One of the most frequent tasks when processing DWG drawings is creating reports, schedules with block attribute values. Sometimes this task is even extended by the requirement of bulk editing or recalculations of this tabular data - usually in Notepad or Excel - and bringing back the changed data to the DWG. AutoCAD offers a powerful tool for that - the DATAEXTRACTION wizard. But it is a one way ticket, you cannot use it to bring back modified data into your DWGs. And it is not available in AutoCAD LT.
Another tool available for this kind of task is ATTOUT/ATTIN from AutoCAD Express Tools. It can import attribute data, but again, it is not available in AutoCAD LT, and it doesn't support properties in dynamic blocks.
Extended ATTOUT/ATTIN
The add-on application ATTOUT by ARKANCE is a bonus tool that mimics and extends the standard export (ATTOUT), and import (ATTIN) functions for block attributes from Express Tools. It allows you to generate reports/tables of block attribute values to TXT, CSV files (e.g. for MS Excel) and import any modified values from these reports back into AutoCAD DWG drawings.
Unlike the standard Express Tools, this application:
- Adapts to the system separator/delimiter in CSVs (e.g. ";" for Czech or German Excel)
- Supports also dynamic properties of the blocks - e.g. distances, angles (in radians) or visibility states of dynamic blocks can be changed
- Blocks modified by the import are highlighted (preselected)
- Numbers are real numbers (properties) in Excel, not texts
- Quick selection of All (over all layouts)
- Report replacements on import
- Optional decimal separator replacement (e.g. "." and "," for Excel)
- Can be used also in AutoCAD LT (2024 and higher)
The Excel output:
How to use ATTOUT/ATTIN
It is quite simple to use this add-on application. Download the latest version of ATTOUT.vlx, load it into your AutoCAD session with APPLOAD and run it by typing the command ATTOUT, resp. ATTIN.
The command ATTOUT generates a report from the selected blocks, with values of all block attributes and properties, and saves is as a CSV file in the current working folder, named as YourDrawing.dwg.csv. You can use this file as a schedule, open it as a table in Excel, or perform any bulk modification in Excel and save it back to CSV.
The command ATTIN reads back the new values from the modified CSV file. The values being replaced during the import are identified by the unique index (handle) of each block, so always import only those CSV files exported from the same DWG drawing. All attributes of the blocks are texts, the numeric properties of the dynamic blocks are numbers. Any locked layers are also processed. The value of the Dyn:Origin property is ignored on import.
You can also use a couple of LISP variables to preset the application defaults.
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(An earlier version of this article was previously published here: https://www.cadforum.cz/en/extended-attout-attin-for-block-attribute-management-in-excel-tip14361)
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