Using symbols

A symbol is essentially a file consisting of any number of design entities. Symbols can be used repeatedly within a drawing. The size of a symbol is practically unlimited. You can even save an entire drawing file as a symbol.

You can save and retrieve symbols using the Library palette.

Allplan ships with a set of symbol catalogs. However, you can also create your own symbols.

Symbols provide the following advantages:

• You can create a library of symbols that contains frequently used components. Instead of drawing the component from scratch each time, just retrieve the symbol from the symbol file.
• Symbols are placed as an entity group. This means that they can be addressed (click with the middle and left mouse buttons or use SHIFT+click) and modified as a single entity. You can also modify each individual element separately.
  

  An entity group is a group of elements which can be addressed as a whole. Polylines constructed in one step, for example, or symbols are entity groups. A group can be addressed as a whole by clicking one of the elements in the group with the middle and then left mouse button. Alternatively, press and hold down the SHIFT key and then click the element with the left mouse button. Elements can be combined into an entity group even while being created (with the Assign Group Number tool) or later (with the Modify Format Properties tool).

• You can also access the symbol catalogs provided. A lot of the symbols offered here will display with different levels of detail, depending on the scale that is set.

Symbols automatically adapt to the reference scale. If your symbols include text, then this, too, can be made to change with the reference scale.

What do you want to do?

Define a symbol

Place a symbol