Datalinks

I'm sure I have asked this before, but has anyone ever used datalinks (linking a table to an excel file) with success?

I had given up, but thought I should try again with the new Autocad version (C3D 2009)... still does not work for me.

Just what is the nature of the problem you are experiencing?

Just what is the nature of the problem you are experiencing?

In general, they just don't work for me.

I have had them cause dwgs to crash and become unuseable.

Today when I tried, it locked on the "insert table" dialog and would not let me make a table from the datalink I created.

I had high hopes for them since I use a lot of excel tables in my work and OLE is not the best, but I have just not gotten stable results from datalinks.

To link an Excel spreadsheet to an AutoCAD drawing you must pay close attention to the prompts in the Table Creation dialog box.

Once the link is created, and you have placed your table, access the link tools by double-clicking on the table or even a cell for more options.

What version of Excel are you using? I wonder if that could affect it if you are using an older version of Excel.

What version of Excel are you using? I wonder if that could affect it if you are using an older version of Excel.

Office 2003

If you both are using them without problems, it must be something I am doing or not doing... I'll need to try some different scenarios I guess.

The excel file I use typicallty has many sheets and is loaded with links and functions. Could that have something to do with it? Maybe I need to extract 1 sheet and try again...

Office 2003

 

If you both are using them without problems, it must be something I am doing or not doing... I'll need to try some different scenarios I guess.

 

The excel file I use typicallty has many sheets and is loaded with links and functions. Could that have something to do with it? Maybe I need to extract 1 sheet and try again...

I wish I had ACAD at home to work on this one for you Chulse. I don't have any problems with the links either, but I suppose it could be the amount of information in the Excel sheet that is causing the hang-up and crash. If I don't see a response/resolution to this when I get to work tomorrow morning, I will try and play around with it before I have to get started on my work.

I wish I had ACAD at home to work on this one for you Chulse. I don't have any problems with the links either, but I suppose it could be the amount of information in the Excel sheet that is causing the hang-up and crash. If I don't see a response/resolution to this when I get to work tomorrow morning, I will try and play around with it before I have to get started on my work.

Thanks for the offer. Please let me know if you come up with something.

another vote for "no real problems here". AutoCAD 2008 and excel 2000. Not very heavy tables though so could be to do with that. I had to install a service pack to fix one problem with formatting (didn't cure the otehr problem with formatting) but the actual passing of data works fine.

Ok Cary,

I tested several Excel files here in the office and it is as I expected. The larger/more info contained in the excel file, the longer it will take to load up. I even tried loading up our Excel file that is currently serving as a catch all for dwg log, database, submittal log, etc. It locked up my ACAD. :lol:

So it would seem that unless you're going to pull the sheet out and save it separately, you're probably not going to be able to link it that way.

How big is the Excel file you are trying to link? The large Excel file I tried was almost 700KB. I had no problems linking files that were between 80KB and 200kB. Though the 200KB took it a minute to think through.

Ok Cary,

I tested several Excel files here in the office and it is as I expected. The larger/more info contained in the excel file, the longer it will take to load up. I even tried loading up our Excel file that is currently serving as a catch all for dwg log, database, submittal log, etc. It locked up my ACAD. :lol:

 

So it would seem that unless you're going to pull the sheet out and save it separately, you're probably not going to be able to link it that way.

 

How big is the Excel file you are trying to link? The large Excel file I tried was almost 700KB. I had no problems linking files that were between 80KB and 200kB. Though the 200KB took it a minute to think through.

Well that must be it then. My typical excel file is over 2MB!!

I'll need to try pulling out 1 sheet at a time for this and see if it's small enough... (... going to get a hammer and a crow bar...)

Thnaks all

Thought I read some where the recommended version of Excel to use was 2007. Could be wrong. I think I read it in the AutoCAD help.

Edit: Never mind. It actually says..."Note: Microsoft Excel must be installed to use Microsoft Excel data links. To link to the XLSX filetype, Microsoft Excel 2007 must be installed." So I guess other versions of Excel are fine as long as you're not using the XLSX filetype.

Besides assigning specific sheets, you could also fiddle with the assigned cell ranges.

Good luck.