I have a large spreadsheet of data. In this instance the data consists of section properties for AISC steel shapes. I am wondering what is the 'best' way to incorporate this large 'database' into Smath calculations. For example, I would ideally like to select a shape (I suppose I could type the name) i.e. W21x57 and then have a bunch of section variable populate with the data.

In my very limited experience with SMath, here is some sort of an attempt at a solution ->
I would type the section name in smath (W12x49), this name is then exported to a certain cell in excel (say A1). From there a vlookup is performed in excel and a bunch of cells then fill with the requested values (columns A2-AXX now have area, flange width, etc.). Then the section variables which were predefined to look in the cells import the value of these cells (A=importcell(A2), bf=importcell(A3), etc.).

My other thought is may all of this information can be imported into Smath, but then I'm not sure how to do a VLookup in Smath.

Any direction is appreciated or maybe this cannot be done.
Thanks for any help.

Also why do I not receive email notifications even when the 'Watch this topic" is checked?

Thank you martin. You have been very helpful.

Just change the optimization (right mouse button menu) to numeric. Then reading in the sheet takes 4 seconds on my computer.
See here for details.