Copying components within a Digital article in Studio – Home

When working on a Digital article in Studio, it is very possible that the content that needs to be added already exists in a Digital article. Think of a slide show, an image with a caption, a quote, a particular paragraph of text, and so on. This content can then be copied and used elsewhere in a Digital article.

Various ways of doing this exist. One way is to copy components within the current article that is being worked on. This is described here. Another way is to copy components from a different article. This is described in Copying components from one Digital article to another in Studio.

Copying components

In this scenario, one or more components are copied in the article that is currently being worked on.

Components can be copied by using keyboard shortcuts or by dragging them.

Copying and cutting by using keyboard shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts can be used for copying and cutting components:

Windows:
Copying: Ctrl+C
Cutting: Ctrl+X

macOS:
Copying: Cmd+C
Cutting: Cmd+X

The following table shows the different scenarios and their result when the shortcut for copying or cutting is used:

#	Scenario	Result
1	The text cursor is placed in a component with text, no text is selected.	The whole component in which the cursor is placed is copied or cut.
2	Text in a component is selected.	The selected text is copied or cut.
3	Multiple components are selected.	All components are copied or cut.

Pasting by using keyboard shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcut can be used:

Windows: Ctrl+V
macOS: Cmd+V

The position at which the copied or cut content needs to be pasted can be specified as follows:

By placing the text cursor in some text.
By hovering the mouse pointer over an area between 2 components so that the +-button for adding a component appears.
By opening the Component window for adding a new component.

Note: Pasting is not possible when one or more components are selected.

The following table shows the different scenarios and their result when the shortcut for pasting is used:

#	Scenario	Result
1	The text cursor is placed within text and selected text was copied or cut.	The text is added at the cursor position, including any comments that it contains.
2	The text cursor is placed within text and one or more components were copied or cut.	When the cursor is at the start of the component: the components are added above the component in which the cursor is placed. When the cursor is at the end of the component: the components are added below the component in which the cursor is placed. When the cursor is not at the start or end of the component: the component in which the cursor is placed is split into two components at the cursor position and the components are added in between them. Note: Any images that the pasted components contain are not duplicated.
3	The +-button for adding a component is visible. The Component window for adding a new component is opened.	When selected text was copied or cut: the text is added in a new component at that position. When one or more components were copied or cut: the components are added at that position. Note: For this to work, the text cursor should not also be positioned within some text somewhere in the article, else scenario 2 takes place.
4	A Container is copied or cut and pasted inside a nested Container.	This cannot be done, it is not possible to add a Container which is already part of another Container.

Copying by dragging components

Drag one or more components (see Moving components) while holding the Alt key, optionally by first selecting components. Drop the components in the position where they need to be placed and release the Alt key.

Note: Any images that the pasted components contain are not duplicated.

The selection of components then behaves as follows:

When one or more components are selected and subsequently copied by moving them while holding the Alt key, the newly created components are automatically selected.

Example: Components A, B, and C are selected. When moving them while holding the Alt key, components D, E, and F are created and automatically selected.

When no components are selected and a component is copied by moving it while holding the Alt key, the copied component is not selected.

When one or more components are selected and a component that is not selected is copied by moving it while holding the Alt key, the components that were selected are still selected.

Example: Components A, B, and C are selected. When moving component D while holding the Alt key, component E is created but components A, B, and C are still selected.