DotSoft
TM
The Leading Developer of Add-on
Utilities for AutoCAD® & Compatibles
SUPPORT 
 

 CAD Productivity

Civil/Survey

 ■ MapWorks for:
   ▪ AutoCAD
   ▪ BricsCAD
   ▪ Civil3D
   ▪ IntelliCAD
   ▪ GeoLocPlus
   ▪ LegalReader
   ▪ LegalWriter

DWG Compatibles

 ■ Excel2DWG
 ■ Word2DWG
 ■ PDF2DWG

Revit Add-ons

 ■ RevitOffice+
 

 Support Overview

This is the support home page.  We provide technical support for our purchased products.

The only method for product support is by email.  We do not provide phone support.

Important Notes:

  • We highly recommend using plain text for your email format to us!
  • Using a GIF graphic for a logo or background will almost certainly send your email to our junk folder, as GIF files are frequently used to mask spam (we filter on GIF header bytes).
  • Using special fonts may look pretty to you, but on our support machines may result in long strings of question marks, making your message completely unreadable.
  • Using colorful backgrounds may look pretty to you, but can result in an email we won't try to read, like this one.

Including Files: If related files help show your problem, include them as attachments to your email, but consider these guidelines.

  • Send the absolute minimum files to show the problem.  Do not include multiple files that show the same problem!
  • Include the absolute minimum data in the file to show the problem.
    • For example a drawing should contain only the objects involved.  Do not include any other objects, title blocks, layouts, etc.
    • Zoom to the problem area and make mtext notes (in red) explaining your observations.
    • Do not include xreference attachments, fonts, and other linked information unless it is absolutely relevant.

DotSoft Product Compatibility

All checked items in the chart below assume you are installing with the latest (or final) build of the product.

    
    AutoCAD 20##   BricsCAD   IntelliCAD
Product Year 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 20 21 22 23 24 10.0 10.1 11.0 11.1 12.0
C3DTools 13.0 2024                              
12.0 2023                                
11.0 2022                                  
10.0 2021                                    
9.0 2020                                      
8.0 2019                                        
7.0 2018                                          
MapWorks 13.0 2024          
12.0 2023  
11.0 2022        
10.0 2021                
9.0 2020                      
8.0 2019                            
7.0 2018                                
ToolPac 24.0 2024          
23.0 2023  
22.0 2022        
21.0 2021                
20.0 2020                      
19.0 2019                            
18.0 2018                                
Word2CAD 4.2 2024          
4.1 2023  
4.0 2022        
3.2 2021                
3.1 2020                      
3.0 2019                            
2.7 2019                              
XL2CAD 8.2 2024          
8.1 2023  
8.0 2022        
7.2 2021                
7.1 2020                      
7.0 2019                            
6.5 2018                                

Notes:

  1. Products may work on versions beyond those checked, but it is not guaranteed and is not supported.
  2. See the section below on AutoCAD 2014 Trusted Locations.
  3. For all other products, see the bottom of the product description page.
  4. This compatibility chart is based on information available at this time and is subject to change.

AutoCAD 2014 Trusted Locations:

The new version of AutoCAD adds security which causes builds of our existing (2013 compatible) products dated before April 1, 2013 to display load alerts on each session.  Other than these alerts our 2013 compatible products 'should' work in the new 2014 version.

Use this procedure to suppress these alerts.

  1. Launch AutoCAD 2014.
  2. Issue the OPTIONS command.
  3. If you have multiple profiles, set your desired profile current.
    A) Click the [Profiles] tab.
    B) Select the profile from the list.
    C) Click the [Set Current] button.
  4. Click the [Files] tab.
  5. Click the [+] to the left of Trusted Locations.
  6. Click the [Add] button.
  7. Click the [Browse] button.
  8. Navigate to the application folder and click [OK].
  9. If you receive an alert (about Read-Only), click [Continue].
  10. Click [OK] to close the Options dialog.

