To Access and Share Assemblies

You can access and share assemblies using tool palettes, catalogs, or assembly drawings.

For example, you can create an assembly in your drawing, and then drag and drop it to a tool palette. Once it is in a tool palette, you can copy an assembly from a tool palette into a catalog. You can create a tool palette or a catalog that contains multiple assemblies, and then share that tool palette or catalog with others.

You can also save an assembly to a drawing file, and then drag and drop that drawing file into your current drawing.

Note: You cannot copy an assembly directly from a drawing into a catalog. You must first copy the assembly to a tool palette. From a tool palette, you can copy an assembly to a catalog.

Tutorial: Saving and Sharing Corridor Assemblies

To copy an assembly from a drawing to another drawing

1. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the folder containing the assembly drawing file.
2. Right-click on the assembly drawing file and drag and drop it into the Autodesk Civil 3D drawing area.

The assembly is inserted as a block. Explode it to create the assembly object. When the assembly object is created, it appears in the Assemblies node in Prospector.

To copy an assembly from the drawing area to a tool palette

1. Display the Tool Palettes window.

   Click Home tabPalettes panel Tool Palettes Find.

2. Open the desired tool palette or create a new tool palette.
3. In the drawing area, zoom to the desired assembly.
4. Select the desired assembly, and click and hold down the mouse button to drag it onto the tool palette.
   Note: To select an assembly, make sure that you click only on the assembly baseline (vertical line). Do not click on any grips on the assembly baseline.

To copy an assembly from a tool palette to the drawing area

1. Display the Tool Palettes window.

   Click Home tabPalettes panelTool Palettes Find.

2. Open the tool palette that contains the desired assembly.
3. In the tool palette, click the desired assembly, and then click a location in the drawing area.

To copy an assembly from a catalog to the drawing area

1. To display catalogs in the Content Browser: Click View tabPalettes panel Content Browser Find.
   Tip: When working with both the Autodesk Civil 3D workspace and the Content Browser, you may find it useful to have the Content Browser window displayed at all times. To do this, right-click in the Content Browser title bar and select Always On Top.
2. Navigate to the catalog containing the desired assembly.
3. Once you have located the desired assembly, move your cursor over the assembly image to display options for inserting the assembly into the drawing or adding it to a tool palette.
4. Click the Insert into Drawing option and then click a location in the drawing area.

To copy an assembly from a catalog to a tool palette

1. Display the Tool Palettes window.

   Click Home tabPalettes panelTool Palettes Find.

2. Select the tool palette to which you want to add the assembly.
3. To display catalogs in the Content Browser: Click View tabPalettes panelContent Browser Find.
   Tip: When working with both the Autodesk Civil 3D workspace and the Content Browser, you may find it useful to have the Content Browser window displayed at all times. To do this, right-click in the Content Browser title bar and select Always On Top.
4. Navigate to the catalog containing the desired assembly.
5. Once you have located the desired assembly, move your cursor over the assembly image to display options for inserting the assembly into the drawing or adding it to a tool palette.
6. Click the Add to Tool Palette option. The assembly will be added to the tool palette that is currently open in the Tool Palettes window.

To copy an assembly from a tool palette to a catalog

1. To display catalogs:

   Click View tabPalettes panelContent Browser Find.

   Tip: When working with both the Autodesk Civil 3D workspace and the Content Browser, you may find it useful to have the Content Browser window displayed at all times. To do this, right-click in the Content Browser title bar and select Always On Top.
2. To display tool palettes: Click Palettes panel Tool Palettes Find.
3. Open the tool palette that contains the desired assembly or assemblies.
4. In the tool palette, click on the desired assembly or assemblies, and hold down the mouse button to drag and drop them into the desired catalog.