Defining the Data Source for Data Extraction

The Define Data Source page of the Data Extraction wizard lets you extract data from individual entities, all entities from a drawing, a set of drawings, or all drawings from a specified folder with or without subfolders.

You can do the following:

• Extract data from all entities of one or more drawings. The Data Extraction wizard takes into account all entities from that drawing, including hidden entities.
• Extract data from specific entities based on a selection set
• Extract data from all drawings of a specified folder
• Filter the output using additional settings from the Data Extraction wizard. For example, you can include or exclude entities from blocks and external references.

As you work on your project, you drawings might modify or more drawings may be added to the project folders. You can choose to receive a notification that the data was changed or to automatically include new drawings in the data extraction.

To specify a set of entities from the current drawing:

1. On the menu, click Insert > Data Extraction (or type ExtractData).
2. In the Data Extraction wizard, click Next repeatedly until you reach the Define Data Source page.
3. Specify Select entities in the current drawing.
4. Click Specify entities , specify the entities in the graphics area and press Enter to complete the selection.

   The dialog box closes temporarily until you select entities from which to extract data.

5. Click Next.

To specify drawings and folders for the data extraction:

1. On the menu, click Insert > Data Extraction (or type ExtractData).
2. In the Data Extraction wizard, click Next repeatedly until you reach the Define Data Source page.
3. Specify Drawings.
4. Optionally, select Include current drawing.

   The current drawing file appears in the Drawing files and folders list.

5. Under Drawing files and folders, use the following options to add additional drawing files, add complete folders, and remove files from the list.
   • Add Folder. Adds a folder to the list. You can specify all drawings from the folder or only a subset.

     In the Add Folder Options dialog box, specify options:

     • To specify a folder, click Browse. Navigate to the folder to include and click Open.
     • Optionally, specify the settings:
       • Automatically include new drawings. Takes into account new drawings for data extraction when you add them to the folder. When new drawings are detected, the New drawings found dialog box displays the list of new drawings that were added to the folder after you performed the extraction.
       • Include subfolders. Adds drawing files located in subfolders relative to the position of the current drawing file to the list.
       • Use wild-card characters to select drawings. Lets you specify a subset of drawings from the specified folder. Type wildcards (? for a single character, or * for a string of characters) to specify the matching drawing names.
   • Add File. Adds a specified drawing file to the list.
   • Remove. Removes drawing files or folders from the list.
6. Optionally, click Settings. The More Settings dialog box appears.

   The specified folders and drawings appear in the Drawing files and folders list.

More Settings

In the More Settings dialog box, you can set the following options:

• Extract entities from blocks. Includes block entities.
• Extract entities from references. Includes entities and blocks from externally referenced drawings (References).
• Include references in block counts. Includes entities.
• Entities in model space. Includes all entities from the Model mode and excludes all entities from the Sheet mode.
• All entities in drawing. Includes all entities from the Model and all Sheets, including drawing information.