How to copy and paste 'non-linked' text boxes in a report

[#1]

How do you copy and paste a "non-linked" text box in a report?  Here's the scenario.  I have multiple pages, I'm happy with the FORMAT of a text box I have on the first page and want to copy and paste that text box to the other pages and then change the text in the text box on each page.  The problem is, after I paste a copy of the original text box and change the text in the pasted text box, it causes the original text box's text to change to what you changed the pasted copy to.  It appears you copy and paste a text box that is linked (I'm assuming the same object ID or something) to the one you copied from.

Is there a workaround so that what you paste is not connected to what you pasted from and you can make changes to it independently?

I know how to copy and paste a text box in a report, please do not send directions how to do that. 

[swuehl]

What you describe as requested result is the standard behaviour for an unlinked object, I think that's the default for copy and paste.

Since you don't want me to describe a copy & paste action, I don't know what to tell?

[Peter_Cammaert]

How do you copy and paste objects in QV Desktop?

The behavior you are describing is only possible if you select "Paste Sheet Object as Link" from the rightmouseclick menu.

A solution might be to copy the first object you want to change and immediately select "Linked Objects->Unlink this object" from the rightmousebutton-menu. After that, you should be able to change the text in this copy without impacting any of the other "linked" objects.

Best,

Peter

[#4]

To further clarify, I am talking about text boxes in the Report Editor, the report design surface, not copy and pasting objects on a qlikview document/dashboard.  There is no "Paste Sheet Object as" in the Report Editor.  In the Report Editor, you can "Copy" and "Paste Items", that's it.  The problem is, when you paste, it is linked to the object you copied and so any changes to the pasted copy show up in the copied copy.

[swuehl]

Ok, I missed that you were referring to the report editor.

Objects in reports don't exist on their own, they are always linked to sheet objects, so if you copy an object in the report editor, you are referring to the same sheet object.

I think you need to create separate sheet objects for any specific visualization you want to include in your report, so if you want to have different text boxes, you need to create a distinct sheet object for each text.

[Peter_Cammaert]

Different story altogether.

The explanation is simple: Report Editor objects are actually links to QlikView objects that are hidden copies of selected visible QlikView sheet objects. If you make a copy of a link in Report editor, you still have a link and nothing more. You cannot create a QlikView object in the Report Editor.

Only solution: create new QlikView objects with different text, and place those in your report.

[#7]

That is a work-around, thank you.  I see what you are saying, however I think you mean you cannot create an object that exists exclusively in the Report Editor.  You can indeed create objects in the report editor as I can create new text boxes, but to your point they get created and hidden somewhere in the main document. 

I've been using captions on my charts which, for whatever reason, don't transfer into the report editor.  So I end up making a text box in the Report Editor to function as the caption.  I wonder if the best practice is to not use a chart's built in caption, leave that blank, but use a text box on top of it and then just drag that into the report editor. 

I got the same advice when trying to deal with legend sizing issues -- advice was to not use the built in legend and make one from a table view.  But both of these add extra steps and maintenance since instead of moving one thing around, you have to worry about moving 3 things around.  I know you can use a container, but the containers are buggy, especially when you nest them.

[Peter_Cammaert]

Indeed. You cannot create objects in the report editor without corresponding originals in QlikView. Report-only objects get created on a hidden sheet whose symbol starts with an R instead of an S. All "objects" in the Report template are actually just links to their counterparts in the QV document. That's why it is so easy to create an updated report based on your current selections.

As for your other reflections: I never felt the need to create new legends for existing objects as I managed to properly scale them in QV. The trouble with captions is another often-heard complaint. The only thing I can say is that IMHO captions and window borders are for use in a windowing environment. Not really for the press. They always seem to look ugly when printed on paper. Maybe we should wait for the final (long-overdue) appearance of e-paper as a clean replacement for newspapers, journals and whatever printed report. At that moment, they would regain their proper status I think

Best,

Peter

[Colin-Albert]

It would be worth you looking at NPrinting as this gives much better control of the layout of objects when creating hard-copy output from QlikView. That said an additional licence is required for NPrinting.

There are more details here  Space: QlikView NPrinting | Qlik Community