Copying Fill Styles Between Maps (Solved)

Jase

I have a heavily modified map which I need to create some symbols for. The symbols in this case are vector not raster. The symbols, also fairly complex are nearly complete on a second map, and I need some fill styles which have been custom defined transferred. I know I could use this process:
1. Erase all non essential entities from the first map.
2. Save the map as a template.
3. Open symbol map.
4. clipcopy the new symbols.
5. Open a new map with the new template as a source.
6. paste in the new symbols.
7 Execute the various symdef commands.
8. save the new symbol library.

But for future reference I would like to know two things.
A) Is it possible to bulk copy custom fill styles between two maps without manually creating them?
And if so, how is it done?

Monsen

A) Yes

Use Draw -> Insert File to insert the map with the fill styles into the other one. Now, immediately hit Ctrl+Z (Undo). This will remove the inserted map, but the fill style definitions will remain.

Jase

@ Monsen - LOL! Not what I had in mind, but it accomplishes the purpose! Thanks Monsen.

Jase

WARNING READ WHOLE MESSAGE THIS CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE TO CUSTOM SYMBOLS !

One detail got left out, I add this here in case someone else attempts the same thing.

After hitting CTRL-Z your symbol manager still contains all of the symbols used in the Inserted map.

So to complete the process without adding all of the symbols (assuming you have defined no unused new symbols in the destination map), do the following:

Symbols->Symbol Manager
Click the PURGE button, and respond yes.

This removes any added symbols, and also removes any symbols you have defined but not yet used in the current drawing. So be sure you want to do it before you do it.

Monsen

True enough. This procedure is normally used to insert fill styles into a map, where the extra symbol definitions doesn't really matter, but if you use it to insert it into a file that is to become a symbol catalog, it is another matter entirely. I would recommend to always save the map (possibly even under another file name) before you do a purge, to ensure that you can recover if you did something you need to undo.

The best way of doing this is to make a copy of the original map (with the fill styles), then delete and purge all symbols from it, and also delete any unneeded fill styles as well, then do the insert/undo. This ensures a cleaner end result, but is more work.