CAD_EX

CAD_EX

Live two-way link between AutoCAD and Excel — read block references with their attributes and dynamic parameters into a sheet, edit them there, and push the changes back

New release
Free · Premium
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Back up your project before running any plugin, and always review the results before relying on them. See the EULA

Step 1 — with an attributed block in your drawing, click Select Blocks; AutoCAD switches to selection mode. Step 2 — pick the blocks and right-click to finish: the link is created and the attributes, plus one chosen parameter, flow into the sheet.
The block’s attribute values land in the Excel sheet.
To generate blocks, enter the block name in its column, select the rows and click Insert Selected; AutoCAD switches to insertion mode, where you pick each insertion point.
Updating attributes — change the values in the sheet and click Update; the block attributes update to match.
Automatic block-placement mode — point it at the columns holding the offset values (relative coordinates).
Just for fun: I asked Claude Code to turn the Mona Lisa into relative coordinates — here is what came out )))

General usage instructions

CAD_EX is a live two-way link between AutoCAD and Excel. Read block references — with their attributes and dynamic block parameters — into a sheet, edit them there, and push the changes back; insert, highlight and delete blocks straight from the Excel ribbon.

How it works: the AutoCAD plugin auto-loads at startup and runs a named-pipe server, and a dedicated “CAD EX” tab appears in the Excel ribbon. Every operation is triggered from Excel — no macros, no scripting, no manual attribute extraction. Blocks are matched by their AutoCAD handle, so the link survives saving, closing and reopening the drawing.

It is built for engineers, designers and drafters who maintain AutoCAD block libraries with attribute data — HVAC and plumbing equipment, electrical devices, valves and fittings, furniture, structural members, room and door tags — and need to schedule, bulk-edit or bulk-place them from a spreadsheet instead of retyping attributes block by block.

All core features (Select, Insert, Update, Highlight, Delete, Insert Settings) are free. Get Parameters and Update Parameters — reading and writing dynamic block properties — require a paid Premium license, activated online per machine (it keeps working offline afterwards). Purchasing supports the Vixeldorf project, most of whose tools are free.

Key features

  • Select Blocks — pick block references on screen in AutoCAD; file path, handle, block name, effective (dynamic) name and every attribute tag land in the active Excel sheet, one row per block, one column per tag.
  • Insert Selected — prepare rows in Excel (block name + attribute values), click Insert Selected, then pick insertion points in AutoCAD; blocks are placed with all attributes pre-filled and the rows written back with the real handle, immediately editable.
  • Update Blocks — edit attribute values in Excel and push them back to the matching blocks in one click, matched by handle; rows are colour-coded on success and reported per-block on failure.
  • Highlight — select rows in Excel; AutoCAD zooms to the corresponding blocks and highlights them in the viewport.
  • Delete Blocks — after a confirmation prompt, erase the block references from the drawing and remove the matching rows from both sheets.
  • Insert Settings — per-workbook insert options: XY-offset placement, prompt hints from two attribute tags, and a donor DWG so block definitions missing from the current drawing are cloned in automatically before insertion.
  • Get Parameters (Premium) — read dynamic block property values (visibility states, sizes, lookups) for the selected blocks into a dedicated Parameters sheet.
  • Update Parameters (Premium) — push edited parameter values from the Parameters sheet back to the dynamic blocks in AutoCAD.

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