About Importing an Excel Worksheet to a Family Table

AutoCAD Mechanical provides the ability to import a worksheet into a Family Table.

The import process follows the following rules. The following figure shows a spreadsheet containing valid columns as well as invalid columns, to illustrate the rules.

• The first row of the data rows must be a heading row, which contains the Family Table column names. In the illustration above, the heading row is from C7 to L7. The range C8 to L10 are value rows.
• When AutoCAD Mechanical detects Excel columns that have the same names as existing Family Table columns:
  • Data from the Excel column updates the corresponding column in the Family Table.
  • If there is a data type mismatch between the Excel data and the Family Table, AutoCAD Mechanical alerts you to it. If you continue to import nevertheless, AutoCAD Mechanical uses the default value for the mismatched cell instead of the Excel data.
  If the Family Table column is set to Global or Calculated, AutoCAD Mechanical does not import values for that column.
• When AutoCAD Mechanical finds an Excel column that has no matching column in the Family Table;
  • AutoCAD Mechanical adds a new column with the same name as the Excel column to the Family Table.
  • The Description and the Default value properties for the Family Table column are blank. The Units and Component Property Mapping properties are set to None. The value type is set to Normal.
• If the Family Table contains columns that do not exist in the Excel data set, the imported rows show default values for those columns.
• If the Excel data contains an invalid column name (For example cells C7 and J7 in the illustration), AutoCAD Mechanical does not import that column.

Note: Unless Microsoft Excel is installed on your computer you cannot import from an Excel file.