Using the Clipboard

In Allplan you can copy elements to the Clipboard and insert them in any drawing file or application. A number of tools is provided in the input options to assist you when placing elements.

Note: You cannot use the Clipboard when you define patterns and fonts.

Allplan features

You can use the Clipboard in Allplan just as you would in any other Windows application. Note, however, that there are some special elements and properties:

• Layer: elements retain their layers. Elements on frozen layers (visible and hidden) are not copied.
• Default reference planes: you can only select default reference places with CTRL+A. Please refer to Behavior of default planes when copying or moving elements between documents .
• Group number: elements get new group numbers when they are placed. Elements that had the same group numbers still have the same group numbers.
• File size: if the admissible file size is exceeded, the program will issue an error message.
• Text: if the application from which you have copied text to the Clipboard is an OLE server (Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel, for example), the contents of the Clipboard are pasted as an OLE object into Allplan. To paste the contents of the Clipboard as normal text, use Paste Contents – Unformatted (Unicode) Text. Text of this kind is assigned the text parameters currently set.
• FEA and Allfa elements: FEA and Allfa elements cannot be copied to the Clipboard.

Copy

Use this tool to copy selected elements and put them on the Clipboard. You can then paste these elements from the Clipboard as often as you need using Paste and Paste to Original Position. The elements can also be pasted into other applications. This command is not available when no element is selected.

Cut

Use this tool to cut selected elements and put them on the Clipboard. You can then paste these elements from the Clipboard as often as you need using Paste and Paste to Original Position. The elements can also be pasted into other applications. This command is not available when no element is selected.

Paste

You can paste Allplan elements, text (e.g. from a word processing program ) and bitmaps from the Clipboard into Allplan. This tool is only available in plan view. If the Clipboard is empty or contains elements that cannot be pasted into Allplan, this command is not available.

If the application from which you have copied text to the Clipboard is an OLE server (Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel, for example), the contents of the Clipboard are pasted as an OLE object into Allplan. To paste the contents of the Clipboard as normal text, use Paste Contents.

Note: Allplan elements can only be pasted from the Clipboard into the same type of document from which they were copied to the Clipboard. The contents of the Clipboard are always pasted into the active document even if the data was copied from a file open in edit mode.

The data type icon reflects the module used to create the data in a document. This icon is displayed in the status bar and in the dialog box for selecting files and filesets. The following types are available: 2D/3D design, Layout, Views and sections, bar reinforcement, mesh reinforcement, reinforcement components, BAMTEC, Allfem slabs and Allfem discs.

Pasting elements from the Clipboard into Allplan

A number of tools is provided in the input options to assist you when pasting elements.

Allplan elements are inserted as original data (in other words, with attributes and properties). In the case of text, the current text parameters apply. You can also insert bitmaps using the Clipboard. The following settings are used:

• Color depth: several colors
• Transparency: off; color: black.
• Width: 100 pixels = 1000 mm

The Clipboard supports the following bitmap formats: DIB (or BMP) and WMF.

Note: When the Clipboard contains several formats supported by Allplan, you can use the Paste Contents tool to select a format.

Pasting Allplan elements into other applications

When you paste Allplan elements into another application using CTRL+V, the elements are inserted as a Windows Enhanced Meta file. But when the Clipboard contains text elements (e.g. normal text lines, paragraph text, component numbers, labels), these elements are always pasted into the other applications as ”pure” text.

Paste to Original Position

You can use Paste to Original Position to insert Allplan elements at their original position. When the Clipboard is empty or does not contain any Allplan elements, this command is not available.

Note: If you insert these elements in the same document, they exist twice at the same position.

Paste Contents

You can use this tool to specify which element in the Clipboard is to be pasted into Allplan. You can use this tool when the Clipboard contains several formats supported by Allplan (e.g. bitmap and pure text).