Limit on # of cells copy and pasted to other applications?

[kjoiner]

Hello,

I have a spreadsheet that consists of columns A-K and rows 1-69. I typically will copy and link paste the spreadsheet to my CAD system to include with a drawing. I use both Cadkey 99 and Solid Edge v19. In both packages, I can copy and paste the spreadsheet columns A-J and 1-69 with no problem. When I try to include column K, columns A-J only show up. The columns vary in width with the widest being 39 units wide. Most others are narrower. This problem occurs with either CAD software so this points to either Windows or Excel. Another user told me that there was a pixel limit in Excel versions prior to Excel 2003 and this was fixed in Excel 2003. I installed Excel 2003 and the problem still occurs. Any ideas?

System: XP Pro service pack 2
Excel 2003
Solid Edge v19 SP 3
Cadkey 99
Screen Resolution - 1280 x 1024

Thanks,

Kyle

 

[IRstuff]

Are you pasting as an Excel document or as an image?

As a document, you'er limited by the display zoom, which you can correct by double-clicking and changing the view factors.

TTFN

Eng-Tips Policies FAQ731-376

 

[kjoiner]

IRStuff,

In Excel, I drag across all of the cells I want to copy, right click, and select "Copy".

In Cadkey, I pull down the menu for Edit, then select "paste link"

In Solid Edge, I chose "Edit", "Paste Special" and select "Paste Link".

When you mention display view, which program are you refering to?

Thanks,

Kyle

 

[IRstuff]

I'm not familiar with either Cadkey or Solid Edge, but what you see in the embedded sheet is controlled by various factors, not always consistent. Nonetheless, you can often double click on the embedded sheet and modify the way it displays.

TTFN

Eng-Tips Policies FAQ731-376

 

[Panars]

The problem of copying a large amount of cells from Excel into any CAD program is a common one. The limit is usually reported to be what will fit on a 8.5x11 sheet of paper when printed out. The solution was to copy the data in chunks.

I have heard that this is no longer a problem with Office 2002 and Autocad 2004. However, you are not using Autocad. I would suggest contacting the companies that create CADKEY and Solid Edge and see if they have solutions.

 

[kjoiner]

Panars,

I've been in contact with other users on the Solid Edge offical newsgroup and they pointed me to the issue in Excel. Cadkey no longer exists. I print this data on a drawing that uses 11.5 x 17 paper and I can stretch the spreadhseet larger and smaller as necessary to fit the page. The problem seems to be related to some overall size of the spreadsheet that can be copied. This size limit seems fixed but the number of cells copied can vary based on their size.

As a workaround, I shrunk down the cell width on column K and it now will copy and paste into both CAD systems.
Based on this, it seems that I could have trouble pasting a spreadsheet with only columns A and B is they are wide enough to go over the limit. I'll try this and let you know what happens.

Kyle

 

[kjoiner]

Hello,

I just did a little test in which I created a spreadsheet with only column A, found the max size it would copy and then proceded to add another column and try the max size. Here's what I found:

column A - max size 176 (total cell width)
columns A & B - max size 175(total of cells A & B)
columns A, B & C - max size 174 (total of cells A & B & C
and so on

It seems that you have a maximum width of 176 and then subtract 1 for every column you include. Again that's the sum total of column widths. This is very strange.

Kyle

 

[cowski]

Are those numbers pixel widths? If so, you probably need to subtract one per column to account for the gridlines.

 

[kjoiner]

Cowski,

Those numbers are the widths I type in by right clicking and selecting "column width". In regards to the gridlines, I have them turned off.

Kyle

 

[Panars]

In another CAD program, we were able to work around the issue by using a really small font in Excel, copying the cells into drawing 1, and then referencing drawing 1 in our main drawing but scaling drawing 1 up. Yes, it was a kludge and a pain in the *!*.