Visual Thought User's Guide
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Chapter 8

Copying and Pasting Objects

Visual Thought allows you to cut, copy, paste and duplicate objects. Visual Thought also gives you "smart" pasting: multiple pastes of an object or set of objects are spaced apart at regular intervals.

Copying an Object

Click on an object to select it.
EditCopy (Ctrl-C).

A copy of the selected object is put in the Clipboard.

Duplicating an Object

Select an object.
EditDuplicate (Ctrl-D). An exact duplicate of whatever was selected will be created and placed one grid point south and one grid point east.

Duplicating an object or set of objects is the same as first copying it, then pasting it; the duplicated objects are copied first to the Clipboard.

Pasting an Object

Copy an object to the Clipboard.
EditPaste (Ctrl-V).
Move the new object down and right several grid spaces.
Paste again.

Mathematically speaking, when pasting, the vector from the second to third is the same as the vector from the first to second.
Visual Thought has a "smart" pasting feature that allows you to select an object, paste it, move the second object and then paste again. The third pasted object will be placed exactly as far away and exactly in the same direction from the second as the second was from the first.

Pasting Multiple Objects

When pasting multiple selected objects, the real power of the "smart" paste feature appears: selecting multiple objects, duplicating them, moving the duplicate set, and pasting a third or fourth copy of the entire set allows you to generate a large and complex diagram quickly and efficiently. For example, creating a grid of objects is very easy:

Create a rectangle.
Duplicate it (Ctrl-D).
Move the new rectangle so it is directly beneath the first one.

Paste (Ctrl-V) three times.

Select the entire column of rectangles with the Select tool.
Duplicate it (Ctrl-D).
Move the new column so it is directly to the right of the first one.
Paste (Ctrl-V) three times.

Clearing an Object

Select an object.
Press the Delete or Backspace keys (or choose EditClear). The object will be removed from the diagram.
Clearing a selection does not put an object in the clipboard. Cutting or copying does.

Visual Thought User's Guide
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