How to Import an AutoCAD Drawing to Excel
By Wolfram Donat
AutoCAD is highly compatible with Microsoft Word and Excel. You can insert a Word document into AutoCAD, you can insert an Excel spreadsheet into AutoCAD and you can insert AutoCAD images into Word and Excel. A procedure that is not done very often is inserting AutoCAD images into an Excel spreadsheet, but it is relatively easy.
Step 1
Open the drawing that you want to insert into Excel.
Step 2
Select everything in the drawing, either by clicking "Edit" and "Select All," or by dragging a crossing window across the entire drawing.
Step 3
Right click and select either "Copy" or "Copy with base point." Selecting with base point allows you to select a spot on the drawing as a reference point for the copy/paste procedure.
Step 4
Open the Excel file in which the AutoCAD file is to be imported. Select the point in the file where you would like to place the AutoCAD file.
Step 5
Right click and select "Paste special." A dialog box appears, giving you the option to paste as an AutoCAD drawing object. Select this option.
Step 6
Click "OK." Your drawing will look like a picture that has been inserted and if clicked on will show grips to size the AutoCAD object.
Tips
- If you have the option of inserting the Word or Excel file into AutoCAD, that is ideal, as it enables you to manipulate the AutoCAD drawing. If AutoCAD is imported into Word or Excel you can only change the size and nothing else.
Writer Bio
Wolfram Donat is an information technology professional and writer currently finishing a degree in computer systems engineering. He has had success writing for both on- and offline audiences, and moonlights as a professional copywriter as studies permit. He is currently shopping his first novel to agents and publishers, and is hard at work on his second.