Creating a Point File Format

Sometimes we get survey information for a third party that doesn’t match any of the out of the box point file formats. We may need to create a new one to make it work. You can usually tell that you need to create one because you get a message that says “No point file format match found”.

To create a new point format press the format button on the same dialog box you get the message on.

When the dialog box pops up make sure to select a format that looks similar to your file and press copy. In my case I think the PNEZD is fairly close so I’m going to use that one.

The Point File Format dialog box will then show up which shows the current values.

I need to make some changes, the first is changing the format name to NNEZD (comma delimited). This represents Name, Northing, Easting, Elevation, and Description in a comma delimited format. I’m also going to change the file format to .csv.

Next I want to change the Point Number to Name by selecting the Point Number heading and then using the column name drop down to select Name.

I then press OK to close the dialog box and press Close on the Point File Formats Dialog box.

If you did everything correctly Civil 3D should then select your newly created file format.

You probably don’t want to do it each time, so make sure to add it to your template or use the Import Styles button on the Manage Tab of the ribbon to transfer the format from an existing drawing you’ve already done the transfer for.