Defining the Data Source for Data Extraction

The Define Data Source page of the Data Extraction wizard lets you extract data from individual entities, all entities from a drawing, a set of drawings, or all drawings from a specified folder with or without subfolders.

You can:
  • Extract data from all entities of one or more drawings. The Data Extraction wizard accounts for all entities from that drawing, including hidden entities.
  • Extract data from specific entities based on a selection set.
  • Extract data from all drawings in a specified folder.

  • Filter the output using additional settings from the Data Extraction wizard. For example, you can include or exclude entities from blocks and external references.

As you work on a project, your drawings might change or you might add more drawings to the project folders. You can be notified that the data changed or to automatically include new drawings in the data extraction.

  1. Specify a set of entities from the current drawing.
    1. On the menu, click Insert > Data Exatraction (or enter ExtractData).
    2. In the Data Extraction wizard, click Next repeatedly until the Define Data Source page appears.
    3. Specify Select entities in the current drawing.
    4. Click Specify entities , specify the entities in the graphics area and press Enter.
      The dialog box closes while you select entities from which to extract data.
    5. Click Next.
  2. Specify drawings and folders for the data extraction.
    1. On the menu, click Insert > Data Exatraction (or enter ExtractData).
    2. On the menu, click Insert > Data Exatraction (or enter ExtractData).
    3. Specify Drawings.
    4. Optionally, select Include current drawing.
    5. Under Drawing files and folders, specify options:

      • Add Folder . Adds a folder to the list. You can specify all drawings in the folder or only a subset.

        In the Add Folder Options dialog box, specify options:

        • Browse. Navigate to the folder to include and click Open.
        • Automatically include new drawings. Includes new drawings for data extraction when you add them to the folder. When new drawings are detected, the New drawings found dialog box displays the list of new drawings that were added to the folder after you performed the extraction.
        • Include subfolders. Adds drawing files located in subfolders selected drawing file.
        • Use wild-card characters to select drawings. Lets you specify a subset of drawings from the specified folder. Enter wildcards (? for a single character or * for a string of characters) to specify the matching drawing names.
      • Add File. Adds a specified drawing file to the list.
      • Remove. Removes drawing files or folders from the list.
    6. Optionally, click Settings.
      The More Settings dialog box appears. The specified folders and drawings appear in the Drawing files and folders list in the More Settings dialog box.