Multicolumn Specification Sheet

[AllenMWeitzman]

Can anyone suggest a way to insert a construction specification text or rtf file into Layout?

I can create the specifications in Word as a multi-column file but have not been able to figure out how to import into Layout.

Only thing that worked was to cut and paste sections of the spec into columns I created but not very satisfactory, especially if edits need to be made.

Tried creating a 4our column by 50 row table (the fifty tow was a guess) but that didn't work.

Sure table with word wrap would be great if the feature existed.

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions,

Allen Weitzman, Architect
(Retired)

[Dave R]

When I need something like that I make a .xlsx file to insert. It's eas to format and can be edited in Excel or your favorite spreadsheet application.

[AllenMWeitzman]

@dave r said:

When I need something like that I make a .xlsx file to insert. It's eas to format and can be edited in Excel or your favorite spreadsheet application.

Hi Dave and thank you for your reply.

So you create one xls file, the correct column width by however long it needs to be. Do you create each line as a row or do you create a massive text box for the entire specification?

As you know, specifications can get long so even on a 24 by 36 Arch D sheet it would be longer than the roughly 22" and so would need to span multiple columns.

I wasn"t able to get Layout to wrap the text into the adjacent column and had to manually cut and paste so editing the text proved cumbersome.

In the past, my project specification was a separate book that accompanied the drawings but for smaller projects I do now as a retiree, it seems common to create a single sheet with all the specifications in one place in 4 or 5 columns across the page.

Appreciate the help,

Allen

[Dave R]

@allenmweitzman said:

So you create one xls file, the correct column width by however long it needs to be. Do you create each line as a row or do you create a massive text box for the entire specification?

No. But you asked about multi-column sheets. I make a spreadsheet with the columns I want. In the spreadsheet application I combine cells and set up text wrapping if needed. Here's an example from a recent LO project.

The descriptions for the parts starting with the butt hinges are in combined cells that are also set up with wrapping.

@allenmweitzman said:

As you know, specifications can get long so even on a 24 by 36 Arch D sheet it would be longer than the roughly 22" and so would need to span multiple columns.

Yes. Easily formatted in Excel or your favorite spreadsheet application.

@allenmweitzman said:

I wasn"t able to get Layout to wrap the text into the adjacent column and had to manually cut and paste so editing the text proved cumbersome.

Again, do the formatting in Excel. It's much easier there. LayOut is effectively following the way you set up the spreadsheet. Also make sure you leave the inserted file alone so you can make update in Excel. Don't explode it or copy the content into a table you've created in LayOut.

When you insert the Excel Reference you can choose the range of cells you want to include so if you wanted to split the spreadsheet across pages or even have two separate sections of it on one page, you can do that.

Untick All and select the cell range for the section you want to show As a quick example from the file I have open, I've split my single spreadsheet into two sections. The first is from A1:E20 and the second is from A21:E39.

[AllenMWeitzman]

Thank you Dave. Not exactly what I was asking but close enough to give me a direction to a solution.

Thank you again,

Allen

[Dave R]

It will let you create a multicolumn document to insert as a reference in LayOut.