Clipboard

Parent page: Workspace Manager Panels

View and apply Clipboard content for all design data types.

Summary

The Clipboard panel stores and displays a copied objects that can be added (pasted) to Altium Designer documents at any stage, allowing for multiple copy/paste operations.

Panel access

The Clipboard panel can be accessed by clicking the System button at the bottom-right of the Altium Designer screen and selecting Clipboard from the pop-up menu.

The Clipboard panel can also be opened through the main View menu: View » Workspace Panels » System » Clipboard. Note that panels can be configured to be floating in the editor space or docked to sides of the screen. If the Clipboard panel is currently in the group of docked Workspace panels on the right, use its associated Clipboard tab (typically on the right-hand screen border) to expose the panel.

Panel contents

The Clipboard panel supports a variety of data formats, depending on the origin and object type. it can be set to display either only objects copied or cut from within the Altium Designer environment, or the entire Windows clipboard (this setting is accessed through DXP » Preferences, on the System - General page). Be aware that not all data types are supported by each design editor (PCB Editor, Schematic Editor, etc).

The data types supported are:

• any design object copied or cut from a schematic-based (schematic/schematic library) or PCB-based (PCB/PCB library) document
• Unicode text copied or cut from any text-based document (e.g. text file, scripting file, constraint file, VHDL file, Microsoft Word/Excel document etc)
• Bitmap images created from 3D view modes for pasting into other applications
• Windows enhanced metafile image format (e.g. simple bitmap images/text cut/copied from Microsoft Word/Excel documents). This type is supported in the PCB Editor only.

Clipboard objects can be pasted between applicable documents at any stage, allowing multiple copy and paste operations.

Panel use

As objects or text are copied/cut, a matching entry will appear in the main list area of the panel in their native formats, - that is, graphics or text.

To paste an item into the active document in the design editor window, simply click on the item in the Clipboard panel. The nature of the paste depends on the object being pasted and the target document type:

• when pasting schematic-based or PCB-based objects into a document, the object will appear floating with the cursor. Position the object as required in the workspace and click to effect placement.
• when pasting text into a text-based document, the text will be placed at the current cursor position in the document.

Use the Paste All button at the top of the panel to paste all objects in the panel into the active document. Again, the nature of the paste depends on the target document:

• the target document will only paste compatible objects to the document type. Each object in the panel will appear floating, in turn, on the cursor in the main design workspace. Place each object at the desired location and click to effect placement.
• when pasting into PCB documents, if the object is resizable, handles will appear that can be dragged to resize. Right-click to effect the resizing, and progress to the next pasting object.
• when the target document is text-based, only text entries will be pasted. Each text entry in the panel will be pasted, in order, starting from the current position of the text cursor.

Right-clicking over an entry in the panel will open a context menu allowing you to either paste that entry or delete it. To delete all current entries from the panel, click the Clear All button.

Notes

• You can only paste objects from the panel if they are supported in the target document that's open (the active document) in the design editor window. For example, if you try to paste a schematic-based object in a text-based document there is no result, and vice versa.
• Text objects copied to the panel will appear as though they are unformatted. However when pasted, they will appear with the original formatting that existed before they were copied.
• It is advisable to place the text cursor in the required position before pasting text from the panel into a text-based document.
• When using Paste All to paste multiple text entries into a text-based document, the pasted text will, in effect, be concatenated - that is, each subsequent text entry is pasted immediately after the last.
• Clipboard panel content is not persistent across design sessions. All content will be cleared when the software is closed and restarted.

See Also