MSCAD 2002, 2004 - Importing text from word processor

One question I get a lot is"Can I bring text from Word or WordPerfect into MicroSurvey without having to do retype it?"The answer is Yes.

We support a couple of different methods:

A) Using the TEXT command:

1. Go into your Windows based word processor. Open the file up that has the text you need to copy.
2. Next you need to highlight all the text desired. To do this you need to use your mouse. Start at the top, pick and hold the left button down on the mouse - then, while holding the button down, drag the cursor over all the text to be copied. This should highlight the text.
3. Now release the button on the mouse and hit the following two keys on the keyboard. Be sure to press both the keys at the same time. Press<CTRL>and<C>. This will copy the highlighted text into a temporary clipboard. You do not need to see the clipboard so don't worry about where it is.
4. You can now minimize your word processor and start MicroSurvey.
5. Once you have the survey job up on the screen, you can start the text command from which ever location you are comfortable with. The text command will bring up a dialogue box where you can type in text for placement on the screen.
6. Instead of you typing text you need to copy the text from the clipboard into this dialogue box. To do this, while the dialogue box is on screen, press the following two keys at the same time,<CTRL>and<V>. You should immediately see the text in the dialogue box that you originally had in your word processor.

1. Now you can place the text the same way you do with any other text you have entered in your plans before.

NOTE: Make sure you have hit the Enter key at the end of each line in your word processor.‚ This way each line is separate and will be on a new line in the TEXT command.‚ If you do not press Enter at the end of each line then your text will be one long line and you may not see it all on screen and it will extend out of your drawing.

Keep in mind that any formatting that you may have had in the word processor will not be supported in our products and the text will take on the size and format of the font currently in use or selected.

You can do this process from any Windows word processor that supports copying information to the clipboard (most do). Other objects that may be copied to a clipboard, such as graphics, are not supported in MicroSurvey.

If your word processor does not support the copy to clipboard method or your processor is an old DOS based program, then see if you can save the text in a pure TEXT format. We can then load this text file up in Windows Notepad and follow the procedure above, or use the MTEXT command mentioned below.

B) Using the MTEXT command:

The MTEXT command will allow you to paste text into it just like the TEXT command mentioned above.‚ But it also has a button marked as IMPORT that permits you to Browse for a TXT file to read in directly.‚ This means that you do not have to copy/paste the text from another program, you need only import an existing TXT file directly.

NOTE: MTEXT will place the text into the window chosen, when you started the command, and will wrap to fit the window.

This copying to clipboard can be done from many other programs as well.‚ We can even copy text from our own program - be it from the VIEWLOG file or our Active Drawing Technology window.‚ ‚ Any Windows program that allows the copy to clipboard should work. As long as the text is highlighted and you press<CTRL><C>, it will place it on the clipboard and allow us to copy it into the text command in MicroSurvey. Other programs such as Excel will allow the same thing. Experiment a bit - you may surprise yourself with the benefits.

Created on: July 23, 1998