Copy and Paste Special (Library)

If the document you are copying is a parent to related documents (child documents), you can use the options in the Paste Special dialog box to create two different paste scenarios.

Copy (selection only)

The Copy (selection only) option creates a new copy of all of the selected documents. However, the new copies of parent documents link to the original child documents, even when the child documents are included in the selection. For example, if you include a parent document and its related child documents in the copy selection, the Copy (selection only) option creates copies of all of the documents you copied, BUT the new parent documents maintain their links back to the original child documents, not to the newly created child documents.

Note: When copying within the Library, the Copy (selection only) option provides the same results as using the Paste command.

Duplicate (selection and related)

The Duplicate (selection and related) option creates new copies of the entire selection and all related documents, even if you did not include the related documents in your copy selection. The Developer updates the links so that the new parent documents link to the new child documents.

When you create a duplicate copy of a selected document or documents, the Developer creates new copies of all the documents and the documents related to the selection, including:

• Modules
• Sections
• Topics
• Web pages
• Packages
• Glossaries

Note: The Duplicate (selection and related) option does not create copies of templates, master role lists, sound files, and custom icon packages. The new copies still point to the original documents for those components.

To create a duplicate copy of an outline, you only need to select the highest-level document. The Developer automatically compiles a list of all related documents to include in the copy. For the highest-level parent document, the Developer creates the folder structure and substructure. Related documents that do not exist in the folder structure are copied to a new folder named Additional Related Documents.

Multi-user Considerations

Any new document that you create or link is automatically checked out to you. If you want to make a new document available to multiple authors and place the document under the Developer's version control system, you must check it in.

To copy documents using Copy and Paste Special:

1. In the Library, select the document you want to copy.

   You can select multiple documents using the standard Windows selection keys (CTRL+click and SHIFT+click). You can select all items in a folder by choosing Select All from the Edit menu.

2. On the Edit menu, choose  Copy.

   You can also right-click the document and choose Copy.

3. Select the destination folder in the Folders pane.
4. On the Edit menu, choose Paste Special.
5. Choose Copy (selection only) to create a new copy of the selection only and maintain links to the original related documents or Duplicate (selection and related) to create a new copy of the selection and all related documents and create the links among the copies. If you choose Duplicate, you can click the View related documents link to display a list of the related documents if you are not sure whether you want to duplicate related documents.
6. Click OK.