Copy-paste grouped Viewports across files to be restored now.

[_c_]

Please restore immediately the possibility to copy-paste grouped viewports between files.

 

This existed since ever and is widely used.

Taking this extremely useful feature away, with no better replacement of the same functionality, is senseless and very unwelcome.

 

Tightening the rope around the current-document policy doesn't make it any more useful or attractive. The contrary, rather.

Edited October 7, 2020 by _c_

[Sam Jones]

Yes yes yes.  please please please.  There are few functionalities more useful.  I wish I had discovered it sooner, and now it's gone!

[JuanP]

@_c_ I know the engineers are looking into your report. However, copying and pasting grouped Viewports between files is considered more like a workaround than a workflow.

 

From experience and after talking to training and tech support, we do not offer this option as a viable solution because many things can go wrong.

I will submit your comments as a Vectorworks enhancement, so we can fully support this workflow in future versions.

 

In the meantime, I will not suggest this workflow to any of our users.

 

UPDATE: This request was filed via Vectorworks Enhancement: VE-101218 

[_c_]

Hello Juan,

 

we do accept, volens-nolens, quite a lot of workarounds in VW, too many, if you ask me.

But this was one of the true gems and worked easily enough, allowing to save a huge lot of time.

 

Let this in its place until you have whatever you think works better.

And no, this time it was't me filing the bug report.

 

To all who don't know what this is about:

In any Vectoworks before 2021, you wish to copy a sheet layer viewport from a document and paste it into another.

You cannot do this directly.

 

INSTRUCTIONS TO COPY-PASTE VIEWPORTS ACROSS FILES

• select one or more sheet layer viewports
• group
• copy the group
• paste it in the sheet layer of another file
• ungroup
• the viewports are there, but they are unnamed. IMPORTANT: give them a unique name in the Object Info Palette

 

I did this since viewports existed and never had a corruption.

BTW, I only had a handful of corruptions in all my two decades in VW and were related to symbols or bad textures.

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by _c_
add img

[RMDiekmann]

@JuanP Juan, If this is considered more of a work around than a workflow, Can you and engineers please post or link me to a better and more efficient workflow.

I would love to find a better and more efficient way of creating sheets with viewports!

 

Greatly Appreciated,

 

[zoomer]

2 hours ago, RMDiekmann said:

I would love to find a better and more efficient way of creating sheets with viewports!

 

I would like to have that too.

 

As I would like to finally create a new Template from scratch

from a blank new VW 2021 File but get most of my work over.

 

So beside just SLVPs,

I would also need things like Story+Level Settings "exportable".

[Jonathan Pickup]

you used to be able to group a viewport and interactively re-scale it. This was so useful for perspectives, It is also no longer working. 

 

[_c_]

🤢

 

[_c_]

10 hours ago, zoomer said:

I would also need things like Story+Level Settings "exportable".

 

There is as far as I can see no wish to support multi-file workflows. Positively discouraged.

That pretty much kills the German Architect's needs, where we split content from layout.

 

And no, we don't do it because we like complexity for the sake of it. We do it because there is no better way to manage our needs for appearance, archives and large project growth.

[zoomer]

I was more thinking about basic imports, like for creating File Templates

or just reusing the Story Settings work from another Project and such.

 

Or for Exchange, when copying over Story aware geometry into another file

that has not yet story settings ....

 

And the other problem of converting existing non-Story aware geometry,

like an updated Revit import, into your existing Stories Setup.

Even exchanging geometry between just Layers with different Layer Heights

is uncomfortable.

[zoomer]

Even in my File Templates I have set a basic typical SLVP Set so I can

examine the project in Plans, Sections and Elevations already when starting

modeling from scratch.

 

But it would be nice to already set a complete VP Plans Setup according

to office standards in the Template. And it would be nice if we could exchange

SLs + VPs, like bringing a Project's extended VP Setup back into a File Template.

[Sebastiaan]

I do agree with this! Please give the option back to us. This has saved many hours of work getting viewports from one file to another. You do not have to advertise it as a recommended function. Just let us use it as the workaround that it was please?  

Edited October 11, 2020 by Sebastiaan

[zoomer]

Beside it would be handy to be able to exchange all work and data between

files of the same (VW) App, it also the problem with the ever changing VW file formats

and the risk of migration causing potential problems.

No matter if our Workspaces with each Version each year or my Template file journey

that may have started with a VW 2015 blank file or even earlier.

