Vectorworks 2012 - Import or Link Excel file??

[sygboe]

Hi i'm on Vectorworks 2012 and am trying to Import or Link an Excel file??

Ideally i'd like to build the table in Vectorworks but I'm not quite ready for that yet.

I have a table in excel that adds up and calculates areas and the percentages.

I'd like to either link the excel file or insert and be able to edit the table (with formulas) in Vectorworks.

is this possible? i have looked in the help and manual, but it seems like there might be several steps to achieve this.

Thanks

[jnr]

One of my pet peeves. There is no capability to link excel files into a vectorworks file. You'll have to copy and paste data from excel cells into the archaic worksheet and fight to format it so that it approximates what you see in excel. Its like going back to Lotus in the 1980's. Drink heavily before you start.

One trick though is to set the worksheet up on a design layer and then use viewports to display it if you find that you have to cut up the worksheet in order to get all the information on the page. I've used this method to include specifications in my documents. The viewports allow the data to flow and can be adjusted to fit the page as you edit and adjust the data so that nothing gets lost.

good luck.

-J

[sygboe]

excellent. i loved the 80's.

I thought this was supposed to be all BIM etc. Seems very hard.

somethings things just take too long to set up.

I've just manually made a table with lines, and manually typed in the data.

[VincentCuclair]

Don't know if ODBC is what you're after but perhaps it's worth a look....

Edited November 13, 2012 by Vincent C

[atari2600]

What you are wanting is commonly reffered to as "OLE"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_Linking_and_Embedding

I used to use it in my AutoCad days, but sadly it doesn't exist in VW.

Question: does your spreadsheet already reference data in your drawing file? If so, I'd go ahead and jump into using the worksheets. VW already has a bunch of default worksheets you could play around with. (Tools/Reports/VA Create Schedule...)

If it is too much of a pain, then just reference a pdf of your Excel spreadsheet. We do this all the time with our general notes and finish schedules, because these spreadsheets are usually created by non-VW users who are involved with the job. That way if you make changes to the Excel spreadsheet (or Word Doc), just re-pdf it and overwrite the original referenced file.

good luck,

Matt