How to paste in the desired place with Xara ?

[gaftalik]

Hello everyone,

I am using Xara Pro X,when using copying and pasting with Xara, it pastes randomly anywhere on the page, selecting the object sometimes among all other objects is a pain, is there any way to let Xara paste in the needed area or where i place the cursor? How to fix that?

[Acorn]

galtalik, a Paste operation put the copied items in the middle of the browser window.

A Clone allows you to move the copies to anywhere from their origin (while they are still selected).

To achieve what I think you are describing is to perform the Copy.
In the required location, create a small shape then pick Paste replacing Selection from the right-click context menu.
The Copies are then centred around the replaced object.

My preferred method is to select the items to be copies and right-click drag and drop.

Acorn

[gaftalik]

Thank you for your reply.
Now i know that a paste operation places the copied object to the center of the screen!
Dragging a copied or cloned object across many pages is quite difficult too.
Creating another object then paste replacing selection is a good option.
I didnt understand your preferred method do you have a drag and drop after you right click on any object or you simply drag it to where you need it as the cloning option?

[handrawn]

if I am pasting across pages I usually use shift+ctrl+V which pastes in the same position on the new page

I think acorn means right click as you drag object with the mouse without letting go of left click - this will leave a copy in the place where you right clicked...

[Acorn]

I didnt understand your preferred method do you have a drag and drop after you right click on any object or you simply drag it to where you need it as the cloning option?

i think acorn means right click as you drag object with the mouse without letting go of left click - this will leave a copy in the place where you right clicked...

Select an object or collection. Look at the Status Line:

Right-Drag to copy selection

Pressing the Left Mouse button drops a copy at the cursor and the action is repeatable while the Right button is held down.
A Left-Drag then Right Click also drops a copy.

For into-page copies, use the PgUp / PgDn keys then one of the above.
For into-documents, use Ctrl+Tab / Shift+Ctrl+Tab then as above.

You will have problems if the copied selection has a Push applied and you are trying to position through other Pushed items.

Acorn

[handrawn]

I see that if you right click and immediately drag before the context menu appears, then a copy is dragged

Right-Drag to copy selection appears as part of the status line if you let the context menu appear

this might be called confusing

[Acorn]

I see that if you right click and immediately drag before the context menu appears, then a copy is dragged
Right-Drag to copy selection appears as part of the status line if you let the context menu appear
this might be called confusing

Nope, right-click & release gets the context menu. Right-click, hold and drag is the copy action. 'Right-Drag' is simply one operation - "I didn't tell you to let go!"

I try yo be precise with things like Shift+Alt+Ctrl+(key)... means hold all the mentioned keys (the first three are meta-keys that do nothing until a 'real' key is pressed), while Alt-U-H is press and release each key in the given order (although you can hold them all down as in chording but the order is important lt-H-U being different).

No more confusing as short and long touches on a smartphone.

Acorn

[handrawn]

ok

but I still don't see the specific status bar message Right-Drag to copy selection by right click hold, only by right click release...

[Acorn]

ok
but I still don't see the specific status bar message Right-Drag to copy selection by right click hold, only by right click release...

So handrawn, it has to boil down to semantics as to when an operation is fully invoked.
In Xara, the termination actions are Mouse Up (release)/Mouse Down (click)/Enter/Tab/Delete. Only Tab is continuous and cyclic, unless you are in text mode (Enter is forever - until memory or patience ends).
If you were told to drag something physical, you would drag forever or drag stop (release).
There is no real forever in Xara (c.f., Tab & Enter) so drag stop has to be the accepted action, albeit a tacit one.

Remember Xara's roots are in the Acorn Archimedes where its RISC OS made much more logical use of key actions than MS Windows ever has.

Acorn

[handrawn]

ok

understood