xls to Revit (Is there an easier way ?)

[jojo150]

I'm only fairly new to Revit, but is there a technical reason why *.xls tables can't be pasted into Revit? We used to import a lot of excel sheets into our drawing sets (bracing calc tables, member schedules, timber frame details etc) and this is now costing us a lot of time to bring into revit. open xls -> covert into .jpg -> import into revit file as image. Thats not too bad but its a mess when you have to go back and alter the bracing tables etc. Autocad R14 could handle this simple task, double click on the imported table and bingo you're editing it in excel. I've put this question to a couple of people but nobody I've asked either knows why it isn't their or don't know what I'm talking about. I think it is refered to as OLE (Object Linking & Embedding) but I could be wrong. Someone might correct me but I thought R9.0 was to include / enhance something with this. I thought the i-drop tool may have picked up .xls but the i-drop feature (which I again thought was included in R9.0) isn't working for me. If I am missing something or there is an easier way to attached .xls tables into our documents, please let me know. It's only a small thing but it's driving me mad.
Thanks
jojo

[beegee]

The current workflow, is to import the .xls into Autocad, then link the Autocad dwg to a Revit file.

[christo4robin]

The current workflow, is to import the .xls into Autocad, then link the Autocad dwg to a Revit file.
Kind of a bummer for those of us who aren't running Autocad alongside Revit. It would be nice if this was a direct process.

[jojo150]

Thanks for the reply BG but I'm getting a few problems with your suggestion. When I try to link the acad drawing containing my .xls table, I get the the following error message from Revit.

'Some elements were lost during import. ActiveX and some proprietary components cannot be imported. Try exploding the file in AUTOCAD, or setting proxygraphics to 1.'

The xls embedded in autocad can't be exploded and my proxygraphics is set to 1. The table simply doesn't show up even though Revit tells me it has linked the file.

Another short term fix or workaround would be appreciated however believe with this package becoming more popular in the workplace, it needs to start being more flexible with how it interacts with other programs. Even enabling support for .wmf files could be handy.

Any other thoughts?
jojo

[Arnel Aguel]

The current workflow, is to import the .xls into Autocad, then link the Autocad dwg to a Revit file.

Not so good a solution right there formatting will be gone and you will need to reformat your schedule again in autocad prior to linking in Revit.

There was already a lengthy discussion on this topic before but since then no further development on the issue.

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=21694&highlight=importing+excel+files

[Lashers]

jojo, a short term solution would be to export as a jpg (I think R9 does tiff as well - better quality) from excel . . .

[truevis]

...Another short term fix or workaround would be appreciated however believe with this package becoming more popular in the workplace, it needs to start being more flexible with how it interacts with other programs. Even enabling support for .wmf files could be handy...
Being able to paste multiple cells from Excel into Revit schedules would be nice, too.

[Overconstrained]

I might be missing something here, but why don't you set up schedules within Revit to accomplish what you were previously doing in excel?

[Joef]

Perhaps the information that is in the excel spreadsheet is not being generated in Revit. Perhaps Revit cannot generate the information. Perhaps you are doing a calculation that involves getting areas from elevations. There are a ton of reasons for wanting Excel in a Revit sheet and not one good reason for not having the ability.

[PeterJ]

There are a ton of reasons for wanting Excel in a Revit sheet and not one good reason for not having the ability.
....other than it possibly being a low development priortiy. As Andy says, export to jpg and then import that to Revit. If you were feeling really imaginative you could then use the spreadsheet as a decal in a rendering.

[Joef]

I agree it is probably a low development priority, but that is not an argument against the usefulness of the feature, simply its rank of usefulness compared to other features. Excel to JPG works OK for me but it would definitely fall into the category of workaround.

Joe

[guy.messick825831]

We ran into this and here is our process: Create Excel spreadsheet, copy cells to clipboard, open AutoCAD, version 2006 and up only, "paste special" as "AutoCAD Entities" and you will create a editable table. Link this to Revit. An extra step to be sure, but it works well for our code analysis sheets, and you make your changes in AutoCAD and it changes back in Revit.

[gordolake]

The obvious for simple schedules, no linking, and fast workflow, just copy cells from excel and paste to text in revit. Any formatting is lost, but column positions remain and are controlled by using the tab key. Updating means re-open xls, copy, re-paste in text edit mode after deleting previous text.

(rant)
When can we expect proper OLE object linking in revit?

Is this not a basic principle for automated data sharing/collaboration between programs/users?

Would this not greatly assist firms migrating to revit, being confident of at least producing drawings that contain all the up to date information required in a format they are used to? i.e. word for specifications, detail notes, standard notes etc and excel for non model scheduled data .


Steve