

HTH