In this article, I have explained two different ways of importing the X, Y, Z Coordinates (Easting, Northing & Reduced Levels) from an Excel sheet to AutoCAD in the form of points.
- Import Excel Points Into Autocad 2016
- Import Excel Points In Autocad
- Import Excel Points Into Autocad Pdf
- Import Excel File Into Autocad
In the first method, we will use only excel to compile data and then we will simply import the data in AutoCAD. In the second method we will transfer the date from excel to a simple script file and then we will import the script file in AutoCAD to make the points.
These methods are explained in the tutorial video as well shown below, but if you prefer the article then here it is.
In AutoCAD you have several possibilities to insert the points, for example: In the Command line type '3DP' (3DPOLY). From the ACII text file copy all X,Y,Z points in the desired order and paste these into the command line. Create a script file (.scr) of the point file and drag and drop it into the AutoCAD model view window.
How to import a list of coordinates into AutoCAD. You have a list of point coordinates as ASCII text and you wonder how to import the file or coordinates into Autodesk® AutoCAD®. Causes: Note: Although it is possible to import and handle point data in AutoCAD, if the goal is to have points with attributes, such as comment, piont number. Let’s first start with importing a table. In AutoCAD, you can import excel table as OLE object which is linked to its original source or as an independent AutoCAD table where it is not linked to its parent table. In this article, I will use this sample table made in MS- Excel to demonstrate how this process works. I hope to transmit a simple method to pass data from excel to autocad: 1 in excel the data taken in field in columns are arranged: blank box - east coordinate - blank box - north coordinate 2 in the first blank box is written point or point and copies how many points you have 3 in the second box is typed (,) «comma». Jun 30, 2009 Import X,Y Coordinates from Excel into AutoCAD I am currently on vacation but wanted to share a great AutoCAD Tip from my friend the AutoCAD Trainer Guy Michael Beal. Michael always has great tips and clear instructions in his monthly “ Michael’s Corner ” available on the web as well as a monthly newsletter.
As shown in this pic below, we have X, Y, Z coordinates, otherwise Easting, Northing & Reduced levels of more than 10000 points in an Excel sheet.
To create points using this data (to Export this data into an AutoCAD drawing), we have to convert this data into the language that AutoCAD can understand. We can convert this data in coordinate points and AutoCAD uses POINT Command to make points in AutoCAD.
Type in POINT in the command bar and hit the Enter key.
Now we have a message at the Command Prompt, ‘Specify a Point’, There are two methods to specify a point.
- Feed the X, Y, Z Coordinates of the Point in the Command Bar.
- Click anywhere in the drawing area and an AutoCAD point Object will be created at that particular point.
Here I will go with the first method i.e feeding the X, Y, Z Coordinates of the Point in the command bar, let it be 1000,1000,1000.
Press the Enter key and an AutoCAD point is created at 1000,1000 with an elevation of 1000, see the animated gif above for reference. If you want to verify the coordinates of the point you can do that using the Property Palette.
Select the Point, Right Click, select Properties from the menu. Values which we used to create this point are shown against the labels Position X, Position Y, Position Z as shown in the image below.
The sequence of commands used to create the point can be replicated approximately 10,000 times to create all the points but obviously, it can’t be done manually and this is where the Excel formula comes into the picture. The flow of command for POINT looks like this on the command bar history.
Here is the flow of the command shown in the image above.
Command: POINT
Current point modes: PDMODE=0 PDSIZE=0.0000
Specify a point: 1000,1000,1000
In our Excel sheet, X,Y,Z Coordinates of Point 1 are in the cells B2, C2 and D2 respectively.
From the command history, it is clear that the syntax for creating a point in AutoCAD is POINT X,Y,Z. So for 10,000 points, this value should be repeated for as many times. The resulting data should look like data inside the red box of the image below.
For creating a point using the coordinates given in the cells B2, C2 and D2, we have to join the data in the cells B2, C2 & D2 preceded by POINT command and we can use CONCATENATE function in Excel to join the strings.
In the image above the CONCATENATE function is used to join the strings, for your reference I am writing the complete formula here as well.
=CONCATENATE(“POINT “,B3,”,”,C3,”,”,D3) is the formula to join the 5 strings listed below.
