Adding Spreadsheets or Tables to layout page

dallen · 17 Jun 2011, 16:57

How do I add Spreadsheets or Tables to a layout page for a BOM?

TIG · 17 Jun 2011, 17:10

I'm afraid that copy/paste into RTF is the only way.
Neither Layout nor SketchUp support live OLE links, so you'll also need to keep it up to date manually.

Dave R · 18 Jun 2011, 05:39

I regularly add tables to my LayOut projects. These start out as CSV files that have more data than I need so I open them in Excel and delete the unneeded stuff and rearrange what's left to suit. Then I copy and paste into a Word document for final formatting. I convert from table to text to get rid of the cells. I save that as an RTF file which I can then import into LO. If I make changes to the RTF file later, I can update the reference in LO.

As TIG says, you do have to manually update though.

Anssi · 10 Jul 2011, 13:09

Copy/paste from Excel seems to work decently well, not always perfectly. The table will go awry if I try to edit it within LayOut.

Anssi

ashscott · 18 Mar 2014, 04:26

If you're like me and don't want to buy MS Office and you find that tables aren't copy pasting to Layout very well, you can copy paste them to a notepad document, align the tabs, then copy paste into Layout.
You then just draw some lines in Layout to give it the table look.

Obviously leave this till the end of your project so you don't have to keep manually updating.

mcmillancabinet · 28 Apr 2015, 13:59

Old thread, but I'm just dealing with the same issue now, trying to get spec block tables into my Layout drawings. Thanks, Dave R, for the Excel-to-Word-to-RTF method. That works pretty well, except are you getting border formatting to translate? No matter what I set them to in Word (thick lines, thin lines, no lines, double lines, dashed lines) Layout outlines every cell with the same thin solid black line.

juju · 28 Apr 2015, 14:09

I have a similar problem in some CAD software I use, hence I take a screencapture of the spreadsheet (noted, generally these are not really big) and insert it into the software as a JPG.

From the above it seems like live updating / auto updating is not required, as such the above method should work here too?

Dave R · 28 Apr 2015, 14:49

@mcmillancabinet said:

Old thread, but I'm just dealing with the same issue now, trying to get spec block tables into my Layout drawings. Thanks, Dave R, for the Excel-to-Word-to-RTF method. That works pretty well, except are you getting border formatting to translate? No matter what I set them to in Word (thick lines, thin lines, no lines, double lines, dashed lines) Layout outlines every cell with the same thin solid black line.

David, I don't think cell formatting is saved as part of the RTF file so it doesn't surprise me that you aren't seeing it. I don't ever want borders on the tables I put in to LO. this image shows a typical table as I use them. Sorry it's difficult to read. It's the only thing I've got access to at the moment.

Juju, I guess a screen shot works but I wouldn't use it due to the low resolution especially with a JPG.

juju · 28 Apr 2015, 14:59

@dave r said:

Juju, I guess a screen shot works but I wouldn't use it due to the low resolution especially with a JPG.

That is true to an extent, I guess it helps a little working on HD screens...

pbacot · 28 Apr 2015, 16:23

I think I would just print Excel to pdf and insert the pdf.

Dave R · 28 Apr 2015, 16:27

Peter, that works well if you're using a Mac. On PC, not so much.

pbacot · 28 Apr 2015, 16:40

What happens on a PC?

Dave R · 28 Apr 2015, 17:10

No PDF import option.

seasdes · 28 Apr 2015, 23:47

FastStone Capture allows screen clips to be saved at whatever resolution that you want. I use it every day.

caronte01 · 6 Jun 2015, 00:00

I generate PDF from libre office, and then open it in inkscape, where I can save as PNG. At 200-300 DPI. Yes, layout PC needs PDF import badly!!!

Garyvn · 9 Jun 2015, 15:06

I just did a quick check then with Excel and Layout

not sure if this is a capability new to Layout 2015 but

Copy and paste from excel to LO worked fine - editable table in a text box

Also trying a way I always use via powerpoint to keep the formatting and colours of Excel

1] select range in excel
2] paste as image in powerpoint
3] copy that image from powerpoint
4] pasting into layout - quick and pretty spreadsheet

hope that helps

Chailas · 16 Jun 2015, 19:41

In a PC you can use the snipping tool and save the image as a .jpg

ashscott · 9 Jul 2015, 16:52

Have just been doing some tables from excel to Layout - they copied and pasted quite nicely so long as I didn't try and edit them in Layout - it seems Layout reads them better than it did a few versions back when I tried this and consistently got tabs jumping all over the place.

TL;DR: Try copy pasting from your spreadsheet to Layout first - could save you some time.

shawb · 7 Sept 2015, 14:46

Hi,

I have been looking at the Excel table into LO thing (or lack of in the PC version). Here is my offering:

Create your table in Excel with cell widths, heights, font size and formulas. Make sure that any editable data can be copied and pasted as a block (for convenience).
Format a matching area in the spreadsheet as a swap area.
Select the entire table, copy and paste into LO. The table comes in as an editable text block with cells bordered in black lines.
Make any changes to data in individual cells. Note, no formulas are copied just the numbers.
Double click in the text box which will select all cell data.
Copy and then paste back into the Excel sheet but in the formatted swap area.
Select the data to be changed and paste into the original table position.
The formula results will update.
Start back at the beginning! Re-copy the updated table and double click in the LO text box, paste.

Not perfect but seems to work. Basically it is a way of re-calculating a table using Excel and not having to do it manually.

Brian