Excel tables are not shown when exporting .idw to .pdf.

[Anonymous]

Inventor's built in General Table feature doesn't allow for enough individual row/column formatting so I needed to use excel tables in order to add the required information to my drawings. When exporting as a pdf the tables just disappear. I found the following link saying the issue is being investigated but that was posted nearly a year ago. 

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcartic...

Has anyone found a solution to this yet? For now I can print to PDF but you lose layer functionality in the pdf viewer.

Thanks.

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous

Welcome to the Autodesk User's Community..

Not sure if this is related or not but look at the recent replies in this forum posting https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/excel-table-in-inventor-dwg-does-not-show-in-dwf/m-p/5...

[mcgyvr]

@Anonymous 

Can you post a simply idw with a table that does not work for you?

Having a valid dataset for this problem could help discover the issue/help identify and fix the problem..

[Anonymous]

@mcgyvr, I have uploaded a sample with a table on a .idw and the exported .pdf with no table.

To insert the table I copied in excel and used "paste special" and pasted as a "Microsoft Excel Worksheet".

[mcgyvr]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

@mcgyvr, I have uploaded a sample with a table on a .idw and the exported .pdf with no table.

To insert the table I copied in excel and used "paste special" and pasted as a "Microsoft Excel Worksheet".

---

@Anonymous Files seem to indicate you have not installed ANY updates for Inventor 2018..

Please do so and try again..

[Anonymous]

@mcgyvr my autodesk desktop app says otherwise...

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous

The desktop app is bloatware and unreliable.

Go to the Inventor Help/About and show the About screen.  That way we know exactly what you have.

[mcgyvr]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

@mcgyvr my autodesk desktop app says otherwise...

---

Then its either incorrect as Mark mentioned..

Or you haven't saved that file in your current software that you gave me..

As stated by mark show the about screen..

Like this..

[Anonymous]

@mcgyvr & @Mark.Lancaster I think you're right. I'm not usually tech dumb but I can't for the life of me find where to update the software.

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous

If you don't have an active maintenance plan or subscription (well if it was dead subscription you wouldn't be working) you're not entitled to updates.

But updates should really come from your Autodesk Account...

Are you using a free educational version?

[Anonymous]

@Mark.Lancaster, no, it's a commercial license. I may have to speak with my IT department about updating it. Everything that I can see say there aren't any updates available.

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous

Like I said..  No active maintenance plan or active subscription, you're not entitled to updates...

Or the contract manager for your subscription has denied you from updating your product

[Anonymous]

@mcgyvr @Mark.Lancaster I've spoken with my IT department about looking into updating Inventor if possible and they are looking into it.

That being said, the version of Inventor 2018/how to update it isn't what this post is about. Can you confirm that it is indeed an issue caused by not having the most up-to-date software? Or do Excel worksheets not get exported properly when exporting to PDF?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Mark.Lancaster & @mcgyvr I played around with saving my spreadsheets as different file formats before pasting the table into Inventor and saving as a .ods, for god knows why, allows the table to show when exporting the .idw as a .pdf.