- POINT (AutoCAD Command)
- “ “(Space Character)
- B2 (the cell containing the X Coordinate)
- C2 (the cell containing the Y Coordinate)
- D2 (the cell containing the Z Coordinate)
And the result is POINT X,Y,Z, The formula can be copied into the downward cells using the fill handle feature in Excel.
Copy this data, Open an AutoCAD drawing and Paste it into the command bar as shown in the animated gif below.
And by doing that and we just created around 10000 points. To cross check the total number of points created, Select all (Ctrl+A is the shortcut for selecting all objects in an AutoCAD drawing), Right click for the Properties palette and there you can see the total number of points in the drawing.
We can also use Command Aliases in the formula, command Alias for Point Command is PO. The formula will then become, =CONCATENATE(“PO “,B3,”,”,C3,”,”,D3)
There is also another method which works in a similar way and it makes use of the script file of AutoCAD.
Windows 7 fingerprint driver free. Again, let’s assume we have our coordinate data in an excel sheet in three columns namely X, Y and Z (or Northing, easting and elevation if you prefer). Now copy data from all of these cells then open Notepad or any other simple text editor and paste the complete data in it, this process is shown in the video below.
You data will look like the image shown below, with lots of spaces between the values of respective cells. We need to replace the spaces here with the comma. Select the space between respective cell entries and go to the edit menu of Notepad and select the Replace option.
Now in the replace with field, type “,” (without quotes) and press replace all button and close the replace window, take reference of animated gif shown below.
Now type _MULTIPLE_POINT in the first line of the notepad text just before the coordinate values and then go to file menu then save as option and save the file with .scr format. You can give it any name you want, in this example, I am using point.scr as the notepad file name.
Now we can import these points pretty easily in AutoCAD using SCRIPT command. Type SCRIPT then press Enter key in your AutoCAD command bar and then locate the scr file you created in the example above and click on Open button.
The points will be added in the drawing, the point command will also remain active which you can deactivate by pressing the ESC key.
That was all, I hope you have found this article useful. If you have questions related to the article feel free to let me know in the comments below.
References: Autodesk knowledge network article
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Import Excel Points Into Autocad 2016
In this article, I will explain methods by which you can import and export a table from AutoCAD to Excel. Let’s first start with importing a table.
Importing the table in AutoCAD:
In AutoCAD, you can import excel table as OLE object which is linked to its original source or as an independent AutoCAD table where it is not linked to its parent table. In this article, I will use this sample table made in MS- Excel to demonstrate how this process works.
Importing as a data link:
Open excel file downloaded from the link above and select table completely then right click and select copy from the contextual menu, you can also use CTRL+C to copy table. Now open AutoCAD and click on paste special from clipboard panel of the home tab as shown in the image below.
Paste special window will pop up, in this window select Paste Link radio button and click on the Microsoft Excel Worksheet option and click OK. Now specify a location in the drawing area to paste this table.
The table will now appear in drawing area just like any other Excel table.This table will retain its formatting like line width and cell merges and it will also remain linked with its parent table from where it is copied.
Now open MS-Excel table and make any change in it and save it then go to AutoCAD window and type REA to regenerate your drawing and you will see that table is updated in AutoCAD too with changed value.
Importing as AutoCAD entity:
Import Excel Points In Autocad
You can also import table in AutoCAD as a standalone entity so that it remains completely isolated from excel table.
Repeat the whole process of copying table from MS-Excel and select paste special again from clipboard panel of the home tab but this time select AutoCAD entities option from the Paste Special window and click OK.
Now specify a location to paste your table in the drawing area. The table will be inserted as an AutoCAD entity and it will retain its formatting too.
In this case, you will observe that table has no relation to its parent MS-Excel table and any change made to that parent table will no longer be reflected in the AutoCAD table.
Exporting table from AutoCAD:
You can export a table from AutoCAD in a format like CSV which can be read by the MS office application.
Import Excel Points Into Autocad Pdf
Table exported from AutoCAD does not retain its formatting which means cell color, cell merging, and border styles are not retained in CSV format and after exporting you need to again add formatting to the table if required.
To export a table select it completely then right click and select Export from the contextual menu, Export data window will pop up. Now name your table and provide a location where you want to save it and click save.
Import Excel File Into Autocad
A new table in CSV format will be saved at the specified location, this table can now be opened with MS-office and other CSV compatible applications.
Do you have questions related to this tip? let us know in the comments below.