CDOT Linking MicroStation to Excel Documents
Version 03.01 Page 1 of 7 Updated March, 2007
This document guides you through linking Microsoft Office Documents within MicroStation.
Open Files
1. Open your MicroStation File and your Microsoft Excel file.
Linking Excel Documents
2. Within the Excel file, select the information you would like in the MicroStation
Sheet file and copy by right clicking and selecting Copy.
CDOT Linking MicroStation to Excel Documents.pdf
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3. Within the MicroStation file, select Edit > Paste Special … from the MicroStation
menu. From the Paste Special Dialog Box, select Linked Microsoft Office Excel
Worksheet and select Paste.
4. This brings up the Paste OLE dialog Box. Select By Size and enter a scale of 10.
Note: The San Serif font should be used as the default Font in Microsoft Excel
documents. The San Serif 8 pt font in Excel, is equivalent to CDOT Standard Text
(.07”), and the San Serif 12 pt font is equivalent to CDOT Title Text (.10”) for a
1”=1’ Drawing with a Scale of 10 noted above. The fonts are not exact duplicates
but the San Serif will be the most similar Font to the CDOT Standard.
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5. The limits of the selected Excel data to be placed in the MicroStation Sheet will
display in the MicroStation Window. Select the location for the Excel File and
hit <D> to place the file.
CDOT Linking MicroStation to Excel Documents.pdf
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Note: The link will display with hatching which indicates that the Excel file
containing the linked data is currently open. If you close out of your Excel file, the
hatching will go away.
6. You can single click on the Linked graphics and use MicroStation Commands to
move the image. Do not resize the linked window with the handles, as the text size
will also resize and will not plot as desired.
Note: You can hover over the linked image to display the location of the Excel file.
Double clicking the link will open the Microsoft Excel document. You can edit the
Excel file, close the file, and the updates will be displayed in the MicroStation file.
CDOT Linking MicroStation to Excel Documents.pdf
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Updating Document Link Source and Properties
7. If the Excel document has been moved or renamed, you can simply update the link
instead of redoing the above procedure. This is also the case for MicroStation files
with links that were created with the Create Project Directory program. These files
will be linked to Office files in a standard template and need to be updated to link to
the Office files in the Project Directory Structure.
8. From the MicroStation menu, select Edit > Links…
CDOT Linking MicroStation to Excel Documents.pdf
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9. This will bring up the Links dialog box. You can select an available document
link and select Change Source…
10. This brings up the Change Source dialog box. You can browse to and select the file
with its new location. Select Open.
CDOT Linking MicroStation to Excel Documents.pdf
Version 03.01 Page 7 of 7 Updated March, 2007
11. This will bring up the Links dialog box. You can select an available document link
and select Close to exit the Update Links Dialog box.
Note: You can select either to have the link update manually or automatically by
selecting the method you would like. You can do a manual update from this dialog
box by picking the link and selecting Update Now.
