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Link Excel Spreadsheet

Link Excel Spreadsheet

Why is it still not possible to Import or Link an Excel Spreadsheet into Revit? It would be a nice addition for future versions.

11 Comments
takumi.yoshioka
Autodesk

OLE link of Excel, like AutoCAD.

Tags (1)
ipselute
Advisor

Absolutely YES. Revit schedules are too cumbersome just for the simple tasks. Revit should come with predefined schedules, like Allplan has.

ipselute
Advisor

@dbrownG4VN3: Trust me, you don't wanna go that way. Importing Excel in Revit is kinda useless, as you could only import cell data (raw data), no formulas,  and only in some specific manner that Revit would understand. It is possible to create Revit schedules, export it to Excel, and create a bi-directional link between exported schedules and Revit data. Something like a Graitec extension or a CoBie extension. That would work.

Linking Excel as an OLE object in Revit doesn't seem very useful. The more Excel tables you link as OLE in Revit, the slower the Revit file will become. I do it all the time in Autocad, inserting dozen tables as OLE slows down Autocad file considerably and increases dwg size dramatically.

 

P.S. If you really need some text-based table (no formulas) in Revit, you can create a Revit schedule with some text parameters as instance parameters. Those parameteres would be like the columns in Excel. Then, you can give any text values to each instance for each row as you like.

 

Everybody wants to insert or link Excel files directly into Revit. Because each company has some sorts of excel balance sheets set up in their own custom ways for various reasons: cost estimations, time projections, area totals and area balances. Many architects and engineers need "bear-metal" time & costs projections, they don't invest design time and resources into design phases or design options. Complex solutions needs to be checked or validated by simplified excel formulas.

Linking Autocad tables is not the best solution, as Autocad doesn't support advanced math functions as Excel does. E.g roundup , xlookup, etc

Tags (1)
Simon_Weel
Advisor

What we actually want is Excel-like functionality in Revit....

p_brianXNTJJ
Contributor

In AutoCAD, it is possible to link an Excel Spreadsheet to a drawing, open said spreadsheet from AutoCAD via OLE, make edits to it IN EXCEL, and then the spreadsheet in AutoCAD is updated with the new information when the Excel file is saved...

 

THIS IS WHAT I WANT

 

My company lists out system classifications and labeling methods used in the field using a simple Excel Spreadsheet. I want to link this spreadsheet into my Revit file so that I can put this spreadsheet into our Sheets that are eventually printed for construction documents. Why is this a hard thing to do? I don't want to import data. I don't want to import formulas. I just want to link a simple spreadsheet into Revit so that the data in the spreadsheet is visible in Revit and updated whenever the spreadsheet is updated. I feel like this is not a difficult task, and I may even try to make a simple Revit add-in that will do this.

p_brianXNTJJ
Contributor

Linking a simple Excel Spreadsheet into a Revit project seems like it should already be a feature in Revit. What I want to be able to do is make an edit to an Excel Spreadsheet and then run a command or something in Revit and see it be updated automatically, but as far as I can tell, this isn't possible (not without add-ons at least). However, I have figured out how to do it. So if you got here from Google trying to figure it out, go no further. All you need is Excel, AutoCAD, and Revit.

 

  1. Create and Save your spreadsheet in Excel
  2. Put your spreadsheet into a table in AutoCAD (not just paste-special)
    • Create a datalink to the Excel Spreadsheet file
    • Create a table
      • Select:  "From a data link"
      • Choose your newly created data link
      • Click:  "OK"
    • Place your table
    • Save the AutoCAD file
  3. Link the AutoCAD file to your Revit file
    • I placed my file directly onto a sheet

Anytime you want to update the Excel Spreadsheet:

  1. Edit the spreadsheet in Excel
    • Save
  2. Run the "DatalinkUpdate" command in AutoCAD
    • Save
  3. Reload the linked AutoCAD file in Revit
    • Save

You now have an Excel Spreadsheet linked to your Revit project that will update anytime edits are made to the spreadsheet without having to make the edits yourself in Revit or having to make the table using Schedules

 

Autodesk Developers, if you could make this a real feature instead of this roundabout work around that I found, that would be awesome. But until this is made into a real Revit feature, this will be how I do it.

Tags (4)
Scott_D_
Collaborator

Pretty sure I'm stating the obvious that you likely know but you should be using the Schedules in the Revit model, not Excel.

 

You can move data back and forth between Revit schedules and Excel using a plugin like DiRoots One.

p_brianXNTJJ
Contributor

@Scott_D_ 
For sure! And whenever I want a table for "in-project" information, I do use schedules.

 

What I'm talking about are spreadsheets that are used for company specifications, pipe labeling standards, naming conventions, etc. Information that is used in every single project, but not associated with anything that is in or needs to be in a Revit project. Information that really won't change that often, but I still want to (sort of) automate the spreadsheet updating process. Also for things like a Bill of Materials where Revit is not the source of that information. All of this data is created/recorded/whatever into Excel spreadsheets, not Revit. And since my team at my company is the only one that uses Revit, it is up to me to display these spreadsheets in our Revit-created construction documents. And I don't want to have to manually enter this info into Revit every time there is a change. This sort of thing works great in AutoCAD through the Datalink to table method. I just have never understood why Revit didn't have a spreadsheet linking function like AutoCAD does.

Also, if you have a way for me to do what I'm talking about using schedules or something similar (a.k.a. an in-Revit method), I am all ears. This was simply the best (and as far as I know ONLY) way to do what I have wanted to do for a long time.

Scott_D_
Collaborator

Sounds like most of that would be dealt with by creating a Legend or custom sheet/view/content in a Template file and then inserting that content into whichever file it is needed in using the Insert command or via a Detail Item etc.

 

Have you tried linking the whole DWG that includes the table directly instead of trying to find ways to import the spreadsheet itself? That method should definitely work although if you explode it in Revit very bad things will happen.

 

I guess I can see your point. I author everything using Revit but for those who don't I can see why that might be an issue.

p_brianXNTJJ
Contributor

@Scott_D_

"Have you tried linking the whole DWG that includes the table directly instead of trying to find ways to import the spreadsheet itself? That method should definitely work although if you explode it in Revit very bad things will happen."

I may be misunderstanding what you're meaning, but I believe that is exactly what I'm doing. Once the Excel sheet's info is in an AutoCAD file, I am linking the DWG file into Revit. The "Datalink" is simply the way that I know how to link an Excel spreadsheet to an AutoCAD file instead of importing the data.

 

My knowledge of Revit is extensive when it comes to modeling highly detailed structures and elements, but extremely limited regarding analytics, construction documentation, and data management. So if there is a better way to do this, I really am all ears. Either way, I do appreciate your help and input.

 

...it gets pretty lonely at my company as the only Revit guy...lol


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