merging details from other PLN files?

[TomWaltz]

Is it possible to merge details from one PLN into another?

We have a few projects that are very similar, and have many details in common, and I'd hate to be copying/pasting 50 details from one file to another.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Publish the details as modules. They are then easily merged. Unfortunately, on the Mac the preview icons are generic. I recall that they did show properly in Windows and assume that this is still true.

[TomWaltz]

That would work for getting the linework, but we're still looking at having to make about 50 "independent detail" windows.

There's not a way to import, like Plotmaker can?

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I didn't understand. You want the details as set up in the project not just the drawings.

That's easy. Select all the detail markers and save them as a module, or create a view set with a "details only" layer combination and publish all views containing details as modules.

Merging these modules into the appropriate views will create the details you need. You will still need to merge the drawings individually as needed.

Another way just occured to me. You could also use the file which already has all the details set up to make a template and merge the stories from the others.

[TomWaltz]

I'm actually leaning toward option 2 (using the project as a template) except that the other job is really far along, with dozens of Views already created. Since the Viewsets are lost when you merge a file, I was trying to avoid recreating a Viewset in either project.

That's why I was hoping to be able to directly merge the details en masse from one job into another. I sounds like I would still have to place every detail as a module in the new project. Is that correct?

Thanks for the help so far!

[Anonymous]

Yes, AFAIK.

[Anonymous]

TomWaltz wrote:
Is it possible to merge details from one PLN into another?

We have a few projects that are very similar, and have many details in common, and I'd hate to be copying/pasting 50 details from one file to another.

Thanks!

Why do you not merely place the original project file in the new project lbk.

[TomWaltz]

Place them in.... how? And how would the detail markers point to them?

[Anonymous]

Tom,

I agree with you that all drawings relating to a project should be incorporated into that project's file, even if the drawings are identical with those in the project from which they are copied. When the inevitable changes need to be made they can be done easily in the appropriate file. I feel that any standard drawings, etc. should be copied into each project and not shared from a common source. Once a file is shared among more than one project it can no longer be changed and so the proliferation of updated copies begins, making more difficult the creation and maintenance of standards.