Copying Items in Upchain

In this lesson, we’ll show you how to copy the contents of one item into another, so that you are not starting a new project from scratch.

Before you start:

You’ll need to have items with CAD registered in Upchain already. This should be the case as long as you have completed the MCAD 3 course.

About reusing items

In this video, we discuss what it means to reuse an item as-is in multiple locations and important considerations to keep in mind as you reuse items.

Key takeaways

1. Reusing an item as-is means the item is referenced in multiple locations and any change in one location is seen in all locations it’s used.
2. Before reusing an item, consider whether changes to the item will impact other assemblies and projects.

Copying items

In this video, we’ll show you how you can copy the contents of one item into another. This is important functionality as you will often want to reuse designs so that you don’t need to start from scratch on every new project.

Key takeaways

1. It is important to consider the Where used tab of an item before making changes to the item so you don’t change other assemblies and projects.
2. The Copy > Clone function takes the chosen item, and copies it to a new item with a new item number. The new item will be placed in the location that you choose.
3. The Copy > Replace function takes the chosen item, and copies it to a new item, but replaces the chosen item with the new item in its original location.
4. These two functions mean you can start with an existing design and modify it as a new item. Changes to this item will have no effect on the original.