PlotLog 4.1/4.2

Microsol Resources
Star rating: 5 stars out of 5

PlotLog 4.2 ($395 for five licenses) for AutoCAD 2000 (4.1 for Release 14) from Microsol Resources is a simple plot-logging utility that prompts you to enter plot data during the plotting process. You can add your own custom settings using the PlotLog configuration dialog box. The Configuration dialog box also lets you choose the default and available values. Once you enter the data in the PlotLog dialog box and select Save, PlotLog writes the information to a comma-delimited text file. You can choose to skip the log and plot the drawing, although it also logs the skipped plots in a separate file. If you place it on a network, all users can share and update the same file.

To create reports, you can import the file into Microsoft Access, Excel, or any other application that supports text files. PlotLog provides a sample customizable Microsoft Access report. The data that PlotLog uses to determine the project fields is also stored in text files, so you can easily create and edit it using database, spreadsheet, and word processing tools. The on-line Help explains how to modify and create these files. You can also place the files on a network so that all users draw from the same project list.

PlotLog is easy to install and doesn’t require any changes within AutoCAD. A free demo is available from www.plotlog.com. The demo has no time-out feature. Instead, the program randomly inserts the word DEMO into records. As we go to press, PlotLog v5 is in beta and will be available soon. Highly Recommended.