[Microstation v8i .357] Not searchable text in linked Excel table when printing to pdf

Question

Hi. 
 This has been tested in MS v8i .357 and PowerCivil V8i .878. 
 We are having problems when printing a drawing to pdf. The drawing has a linked Excel table (as a worksheet object) in addition to CAD geometry and text. 
 When I use the Bentley driver, all text except for the table is searchable. When I use the Windows driver, all table text is searchable, but not the CAD text. Is there a known solution to this problem?

Lorys · Answer

in mstn model is the excel text searchable from inside mst text find? NO JUST MADE A DEMO AND NO GOOD... 
 Ok here is what I have found FYI in using ss3 V8i 
 open you excel select all the text you want to copy and pick copy, dont close it yet. 
 In mstn set you active text settings for me the text ht 5, line spacing 1.5 and left top justifty seemed to work best 
 Then from paste choose paste special, linked TEXT to design option 
 now opens your text editor and paste the text from clipboard and place the text, in order to get the columns how you want you'll need to use the tabs and indents. 
 In the past I found word does a better job with the tabs but must be text not direct copy from excel to text past in word... 
 I have attached dgn example with embed/ linked exel file take a look and it made pdf text searchable here.... 
 I could do it better and faster in ss3 as we still can use an ancient basic macro ( Table.bas) to import text to a table from csv and have it draw lines.. 
 but isnt linked... 
 
 text searchable.zip

Lorys · Answer

If it doesnt have to be in excel and your still using V8i then you can export the excel to csv and use the ancient table. bas macro still delivered with v8i, it will create text tables with text and lines... its a little limited as it cant handle overrides symbology and annotation scale but if you set the parameters up right it produces nice tables with horizontal and vertical lines and colours if desired etc but again its a bit of trial and error unless you know your data very well as you have to set column width based on your largest column , then later you can use the fence stretch to re-align your columns so they are more or less regular .. still beats typing and you dont have to BUY an addon as you already have it with msnt V8i and you more than likely to have excel already too...but the addon mentioned does far more than create tables.. but if you only want a text table that is text searchable and not linked to external file then table.bas is a good option...even if it is from last century, it still works ( FYI my old Toyota sedan was from last century 1989 was working fine I only sold 7 years ago and I believe its still running fine today!).. 
 Another work around could be to edit the spread sheet and have a line at the beginning saying "this file is locked for editing as it is referenced into CAD drawing XYZ and you need to advise the cad manager or lead drafter to edit it" , then you could password protect it I have done this before and made a copy embedded ( or used text table and have a non print level to give the path of the original xls... as to the password the cad manager and I decided " microstation" was as good a generic password allowed simpler work flow for changes but didnt restrict usage or work flows just prevented accidental changes... 
 There is no fix in v8i that I'm aware of that satisfies all your conditions .. I prefer the embedded and the file version locked against editing and has the contact info so drafter can update the shared excel file and reimbedded the revised copy with password would still work.. and a path listed in the dgn .. ok I think I'm repeating myself.. stop now.