I am working on a project in LayOut where I need to include some data from Excel things like material costs & schedules. Now; I am just copying and pasting the tables / taking screenshots but updating them every time something changes in Excel is a bit of a hassle.
Is there any way to link an Excel file / keep the tables synced somehow? Even a semi-manual method would help. I would love to keep the formatting clean and avoid redoing things every time the data changes.
I have checked Create and format tables - Microsoft Support guide related to this and found it quite informative.
I was recently reading about what is microsoft excel and how it’s used in project management; so I figured there must be a smarter way to connect it with LayOut.
Any tips or suggestions would be really appreciated!
General advice: Do not copy from Excel or other applications, including SketchUp, to paste into LayOut. As Barry indicates, use File>Insert.
Here I’ve copied from an Excel spreadsheet and pasted into LayOut and I’ve copied and pasted three views from a SketchUp model. Note that there is no reference listed for the spreadsheet and there are three different embedded SketchUp references with each viewport linked to a different reference.
So changes to the spreadsheet will require manually replacing the spreadsheet in LO. None of the three viewports are connected to the original SketchUp model so changes to that model will not be reflected in the LayOut file. And to make an edit to the model shown in the the viewports will require opening the three different files. The additional SketchUp references also result in file bloat that doesn’t give you any benefits.
It all boils down to incorrectly adding content to the LayOut project results in a great deal of extra work compared to inserting the references correctly.
A good tip is to create a generic schedule with an associated spreadsheet and save it as a scrap book to use as a template. Then rename the template spread sheet file for each a project and relink it in Document setup. I dont try to use the spread sheet formatting it doesnt work very well for me I format in layout and cleanup or edit as needed. If the spread sheet data over runs the scrap book table it will add the rows then you just format if you are using a table like in the example below.
Now; I am just copying and pasting the tables / taking screenshots but updating them every time something changes in Excel is a bit of a hassle.
Even a semi-manual method would help. I would love to keep the formatting clean and avoid redoing things every time the data changes. 
