To Work With Circuits

Cut, copy, paste, save, insert, and move circuits.

Cut, Copy, and Paste a Circuit

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Click Schematic tab Circuit Clipboard panel Cut. Find
    • Click Schematic tab Circuit Clipboard panel Copy Clip. Find
  2. Select the basepoint. The basepoint becomes the insertion point when you paste the objects.
  3. Select the components and wires to copy.
    Note: If you selected Cut, the objects are removed and wires are healed as needed.
  4. Go to the drawing where you want to paste the objects.
  5. Click Schematic tab Circuit Clipboard panel Paste. Find
  6. Select from the options on the Circuit Scale dialog box.
    • If there are any fixed wire numbers, specify to keep them or blank them out.
    • Specify to blank orphan contact tags or keep them unchanged.
    • Specify whether to keep source arrows.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Select the insertion point.

Copy a Circuit Within the Same Drawing

  1. Click Schematic tabEdit Components panelCircuit drop-downCopy Circuit. Find
  2. Select the components and wires to copy. Carefully window around the circuit, making sure to capture the connection wires and dots.
  3. Press Enter.
  4. (Optional) Press S to make a single copy.
  5. Select the base point and then the second point for the copy.
  6. If making multiple copies, continuing selecting location points and press Enter when done.
  7. Depending on the objects copied, the Copy Circuit Options dialog box displays.
    • If the circuit contains any fixed wire numbers, specify to keep them or blank them out.
    • If the circuit contains any fixed component tags, specify to keep them or retag all the found tags. Specify to blank orphan contact tags or keep them unchanged.
    • If the circuit contains any terminal numbers, specify to keep them, blank them, or update them for uniqueness within the terminal strip.

Move a Circuit

  1. Click Schematic tabEdit Components panelCircuit drop-downMove Circuit. Find
  2. Select the circuit to move. Carefully window (from left to right) around the circuit, making sure to capture the connection wires and dots that tie in to the vertical bus.
  3. Press Enter.
  4. Select the base point, and then the second point for the move.

Save a Circuit and Add it to the Icon Menu

  1. Zoom around the circuit to save so that it fills your screen.
  2. Click Schematic tabEdit Components panelCircuit drop-downSave Circuit To Icon Menu. Find
  3. On the Save Circuit to Icon Menu dialog box, right-click in the Symbol Preview window and select Add icon New circuit.
    Note: You can also click the arrow on the Add tab and select New circuit.
  4. On the Create New Circuit dialog box, specify:
    • Name of the icon.
    • Image file to use. Make sure to select Create PNG from current screen image.
    • Circuit drawing file name.
      Note: If you did not zoom in on the circuit in the previous step 1, you can click Zoom on the Create New Circuit dialog box to zoom around the circuit to save.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Select the insertion base point of the circuit.
  7. Window around the circuit (from left to right), capturing all the appropriate components and wiring and press Enter.

    AutoCAD Electrical toolset processes the circuit and saves it to your AutoCAD Electrical toolset user subdirectory.

    Note: You can overwrite the user subdirectory using the wd_usercktdir setting in the environment (.env) file. For example, if wd_usercktdir is enabled and set to “N:\Electrical\Circuits”, the new circuit and image file are saved to N:\Electrical\Circuits.

    AutoCAD Electrical toolset creates and adds a new circuit icon (.png) of your circuit to the bottom of the symbol preview window.

Add Existing Circuits to the Icon Menu

  1. Click Schematic tabEdit Components panelCircuit drop-downSave Circuit To Icon Menu. Find
  2. On the Save Circuit to Icon Menu dialog box, right-click in the Symbol Preview window and select Add icon Add circuit.
    Note: You can also click the arrow on the Add tab and select Add circuit.
  3. On the Add Existing Circuit dialog box, specify:
    • Name of the icon.
    • Image file to use. Make sure to select Create PNG from current screen image.
    • Existing circuit name.
  4. Click OK.

    The existing circuit is added to the bottom of the symbol preview window.

Insert a Saved Circuit

  1. Click Schematic tabInsert Components panelCircuit drop-downInsert Saved Circuit. Find
  2. On the Insert Component dialog box, select the circuit you want to insert into the drawing from the Symbol Preview window.
  3. Click OK.
  4. On the Circuit Scale dialog box, click OK to use the defaults or specify a scale and then click OK.
  5. Specify the insertion point on the drawing.

Insert a WBlocked Circuit

  1. Click Schematic tabInsert Components panelCircuit drop-downInsert WBlocked Circuit. Find
  2. On the Insert WBlocked Circuit dialog box, select the circuit you want to insert into the drawing and click Open.
  3. On the Circuit Scale dialog box, click OK to use the defaults or specify a scale and then click OK.
  4. Specify the insertion point on the drawing.