I wanted to start with clean VW 2021 Setting Files on Windows now but realized it is too

much work. So I migrated my stuff after Mac Installation again anyway for now.

[mjm]

On 10/7/2020 at 7:27 PM, _c_ said:

LMAO

 

@_c_ "…we do accept, volens-nolens, quite a lot of workarounds in VW…"

 

Could not have phrased this more aptly, thank you.

It's terrible to have a useful working solution crippled by developer who fails to offer a better option. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mjm]

On 10/10/2020 at 7:11 AM, RMDiekmann said:

@JuanP Juan, If this is considered more of a work around than a workflow, Can you and engineers please post or link me to a better and more efficient workflow.

I would love to find a better and more efficient way of creating sheets with viewports!

 

Greatly Appreciated,

 

@JuanP Are we still waiting a reply to this question? I'm stymied as to how to get that viewport copied to another sheet — any others have thoughts?

OMG: I just tried again…what am I missing? The ONLY thing I did differently was to copy  from it's originating sheet then paste it right back where it came from, then CUT (cmd+X), navigate to sheet in question and paste (CMD+C). It shows as a true viewport with the correct name-2.

Edited October 16, 2020 by mjm
attempt at clarity

[Rick Berge]

Hey all,

Pasting viewports between documents was a source of file corruption. (And this is only about between documents). There's been an Alert forbidding it for a really long time, and we didn't realize the impact of closing some of the remaining loopholes, didn't realize that users required it.

 

There is a bug open to replace the now-missing workflow, and we'll get this addressed.

 

[mjm]

16 minutes ago, Rick Berge said:

Hey all,

Pasting viewports between documents was a source of file corruption. (And this is only about between documents). There's been an Alert forbidding it for a really long time, and we didn't realize the impact of closing some of the remaining loopholes, didn't realize that users required it.

 

There is a bug open to replace the now-missing workflow, and we'll get this addressed.

 

@Rick BergeBy 'between documents', you mean two separate files, not different sheet layers, do I read you right?  In the same document, we can copy/paste from and into any SL we wish without fear of corruption, correct? 

[Rick Berge]

Just now, mjm said:

@Rick BergeBy 'between documents', you mean two separate files, not different sheet layers, do I read you right?  In the same document, we can copy/paste from and into any SL we wish without fear of corruption, correct? 

Correct.  As far as I know there are no alerts and it all works just fine inside the same document. Stacking viewports, cloning sheets, etc.

[mjm]

Super. TY

 

[Peter Neufeld]

On 10/17/2020 at 8:42 AM, Rick Berge said:

Hey all,

Pasting viewports between documents was a source of file corruption. (And this is only about between documents). There's been an Alert forbidding it for a really long time, and we didn't realize the impact of closing some of the remaining loopholes, didn't realize that users required it.

 

There is a bug open to replace the now-missing workflow, and we'll get this addressed.

 

 

Dear Rick,

Yes please we really need this hidden work around to resurrect files - especially those that exhibit unexpected and unrepeatable problems because the files originated in older versions. That is files and/or templates that have been carried across over the years.

 

Thanks,

Peter

[LarryO]

On 10/7/2020 at 12:12 PM, JuanP said:

I know the engineers are looking into your report. However, copying and pasting grouped Viewports between files is considered more like a workaround than a workflow.

This is only a perception by those who don't experience the time and frustration that this workflow saves those of us who use it almost weekly.

 

This paternalistic barrier to a necessary workflow procedure needs to be reversed soon!

Those of us who have been required to utilize this technique are aware of the potential pitfalls and aspects that must be reset for it to be successful.

When the engineers incorporate this ability into the copy/paste functionality it will be welcomed but until then we are accepting the responsibility for using the original technique and the barrier to it needs to be disabled.

Still using our VW2019 licenses instead of our VW2021 in part because of this.

 

Yours truly,

Larry

[_James]

"Service Pack Improvements and Fixes

We’ve restored the ability to copy viewports from one file to another."

[_c_]

Not only that, it works now without any tricks, no need to rename things! It just works perfectly.

Thank you so much for reacting so promptly to this.

[Boh]

Now just need SP3 to make it's way over the Pacific to New Zealand. Apparently goes by sea...

[Tim Harland]

On 3/16/2021 at 4:55 PM, _c_ said:

Not only that, it works now without any tricks, no need to rename things! It just works perfectly.

Thank you so much for reacting so promptly to this.

It even recognises when the same layers are referenced into the new file and switches them on in the viewport, it's great now!