{"id":3990,"date":"2025-11-10T08:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/?p=3990"},"modified":"2025-11-28T12:39:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:39:33","slug":"excel-block-attributes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/excel-block-attributes\/","title":{"rendered":"How to edit block attributes in Microsoft Excel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The attributes of blocks<\/a> are a great way to store information within your design. However, when you already have a lot of blocks inserted, editing each attribute one by one becomes time-consuming and error-prone. A faster workflow is to export the attribute data to a text file, edit it in Microsoft Excel and import the updated values back into the drawing.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

What you'll need<\/h2>
  • LusoCAD with blocks with attributes in your drawing (Express Tools available)
    - Microsoft Excel
    - Ability to save and open .txt files<\/li><\/ul>

    Tip:<\/strong> work on a copy of the design before making wholesale changes.<\/p>

    Step 1 - Export the attributes (ATTOUT)<\/h2>
    1. In LusoCAD, run the command ATTOUT<\/strong>, or use Express Tools > Blocks > Export Attributes<\/strong>.<\/li>
    2. When prompted, indicate the name and location of the file. The file will be saved as a tab-delimited .txt.<\/li>
    3. Select the block inserts you want to export and press Enter to finish.<\/li><\/ol>

      The exported text file usually includes columns such as Block Name, Handle (block ID), Attribute Tag and Value. You can export only selected blocks or the entire drawing - choose whichever is relevant to your editing.<\/p>

      \"\"<\/p>

      Step 2 - Edit the attributes in Microsoft Excel<\/h2>

      You can edit the file in Notepad, but Excel is much more practical - especially if you need to sort, filter or use formulae for calculated values.<\/p>

      1. Open Microsoft Excel and go to File > Open<\/strong>. Change the file type filter to Text Files or All Files and select your exported .txt file.

        \"\"<\/p><\/li>

      2. Excel will start the Text Import Wizard:
        - Choose Delimited and click Next.
        - Select Tab as the delimiter (the default value is usually the correct one) and click Next.
        - Under Column data format, set the Handle column to Text to preserve it exactly.
        You can click Finish to accept the default settings if the preview is correct.<\/li>
      3. Edit the attribute values as necessary. You can sort, filter, fill down and use formulas (for example, to calculate values across many rows).<\/li>
      4. If you used formulas, consider copying the edited columns and using Paste Values, so that the text file contains final values and not formulas.<\/li><\/ol>

        Important:<\/strong> Do NOT edit the \u201cHandle\u201d column. This is the unique ID of each block insertion. Changing it will prevent the data from being imported correctly.<\/p>

        \"\"<\/p>

        Save from Excel<\/strong><\/p>

        • Save as Text (tab-delimited) .txt.<\/li>
        • If Excel warns you about features that are not compatible with the text format, click Yes-we intend to keep the plain text format.<\/li><\/ul>

          Step 3 - Import the attributes (ATTIN)<\/h2>
          1. Back in LusoCAD, run ATTIN<\/strong>, or use Express Tools > Blocks > Import Attributes<\/strong>.<\/li>
          2. Search for the edited .txt file and confirm.<\/li>
          3. See the result on the command line, for example:
            Command: ATTIN
            Reading the input file...
            Completed. 11 modified block insertions.<\/li><\/ol>

            And that's it - your blocks are updated in one go. This method is especially useful when working with many blocks in the drawing; editing attributes block by block in the drawing itself would take a long time.<\/p>

            \"\"<\/p>

            Tips and troubleshooting<\/h2>
            • No changes after import: confirm that you have not changed the Handle column and that the file has remained as a tab-delimited .txt.<\/li>
            • Import wizard defaults: you can simply click Next and Finish - the default settings are usually sufficient if the preview is correct.<\/li>
            • Strange characters: if you see unreadable text, try saving the text file with your system's default ANSI encoding. Avoid adding extra inverted commas or other delimiters.<\/li>
            • Columns and headers: don't add or remove columns; keep the header structure intact so that the importer can map the data correctly.<\/li>
            • Multi-line values: avoid inserting line breaks within cells; line breaks can be misinterpreted on import.<\/li>
            • Quality check: test with a small sample first. When everything is working, apply the same workflow to the complete set.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Editing block attributes one by one in LusoCAD can be time-consuming and error-prone; this guide quickly explains how to export the attributes to a .txt file with ATTOUT, edit them in Microsoft Excel (without changing the Handle column) and re-import them with ATTIN, allowing you to update many blocks simply, safely and efficiently.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3990"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4321,"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3990\/revisions\/4321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luso-cad.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}