You can do two things in NX-5 you can muck about with getting your attributes from expressions though I think it is a little indirect as I recall. I think we had some post here where is was being done with journals which did on fact work okay. The thing there is that you can get the expressions back and forth to spreadsheets as you alluded to.
Anyway the first thing to try would be simply copy and paste from another file. Often the way people are using attributes means that the contents and attribute names are consistent in which case this method means that you save on most of the editing. You probably still have to edit what changes from one part to the next by exception, but it is a far lesser task, and probably satisfies most people's needs.
I'm guessing that you know where the attributes are under properties, and you'll see there some copy and paste icons. You can highlight and select single or multiple attributes to copy and paste from one part to another.
Now if that doesn't do it for you then please say what NX version you're using and what it is more specifically that you can't do.
Thanks for the reply.
We are building something that is designed around a large electrical motor.
What I want to do is import (from a spreadsheet) not only the physical specs of the motor (from the manufacturer), that are used in the model - but also things like The motor's Horsepower, RPMs, and manufacter's part number, that are used in the drawing.
We are doing this many times over with differnt motors, that's why I want to steamline it.
Now I get it. If you are or were on teamcenter then I'd encourage you to attach document files to the item master for purchased supplier parts. In native what i have done in the past is to add those documents into PDF files that I include with a copy of a very simple drawing made of the motor which I use in the assembly. I have spent some time working in an automotive background so the jargon that we use for that kind of data is packaging models. This is just something I use in the naming convention wherever the model is not a production design or may not be 100% representative of the manufacturers product.
You can add in the attributes as well, and if you can come up with a template for the attributes that you need then it will go even better. I think that there is something to what you've touched on that we can and do use with part families. If you want to look into part families they do use a spreadsheet to manage both geometry and filenames. Of course you may have already been thinking along these lines or have looked into but if not then make a search of this forum and you may find some helpful examples.
