Link Inventor drawing to excel and autocad file

[ZFerrarini]

I am pretty new to Inventor, but I was asked if it is possible to show part of a table from Excel without copying the all thing in the drawing or part of a drawing from Autocad.

The goal is to show some electrical properties already defined in Excel and some electric schematics already drawn in Autocad

I use Inventor 2023.

Does anybody know if it's possible?

Thank you in advance.

[andrewdroth]

In the 'Manage' Tab there is an 'Insert Object' button, from that tab you can choose 'From File' and select either your excel or AutoCAD file, there is also 'Link' checkbox to maintain the link instead of creating a new instance within the drawing.

[ZFerrarini]

I tried that.

It works for me on Autocad, but it shows all the drawing as it is saved: if saved in model space, it shows the model, if saved in the layout it shows the layout.

Is there a way to crop it?

For Excel, I can load it, but I can't choose the tab I want to show and can't crop the part I want to see.

Any suggestion?

Thank you.

[aurel_e · Accepted solution]

I would do:

1. in any other software (Excel, Autocad, Paint, Power Point...): select and copy.

2. in Inventor drawing: Tools-Clipboard-Paste Special.

This way you see only the part of the file you wanted to show. If you double click on it would open entire file.

It can be embedded or linked to a shared file.

[ZFerrarini]

It works pretty good in Exel. The only thing is the double-click doesn't work, I have to do right-clink then edit. I can live with it. 

In Autocad it's not so smooth. The double-click doesn't work and I keep getting this error and I get stuck.

Any suggestion?

[aurel_e]

Try these:

https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Error-Failed-to-la...

https://www.google.com/search?q=autodesk+inventor+failed+to+launch+server+application&sca_esv=5d51b4...

[ZFerrarini]

I have no idea what adds-in are and what to do with them.

I was able to attach the full Autocad file, but it doesn't show up in the drawing, only in the feature tree.

The embedded part of it is in the tree but I can't edit it.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Do you have Excel.exe installed on your machine?

Many thanks!

[ZFerrarini]

Yes

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I just want to double-check the Excel.exe does exist on your machine. And you are not using Office 360 in the cloud.

Then this could be related to OLE linking. It seems that Windows does not recognize Inventor drawing properly. Try a few things.

1) Make sure all critical Windows updates are installed and the graphics driver is updated.

2) Right-click on Inventor desktop icon -> Properties -> Compatibility -> check "Run as Administrator."

3) Right-click on an Inventor file (ipt) -> Open With -> select "Inventor." Repeat the process for other Inventor file types (iam, idw, ipn, and ide).

Many thanks!

[ZFerrarini]

I can't do step 2 because my IT has administration rights, not me.

Thank you anyway.