Entering Tabular Data

Some objects require the specification of data in a table within the dialog box. You can enter the data manually, or you can import the data from an external file.

This page discusses:

Completing Tables Manually

To edit a cell in a table, double-click the cell and enter a value. You cannot edit a cell if it would create empty rows between data in the table.

To delete data from the table, right-click a row and select Delete row; you cannot delete data from individual cells.

To add a row between existing data rows, or to extend the length of the table, right-click a row and select Duplicate row; a duplicate row is inserted below the selected row.

Importing Tables

To import tabular data, right-click anywhere in the table and select Import. After selecting the file, the table is populated with the data from the file; all previous data in the table is overwritten.

Tables can be imported from the following file formats:

  • Excel spreadsheets (*.xls or *.xlsx)
  • Text files (*.txt or *.csv)

    For *.txt files, columns must be defined using tab separation.

    For *.csv files, columns must be defined using commas or semicolons as separators.

The first row in the file is not imported; you can use this row to provide units for the data and as a descriptive header row, but the descriptions have no impact on the imported data. You must enclose the units in parentheses. If no valid units are specified, the default units are assumed. If the values in your source file use units different from the default units, the values are converted to the default units upon importing. For example, the default units for length values are millimeters (mm). If your data values are provided in meters (m), the values imported into the table are multiplied by 1000 to convert to millimeters.

Tip: To view or change the default units settings, select Me > Preferences from the top bar, select the Parameters and Measure category in the Options dialog box, and click the Units tab.