How to Merge 2 Layout Docs???

LandsArchitect

Hi
I have two layout docs that I want to merge together. I find that when I cut and paste each page, not only do I have to rename the page (slightly annoying) I also lose all the references for my dimensions (massively annoying - it converts them to real measurements, not scaled measurements).

Does anyone have any fancy methods to merge the docs together?

I'd be most grateful!!

Thanks.
Shannon (Landscape Architect)

danbig

Hi Shannon -

I've been similarly frustrated. I don't have a slick method for merging two docs, but I would suggest using the layers to paste from one document to the next.

Here's how I would minimize the time and effort to bring a complex page from one LayOut file to the next:

Right click on the first layer (in the Layer list toolbar), and choose "Select Entities". This will select all the entities on that layer. Paste it into the correct layer in the target LayOut file. (I believe all the objects will paste into whatever layer you have selected).

I would do this one layer at a time, leaving your sketchup model viewports and associated dimensions for the very last move. Once your page only has models and dimensions on it, select all, then paste them together. If you still loose the association, you can just deselect the models, and set the scale (this wouldn't work if you are not using a standard scale).

I hope this helps.

bjanzen

Depending on your document, it can get complicated quickly. I'm sure David G. would agree with me that you can always unzip the files and merge them by hand . Seriously, you COULD do that, but it would require that you have layers with matching ID's, and you'd have to hand edit the pages into document.xml and references.xml, match up the layers ID's in the pages.xml, and adjust the total page count in documentProperties.xml. And you'd have to make sure no ID's are conflicting between the original document and the pages you're adding in. In other words, it's a lot of work by hand, too. And that's probably why we haven't looked at merging documents or being able to load LayOut documents inside of LayOut documents.

We've had this on a feature list for a while, but it wasn't a big enough priority for it to bubble into LayOut 2.1. Would it be important to folks to have this... over other features you'd want?

b

LandsArchitect

Hi
Thanks for your help. Unfortunately the issue of losing my dimensions is still a problem - they jump from being scaled correctly to being real mm measurements. Pity.

Yes - merging docs is something I would find very helpful. It comes about from having 2 or 3 people working on a presentation, which is easiest done by them creating their own separate files, and then we merge them all together at the end for the client.

I look forward to the updates!

JuanV.Soler

@bjanzen said:

We've had this on a feature list for a while, but it wasn't a big enough priority for it to bubble into LayOut 2.1. Would it be important to folks to have this... over other features you'd want?

b

It depends on which are the other features we want and you have taken notice but not said here as far as I know.
I prefer first to be able to insert a PDF document or a DWG drawing in LayOut 2.2

in any case I trust your good work in LayOut so I am confident I will have it in the next release
cheers

DavidBoulder

Yes Barry I do like to dig around in those zip files

Shannon, so I see two goals of your workflow.

Allow multiple people to work on the documents at the same time
Give the client a single file

With your current workflow of two or more people having the same full document I would think you run the risk of overlapping changes if you each work on the same page. If you are working on separate pages then why not just keep the files separate. Back in the 1.0 days of Layout when it wasn't as robust as it is now, I often took a document as it got larger (20-40 pages) and split it into multiple Layout documents (A much easier task than joining them together). If you split it up in a way that makes since for the workflow then this can be nice. They can all still link back to the same SketchUp file(s) and images. Yes it would be great to throw pages back and forth between documents like it was a PowerPoint slide, but until then I think splitting them in logical place (e.g. plans in one, elevations in another, or All building A pages in one, all Bldg B pages in another).

As far as giving the client a single file, it would be pretty easy to export the layout documents as a few PDF's and then merge them into a single PDF.

David

LandsArchitect

Thanks for the suggestion about merging PDFs - I hadn't thought of that option which will work nicely. Means too that it keeps the file size down.
Cheers
Shannon

Gaieus

For creating PDF (or in fact a bunch of other file formats like raster images) of any kind of documents (can be mixed "media" like doc files, pdf files etc.) I use PDFCreator that you can merge them together with very easily.

Certainly some robust Adobe products would do the same but PDFCreator is free and I do not need to do this so often to justify buying a pricey Adobe product.

DavidBoulder

Glad to help out. Another free application is PDF Split and Merge, but it can only work with PDF files and not image files.

LandsArchitect

Thanks. In Apple-land we are lucky to have 'Preview', the default PDF and image viewer, which also allows splitting and merging! Thanks to your help I was able to PDF the doc today as a whole and send to the client. Cheers.

Burkhard

Another way is to open one document and save it as scrapbooks from the file menu
. Open the other document and just drag and drop them out of the scrapbook gallerie. It's quit easy to do