Drawings received from other offices often contain "exploded" tables: the table is no longer an AutoCAD Table object but a pile of lines, polylines and independent texts. AutoCAD's own table export features don't work on them.
Exporting a normal AutoCAD table
If the table is still a Table object, it's easy:
- Select it, right-click and choose Export to save a .CSV file, or
- Use the
TABLEEXPORTcommand.
To check, click the table once: if the whole table highlights as one object, it's a Table; if only a single line or text is selected, it has been exploded.
Why exploded tables are hard
- There are no cells; every value is an independent Text or MText object.
- Texts are rarely centred perfectly and rows can drift by a few millimetres.
- Numbers are written with a dot (
10.50); Excel in regions that use a decimal comma reads them as text, not numbers.
The manual fix is usually copying every value one by one or retyping the table, which takes hours on long lists.
One-step export with TABLOAKTAR
TabloAktar is a free AutoCAD LISP add-in built for exactly this:
Tips
- Leave notes outside the table out of the selection to avoid extra rows.
- Right-aligned values in Excel are a quick sign they were recognised as numbers.
- Need to split text into columns afterwards? Our Text to Columns+ add-in applies several delimiters in one step.
FAQ
Does it work on AutoCAD LT? No, LISP add-ins require the full version of AutoCAD.
Is it paid? TabloAktar is free to download.