Copy Paste Order

Copy Paste Order

Related Information

Opaque Copy

Export Formats

Cut Copy Paste

When you execute a Copy from one application (e.g. EazyDraw) and a Paste to a second application (e.g. PowerPoint) the operating system (macOS) facilitates the transfer of information (your EazyDraw graphics) using the system pasteboard.

Data can be placed in the pasteboard server in more than one representation. For example, your EazyDraw graphic might be provided both in Tag Image File Format (TIFF) and as encapsulated PostScript code (EPS). Multiple representations give pasting applications the option of choosing which data type to use.

In some cases this automated selection may not provide the desired results. In the example (EazyDraw to PowerPoint) the JPG format would be correct if the graphic was a photograph. But this would be the wrong format for an electronic timing diagram, in the later case a vector representation would be far superior.

These check boxes and ordering specifiers provide control over this inter-application interaction.

When applications interact with the pasteboard server they indicate the allowed formats and an order of preference. In some cases the preference order may define the actual format used. The Order parameters provided allow control of this preference ordering.

The check boxes on the Copy column define which formats are included when a Copy (or drag off screen) action is performed by EazyDraw. Check the box to include the format.

The numbers specified in the Copy Order column determine the order in which the formats are placed on the pasteboard. A lower number indicates a preferred format. Change the order by typing a number in the text box associated with a format.

The two Paste columns work in the same fashion, except they provide control over the formats accepted with a paste (or Drop) operation into EazyDraw from another application.

Copy DPI (Dots Per Inch) defines the resolution used with copying a TIFF bitmap to the system pasteboard. Normally copied bitmaps will have a standard screen resolution of 72 DPI; this parameter may be used to increase or decrease this value. Higher DPI will provide a more detailed image for the copy operation Values over 300 are normally not advised, the image size will become unmanageably large unless one is working with very small elements and care is used with the copy operation.

These parameters do not apply when copying from one EazyDraw drawing to another. In this cases EazyDraw makes use of internal proprietary formats that are more complete in the information transferred.

In some cases the TIFF format may be problematic. If your drawing covers a large area, this would be screen area as seen at zoom 100 percent (not "project area" for a scaled drawing). Then something like Select All then Copy could lead to a very large TIFF bitmap. For example a multi page brochure could lead to a bitmap of hundreds of megabytes or gigabytes that could potentially go to the clipboard. EazyDraw tries to avoid generating the bitmap until a Paste command (in another Application) asks for the data. But if you close the drawing or quit EazyDraw the data from the pending Copy command must be given to the system clipboard, in the case of a very large TIFF EazyDraw instead provides a small icon image of a circle with red "X". But it may be best to turn off TIFF (on the Copy column) when not needed and the drawing is multi page.

For communication with most applications on macOS, TIFF and PDF will be formats that are more likely to provide high quality image rendering in the destination application.