Opening External Drawings - Intergraph Smart Electrical - Help - Hexagon

External drawings are drawing files created in another application. After opening an external drawing, the software allows to do the following:

• Copy the entire content of the external drawing.

• Copy only the selected graphical elements of the external drawing.

• Paste the selection into a composite drawing.

You can open drawings that have the following file extensions:

*.igr (SmartSketch)

*.dxf (AutoCAD)

*.dwg (AutoCAD)

*.dgn (MicroStation)

Prior to opening an external drawing, define the manner in which Smart Electrical will import the external drawing.

To set import options for external drawings

1. On the Smart Electrical menu bar, select Tools > Options.

2. On the Options dialog, select the Foreign Data tab.

3. From the Format list, select MicroStation or AutoCAD.

4. In the Import group box, select Options.

5. In the dialog that opens, from the Options list, select Symbol or Groups.

• If you set your import setting to Symbol, the graphical element that you paste from an external drawing into a composite drawing will be treated as a non-smart symbol. You can associate this symbol with a plant item and attach a label to it as needed. Also, if the external graphical element that you pasted in needs to be disassembled in the composite drawing, right-click the external graphical element and then on the shortcut menu, select Convert to Group and then ungroup it as you would ungroup any group in a composite drawing. Note that the Convert to Group command is not available if a label has been attached to it or if the symbol has been associated with a plant item. Note that this conversion is irreversible - you will not be able to convert it back to symbol.

• If you set your import setting to Groups, the graphical element that you paste from an external drawing into a composite drawing will be treated as a group of graphical elements. You can associate this group with a plant item and attach a label to it as needed. You can ungroup this external graphical element if needed.

To open an external drawing

1. On the Smart Electrical menu, select File > Open > External Drawing.