Every Friday in December we will be posting some tips on AutoCAD Electrical.  Todd Schmoock, Solutions Engineer and AU speaker, is in the field answering client questions face-to-face each day.  Then he takes the time to write out the most popular answers to help more people find information.  It’s just one more way that we show you how to stay ahead.

Trying to find the right files types in AutoCAD Electrical?  This short tip overviews the file inputs and outputs.  Keep it handy when working with new firms or contractors.

AutoCAD Electrical works with a minimum of four file types. These files are ASCII text files, and are used as reference files.  The four minimum files in a typical project are:

1. WDP      – Project      files used by AutoCAD Electrical for organizing project drawings. You can      have unlimited number of projects but only one project can be active each      time.
2. WDD      – Project      specific description file for components (for example, wd_desc.wdd is the      project description default).
3. WDL      – Project      descriptive line information files. Typically, these files are changed to      match the attribute values of the drawing title.
4. WDT      – Project-based      title block mapping files. With most configuration files, AutoCAD      Electrical first searches for the first matching project name, for example      *.WDT. If the WDT file with the project name is not found, AutoCAD      Electrical uses the default.wdt file.

Other file types are Microsoft office file types and are:

1. MDB      – AutoCAD      Electrical uses Microsoft Access for its database files.  Examples are Catalog (default_cat.mdb),      Footprint Lookup (footprint_lookup.mdb), and PLC (ACE_PLC.MDB).
2. XLS      – AutoCAD      Electrical uses Microsoft Excel for its data exchange and output      files.  Examples are: Export From      Spreadsheet and Save Report to File.

Import and Export file types are:

XLS, CSV, MDB, and XML – You can select various file types to import into AutoCAD Electrical. For example, Insert Connector from List tool, Export From Spreadsheet and Save Report to File.  ASCII is also used as an export report format.

Additional AutoCAD Electrical file types are:

 Follow us for the tips coming up for the rest of the Fridays in December!

-Todd

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