Copying, Pasting, Deleting, and Moving Text Selections

You can cut and copy a text selection, and then paste the selected text in the same document, in another Canvas X document, or to and from a non-Canvas X document using the Clipboard. Whether pasted text retains its formatting depends on the operating system and the source of the text.

To help you in editing text, display symbols for spaces, paragraph breaks, and tabs. Choose Layout | Display | Show Text Invisibles. To hide these symbols, choose Layout | Display | Hide Text Invisibles.

Text pasted from another application can be embedded into a Canvas X document, using Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) to preserve its formatting. See Embedded Text Objects and Editions Containing Text.

If you copy and paste selected text (and not an entire text object) within Canvas X Draw, the text retains its character attributes, but it adopts the paragraph formatting of the surrounding text.

To Copy and Paste Selected Text:

When you copy selected text, you can create a new text object or insert the text into an existing text object.

1. Select the text you want to copy.
2. Choose Edit | Copy to copy the selection to the Clipboard.
3. Depending how you want to paste the selection, do one of the following:
   • To paste text into an existing text object: Put the insertion point in the text where you want to paste the insertion.
   • To paste text as a new text object: Be sure no objects are in Text Edit mode by pressing Esc. You can set the width of the new text object by selecting the Text tool and dragging. Otherwise, text will be pasted in one long line that might extend off the screen. (See Creating Text Layouts.)

   You can identify whether you are in Text Edit mode by the Status bar or the following icon in the Properties bar: 

4. Choose Edit | Paste to insert the text from the Clipboard.

To Cut Text:

1. Select the text you want to cut.
2. Choose Edit | Cut. The text is cut to the Clipboard and is ready to be pasted to another area.

To Delete Text:

1. Select the text you want to delete.
2. Choose Edit | Clear, or press the Delete key.

To Replace Selected Text:

Begin typing, or use the Paste command, to replace a text selection with the text you type or paste from the Clipboard. This saves the step of deleting the selected text.

To Replace All Text in a Text Object:

Select a text object and begin typing. The text adopts the formatting of the replaced text. If multiple text objects are selected, the text you type replaces the text in the object that was created first.

Changing Text Attributes

While a text object is selected, you can change the formatting of all the text it contains using the Text menu, Type palette, or Properties bar.

Finding and Changing Text

Use the Text tab in the Find palette to search for specific text or characters in selected text objects and entire documents. You can replace or delete found text selections one at a time or all at once. (See Text Search Options.)

The Text tab also lets you search for text with specific font, size, and style attributes, and change the attributes of found text.

To Find and Change Text:

1. Choose Edit | Find to open the Find palette. Click the Text tab to select it. To search for text, type the text in the Find box or select a special text character. Specify that you want to find only whole words or text matching the capitalization (case) of the Find text.
2. If you want to replace found text or characters, type the replacement text in the Change To box or select a special text character. When the Change To box contains at least one character (including a space), the Change All button is available.
3. Click Find to locate the first occurrence of the specified item. If one or more text objects are selected, Canvas X Draw searches the text contained in the first selected object. If no text objects are selected, Canvas X Draw searches the entire document.
4. If Canvas X Draw finds the specified item, it highlights the text or character in the document. Click Find to search for the next occurrence of the specified text. If the Change To box contains replacement text or a special character, the Change button is available. Click Change to replace the highlighted item with the Change To text or special character.
5. To continue searching, click Find. Repeat the previous step if Canvas X Draw finds another occurrence of the search item. When Canvas X Draw completes the operation, it displays a message. Click OK in the message box to continue.

You can click Change All to replace all occurrences of the Find text or special character with the text in the Change To box, without first clicking Find.

Finding and Changing Text Attributes

You can search for and change text attributes (whether or not you also search for specific text). The text attributes you can seek and change are font, type size, and text style.

To Search for Text Attributes:

1. Click the arrow at the bottom-left corner of the Find palette.
2. In the Find Attributes section, select a font name from the font pop-up menu. Type a size (in points) or select a size from the size pop-up menu. Click the style buttons to set the styles you want.
3. In the Change Attributes To section, specify replacement attributes in the same way that you specify the Find attributes.
4. Click Change or Change All to replace the attributes specified in the Find Attributes section with the attributes specified in the Change Attributes To section. If you have also typed text in the Find box, the replacement text attributes can be applied only to text that matches the Find text.

Clicking the Clear button removes all settings in the Find Attributes and Change Attributes To areas.

Text Search Options

The options on the Text tab in the Find palette let you specify criteria for text and character searching and replacement.

See also:

• Creating Text Layouts
• Importing Text from Other Applications