AutoCAD Copy Command

The copy command seems the simplest command on your computer. Because most windows application have the same copy command style but in autocad, there is a slight difference. Maybe on other graphics software they have their own style of copy command. in Autocad, there are two major types of copy command, one is within the software and the other is the OLE or Object Linking and Embedding which can  be pasted from other applications like for example, Photoshop into Autocad (will elaborate on later post). The copy command within the program only copies the object inside the black screen like circles, lines, arcs or polygons and can only be pasted there. The other one is where you can copy from Autocad and export it and paste it on other application as raster image.

To begin our tutorial, first make an object. Make a circle. I assumed you already know how to create a circle. If not you can read my previous post about creating a circle. Then click the icon on the toolbar (see Fig. 1 below) or you can just type “copy” or “cp” on the command prompt. After clicking the icon or typing the “copy” command on the command prompt, autocad will say: Select objects: which means you have to select the object you want to copy. Click the circle you just created and press enter or right click your mouse. Then after that you will see in the command prompt: Specify base point or displacement, or [Multiple]: this time there are two choices given to you. One is specify the base point or displacement which means the point or portion where you what to handle the object. In our sample object which is a circle, the places where you can pick a point can be on a center or the sides. There is a precise method of selecting where you want to pick the object which is called the”Osnap” which I will explain more detailed on my later post. But for now you can just select any part of the circle.

Fig. 1 Copy Command Icon

Then after clicking the circle, it will look partly invisible or dotted line. Then click another point on the screen just beside the circle you made. Now you have two circles.

Fig. 2 The Copied Circle Illustration

Before I end this post,I just want to add the other copy command I mentioned, the copying to exporting which is simply using the Crlt+C command. After pressing Crlt+C command, just select the objects then press enter. It is saved in the clip board and ready to paste on other graphic application or microsoft office application.