Copying Multiple Things from an X-Ref

You guys taught me that I could use "NCopy" to copy a single line from an X-Ref. Is there a way to copy multiple items at one time, or rather select multiple items at one time from an X-Ref?

Something like grabbing an entire staircase from the first floor and copying it into the second floor would be ideal.

Thanks!

Select XRef, right-click Open XRef, select entities, Ctrl+C (or preferably Ctrl+Shift+C and pick a basepoint). Close the file, Ctrl+V (or Paste to Original Coordinates) to place the entities in the containing DWG. I like using this way instead, since it also brings in things like layers - which ncopy doesn't always do.

I'm actually not sure why you want to do this. In my mind it seems to defeat the purpose of having the xref in the first place. Or is it because you don't want those lines in the xref any-more?

Thanks.

After I draw a first floor plan I need to draw a second floor plan. The stairs on the second floor plan need to stack right on top of the stairs on the first floor plan, so it would be ideal to just copy them in right over each other. That is how MicroStation worked so I am used to that method. I will just copy paste. It's a bummer than NCopy does not allow you to select more items than just one at a time. I know you can hold shift down and keep selecting more items, but that is a long process.

For that I generally use the paste to original coordinates.

But when I run into a situation like yours I actually use xrefs to keep the 2 levels' stair-wells aligned and updated. E.g. I'f have a Level1 and Level2 dwg file. Each would then have the Stair.DWG attached. So if I modify the Stair.DWG it gets updated in both Level1 & 2. It's generally only where the stair is different from the norm that I then have it shown as individual lines on that level only - this usually only occurs on the bottom-most and top-most levels, though I have found differences if the inter-floor distances vary.

you can Reference Edit a Xref. Some people recommend against it, but I've never had a problem. You just have to be careful.

So, RefEdit, select all the objects, copy them off to the side, Remove From Working Set, then you can Discard Changes to make sure you didn't lose anything from the Xref. If you Move objects, Discarding will undo what you did. But seeing as your Copying, Discarding will work fine.