Import X, Y, Z Coordinates From Excel to AutoCAD

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To plot thousands of survey points (easting, northing and level) in AutoCAD, build a POINT x,y,z command for each row with one Excel formula, then paste the column into AutoCAD’s command line or save it as a script.

Formula=”POINT “&B2&”,”&C2&”,”&D2
Tested with10,101 points
Works inAny AutoCAD version, Excel 2007 and later

Video

The data

Survey coordinates in Excel: X (easting) in column B, Y (northing) in C, and Z (reduced level) in D, for more than 10,000 points.

Excel sheet with X, Y and Z coordinates of survey points

How AutoCAD creates a point

Type POINT in the command line, press Enter, and type the coordinates as X,Y,Z:

POINT command typed in the AutoCAD command line
Coordinates 1000,1000,1000 entered at the Specify a point prompt

AutoCAD places a point at X 1000, Y 1000 with an elevation of 1000. The Properties palette confirms it.

Properties palette showing Position X, Y and Z of the point

So each point is one line of text: POINT X,Y,Z. Excel can write that line for every row.

Step 1: Build the commands in Excel

In E2, join the command and the three coordinates, and copy it down:

="POINT "&B2&","&C2&","&D2
Excel formula joining POINT and the coordinates
Formula copied down for every point

The space after POINT acts as Enter in AutoCAD. You can use the alias PO instead: ="PO "&B2&","&C2&","&D2.

Step 2: Run them in AutoCAD

Option A: paste into the command line

Copy column E, click in AutoCAD’s command line and press Ctrl + V.

Pasting the commands into the AutoCAD command line
Thousands of points created in AutoCAD

Option B: script file (better for large data)

Paste the column into Notepad, save it as points.scr (choose All files), and run it in AutoCAD with SCRIPT. Scripts are faster and don’t depend on the clipboard. See Scripting in AutoCAD.

Step 3: Check the result

Points are tiny dots by default. Type PTYPE (or set PDMODE to 3) to show them as crosses, then select all with Ctrl + A and check the count in Properties: here, 10,101 points.

Properties palette showing the number of points selected

Avoid these problems

Problem Fix
Points snap to the wrong place Turn off Object Snap (F3) before running a script, or set OSNAPCOORD to 1
Coordinates show commas as decimals Your Windows region uses a comma decimal separator. Change it to a dot, or AutoCAD reads 77192,044 as two numbers
Points in the wrong place Make sure you’re in the World UCS (UCS → W)
Too many decimals Wrap values in TEXT: TEXT(B2,"0.000")

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