Accessing log file of AutoCAD Electrical project-wide tag/value updates

AutoCAD Electrical automatically maintains a “log” file of changes it makes during project-wide retagging and value updating.

This may be useful if for tracking what things might need to be ballooned, clouded, or marked in some way to identify specific revisions.

The log file is an ASCII text file, automatically maintained by AutoCAD Electrical in the local “User” folder maintained by AutoCAD Electrical. The file name of the log file is the same as the project name but with a “.log” extension.

The screenshot below gives an example of how this works (and a limitation). There are three drawings in this project that all have an instance of component marked with a “TAG1” attribute value of “52-1AB”. There is a 3-line schematic component, a “power 1-line” version, and a “protection and control 1-line” version (different WD_TYPE values on each, so these appear as “Peer parents” to the 3-line schematic symbol).

In the example shown, the 3-line schematic instance of “52-1AB” was edited using AutoCAD Electrical. The tag name was changed to just 52-1 and the RATING1 attribute value changed from 1600A to 1492A. AutoCAD Electrical found and automatically updated the other two instances of 52-1AB. This update of the other two instances is automatically pushed into a “.log” file shown here.

The limitation is that AutoCAD Electrical does not “log” your edit of the original component. It only logs the changes it makes automatically as a result of your manual, original edit.

Log file name

The log file name will be the same as the active project but with a “.log” extension. The folder it is in is the local “USER” folder maintained by AutoCAD Electrical. You can see this path by typing this at the “Command:” prompt:    !GBL_wd_usr [Enter] 

Project log file –> Excel tool

Here’s a little AutoLISP utility that will find and read the active project’s “.log” file and format the data into a CSV file. You can then call up and view it in Excel.