Installs downloaded on/after April 1, 2013 will include revisions to the hookup program to automate this for users.


Product Specific Topics:

Word2CAD Details specific to the Word2CAD product.
XL2CAD Details specific to the XL2CAD product.

Installing Upgrades:
All of our product builds are full installs and never require the existence of a previous version.  If you acquire an upgrade and have an existing release installed, here is the best procedure.

  1. Quit AutoCAD.
  2. Run Add/Remove Programs to remove the old version.
  3. Install the new version to the same folder used before.
  4. Restart AutoCAD.

With this procedure, AutoCAD will simply pick up the new menus and code.

 

 Word2CAD Specific Topics

The following are frequently asked questions regarding Word2CAD.

Alternative Fonts and Question Marks.

If you choose a font override like ROMAN.SHX or another SHX font, you may see question marks in your document that you didn't see when using truetype fonts.  This is because the font file does not have a definition for this special character and it is showing a "?" instead.  Some characters don't look special but are.  For example Word often uses a curly apostrophe that has an ascii code of 146, instead of the standard one ' that has an ascii code of 39.

 XL2CAD Specific Topics

The following are frequently asked questions regarding XL2CAD.

Error Creating New Link

The error occurs when trying to place a new instance in the drawing and is almost always caused by Excel Security.  After this dialog is dismissed, press F2 for details on the error in the AutoCAD Command History area.  If you see the terms Programmatic Access, you know it's an Excel Security issue.

First see the section of the XL2CAD Users Guide on Excel Security to make sure you have made all the necessary settings.  This can be found under Start > (All) Programs > DotSoft > XL2CAD.

If the settings are correct there is the possibility that you are accessing a spreadsheet that has macros from a folder that has not been assigned to trusted folders.  See this Microsoft Page for details on adding trusts to folder locations.

Microsoft Click-To-Run

Microsoft has recently introduced a delivery method known as "Click-To-Run" This is a 'virtual version' that allows you to use the software without actually downloading all the parts.   However this approach does not register the functionality required for our products (and other programs).

A full version download of office is available under "Advanced Settings" on the download page. You will need to fully uninstall the 'click to run' version and then reinstall the full version.  Also see Switch to MSI Details.

Avoiding vertical shift problems.

The problem: During the conversion, XL2CAD creates Mtext objects and AutoCAD has no baseline justification for mtext objects.  That means we have to use a bottom, middle, or top alignment.  The shift problem occurs if you use bottom justification and the cell contains lowercase letters with ascenders like "g".  This problem can also occur if using top justification and the cell contains tall characters like "(". 

The solution: Although XL2CAD has options for "Shift Characters" which can often compensate, but we have found the best approach is to turn off the Shift Characters option and format the cells in Excel using the vertical center option.  Select the data range in Excel, choose the Format menu, then Cells, then on the Alignment tab set the vertical alignment to center.

Lines are drawn through my merged rows and/or columns.

Sometimes Excel will report incorrect merge information.  There is a possibility that some Excel spreadsheets were created (or modified) in a spreadsheet product other than Microsoft Excel.  This can usually be fixed by this procedure:

  1. Place your cell cursor in the merged area.
  2. Click the [<a>] Merge & Center button to unmerge the cells.
  3. Click the button again to remerge the cells.
  4. Repeat at step 1 for additional areas.

After this change to the spreadsheet, Excel will report the correct merge information and XL2CAD will not draw lines through the merged areas.  Also check the toggle 'Excel Grid Lines' to make sure its off.  If this toggle is turned on, it will draw lines across all cells.

Proper way to achieve in-cell carriage returns.

To push contents down to the next line, some Excel users have inserted spaces until Excel Word wraps.  This approach does not port well in XL2CAD because the resulting Mtext object doesn't wrap there.  The proper way is to place your cursor at the point you want to begin a new line, and press ALT+ENTER to insert the carriage return.

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