Data link not formatting to excel formatting

[Anonymous]

Hey all,

I've been using data links heavily since 2009 so I've managed to work out all of the bugs in it until now. We just got new laptops have that Excel 2016 64bit on them and we're using Civil 3D 2016 64bit sp4. My machine has Windows 10 64bit on it.

Well this new machine doesn't update data links correctly. If I update the data link or re-insert it via tables, it uses the table style I have selected and not the excel format as I have properly checked off. I also keep it formatted to Excel. Another coworker also got a new machine and is having the same issues. I'm all out of options here.

I've tried the following:

• Updating all updates in excel and autocad
• Deleting and recreating the data link with a different name.
• Inserting with a different table style
• Using different excel files
• Disabling hardware acceleration
• Every possible arrangement and options in the data link window

I just can't get it to use the excel formatting anymore. It will only use the table style I have selected. I want to be able to control everything via excel, not autocad. What's weird it's not that it's not importing all formating. It is aligning the text left and right correctly but font size and column/row widths/heights are not correct.

Thanks for your help.

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

I am sorry the datalink formatting is not working properly. Since you are working in AutoCAD Civil 3D I will move this thread to that forum in case this is a vertical specific issue.   I see that you have also created a case for this issue which is a great means towards resolving this issue. In the mean time however, can you attach a sample Excel file with the formatting you want and then the AutoCAD drawing that has your table styles in it? I would like to see if I can help you with this issue.

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

[Anonymous]

John,

Thanks for the response. Yes I created a ticket because this was a significant enough issue that I wanted to use all channels available.

Thanks for moving it. I was reading the forums trying to find something about this and just went to post without looking at the forum I was in.

So I've attached an extracted sheet from our whole spreadsheet and a cleaned up CAD file. It still does it. It works on my old Desktop (with 32bit excel 2016 and civil 3d 64 bit, and windows 10) but my new one (excel 64 bit and civil 3d 64 bit and windows 10), it doesn't.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I opened your file and ran AUDIT, PURGE< and -PuRGE>Regapps to remove a lot of stuff in the file.  Then I updated the datalink and the formatting looks pretty much like your spreadsheet.  The interesting thing though is when I opened your spreadsheet in Excel I receive an error message:

Can you try saving the Excel file as an XLSX to see if it behaves any diffferntly?

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

[Anonymous]

Sorry about that. This forum gave me an error that .xlsm files can't be uploaded so I changed the file extension to .xls then changed the datalink to reference that file. Excel didn't like that apparently.

I've redone everything and it should be correct. When i go into my laptop that has this problem, the formatting changes after I update it. See attached.

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

Can you try adjusting the datalink option for cell contents to Keep Data Formats, solve formulas in Excel to see if it helps? I should say, that in my opinion, the formatting has always been a bit finicky.

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

[Anonymous]

@john.vellekthat did not resolve it.

Should I get my IT dept to uninstall the excel 64 bit and install 32 bit?

BTW we were just informed today to update to Civil 3D 2017. I've done all updates on that and tried it in there to see if it fixed it and it did not.

[Anonymous]

Our IT dept was supporting me a lot yesterday trying to help. They uninstalled Office 64bit and instaleld 32 bit. That didn't fix it. It introduced the error that excel couldn't be found. So she reinstalled 64 bit. Updated video drivers and tried it but that didn't work.

This is really detrimental to my ability to use CAD because we use data links so heavily within our organization. I'm not the only one having this issue either. At least 2 others have reported that this is a problem with newer PCs.

Thanks

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I have been playing with this for a bit today and can duplicate your findings. I have logged this with the QA team to investigate as well.  I am going to also keep an eye on your case with support to see if there is any success in getting this to behaved properly or if there is a valid workaround.

I thank you for your patience on this issue and hope that there is a quick way to get this resolved.

[Anonymous]

Thanks again for your help.

I thought I could use a different option but it does the same thing pasting as an AutoCAD entity from paste special.

Note sure about OLE object yet.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@john.vellekI think I figured it out. It has to do with Windows display scaling.

I was working from home primarily the past couple weeks and went into work today. We use docking stations here that have two monitors on them. Well data link was suddenly working correctly on my laptop where it wasn't working. So I spent an hour and a half turning it off and on unplugging things and changing settings until I figured out it was the windows display scaling.

Then I found this forum which described it pretty much identically:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/data-linking-text-scaling-issue/td-p/6251930

While this is a step forward it doesn't really "solve" the problem, IMO. A lot of people have 27" UHD monitors that are scaled to 250%. That means they'd have to lower their resolution permanently and scale it at 100%. My monitors are just 1080 which is why it's set to 100%.

One thing too is you have to restart your computer after changing the resolution for it to take affect on the data link.

[john.vellek]

Thanks @Anonymous for the post. I am sure this will help a lot of customers. I will add this to the information I provided to QA.

[Anonymous]

It's been about 5 months now. I see AutoDesk has released something to their knowledge database, but hasn't resolved this:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Tables...

Are there any updates?

[autocad00385LRV]

This is the solution that worked for me. It doesn't make any sense but yes, changing the display settings on my pc to have my resolution at 1080bp and scale at 100% then restarting my pc fixed the problem. Thank you!