About Linking Excel Spreadsheets
Information in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet can be combined with extracted data from
drawings.
By linking to an Excel spreadsheet, you can include information from an entire worksheet,
or part of a worksheet, referred to as a named range. Using the Link External Data dialog box, you can:
- Specify a data link by selecting an XLS file to which the extracted data from the
drawing will be linked - Match the extracted drawing data and the spreadsheet data
- Select the columns in the XLS file to merge with the extracted drawing data
On the Refine Data page, you access the Link External Data dialog box; you can set
up a link to an entire Excel spreadsheet, or to a range of rows and columns, to the
extracted data.
Before you can link a spreadsheet, Microsoft Excel needs to be installed on the same
computer on which the data extraction is performed. If Microsoft Excel is not installed,
or if the XLS file is not saved locally on the computer that is performing the data
extraction, a data link cannot be established.
If a linked spreadsheet has been changed, such as a row or column has been added,
the table in your drawing can be updated accordingly using the DATALINKUPDATE command.
Likewise, if a change is made to the table in the drawing, the linked spreadsheet
can be updated using the same command.
the External References Palette.
Understand Data Linking and Matching
Data linking is the process of selecting a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with the purpose
of merging all or some of its contents with extracted drawing data. See Link a Table
to External Data for more information about data linking.
Data matching creates a relationship between two sets of data; the data in a column
from the extracted drawing data and the data in a column from an Excel spreadsheet.
For example, you have a simple bill of materials (BOM). Three columns of data are
extracted from a drawing. These columns contain data for: Part #, Revision, and Quantity. You want to include two additional columns of data in the BOM from a spreadsheet.
These columns contain data for Cost and Supplier.
In this example, the spreadsheet contains a column of part numbers labeled Catalog Number that matches the Part Number column in the extracted data. In the Link External Data dialog box , you select Part # as the column for the drawing data and Catalog Number as the column for the external data. Because there is at least one cell of matching
data in the drawing data column and the external data column, the data extraction
feature “knows†how both sources are tied together.
You can test if the data matching is valid by clicking the Check Match button from
the Link External Data dialog box. If the match is unsuccessful, a warning message
indicates what the problem is. In some situations, the drawing data might not link
correctly to the data in the spreadsheet.
Validate Matched Data
The data matching validation process fails when it cannot find a valid match between
the drawing data and external data (spreadsheet). The following error messages will
display:
No match was found between any values in the drawing data and external data.
- If the problem is not resolved, the external data will not be merged. Compare the
spreadsheet column data to the drawing data column for any matching values. For example,
the numerical data in the drawing data may be set to a different precision level than
in the external data.
The data column in the external data does not contain unique values.
- The data in the external data column contains one or more cells that contain identical
data. This condition makes it so that one match cannot be configured between the drawing
data and the external data.
spep 1: Create a connection with the workbook and its worksheets. In the Workbook Connections dialog box, click Add. Near the bottom of the Existing Connections dialog box, click Browse for More. Find your workbook, and click Open. In the Select Table dialog box, select a table (worksheet), and click OK.Linking a Range of Cells. To link a range of cells in the spreadsheet, select the cells and click the Copy button. In the destination worksheet, click the cell where you want the upper-left cell of the range of cells to be located. Then Paste Link as directed above.… Link to data in other worksheets and workbooks. Copying and pasting data from one workbook to another is a quick and easy way to gather …spreadsheets and workbooks in Microsoft Excel to streamline data management. A link enables a cell in one …Excel can dynamically link a workbook to source data in another workbook so that any changes you make in one workbook are immediately reflected in the other …12 Aug 200828 Mar 2011Excel spreadsheet can be combined with extracted data from drawings. By linking to an Excel spreadsheet, you can include …… Excel spreadsheet linking enables several spreadsheet values to automatically update themselves in Audit Excel. Spreadsheet linking is easy …… Linking two excel sheets so that one can read a value from the other is much easier than it sounds and it's a function that a lot of people need.