There are several reasons why you'd want to duplicate existing objects:
- To create an object that is similar to an existing one, which is faster than setting its properties from scratch. This way you only need to change the settings that are different.
- To change one instance of an object differently than all other instances of the same object. Because Author-it enables you use objects in more than one place, you have to duplicate the object to be able to make changes in one place independently from other places.
Note: You cannot duplicate object templates.
To duplicate an object:
- In the folder or search object list, select the object that you want to duplicate.
- Right-click the object. In the shortcut menu, click Duplicate and then click Yes.
Contribute creates an exact duplicate of the original object in the current folder. The duplicate has "Copy of" inserted at the beginning of the object description, and has a new object number.
- Make any changes you need to the object.
Note: Duplicating an object only creates a new copy of that object, not anything the object contains (such as other objects). For example, if you duplicate a book object, all of the objects that the duplicated book contains are shared with the original book object.