2013

Object Handling 123
Similarly a group can’t contain multiple pages and so any pages you add while editing
will be ignored and lost when you save back – only the first page is relevant.
The Automatic Backup facility does not save modifications to open sub-documents.
Only the parent main document is saved when a scheduled backup runs, in its current
state without the unsaved group edits. For this reason it’s recommended that you
save group edits back to the parent document regularly.
If you close the program or shutdown Windows while you have group sub-documents
open with unsaved changes, when you next start the program, the main document
will be loaded and it will include all the group edits that were unsaved at the time of
closure.
Other types of groups
Special types of group are used by some tools and functions to keep objects together
and/or to give an object some special behavior.
When you anchor an object to text for example, the object is placed in an Anchored
Group, as shown on the status line when you select such an object. Similarly when
you make an object repeating (see Repeating Objects (on page 129)) or make it a Live
Copy (see Liv
e Copies) the objects are placed inside a "Repeating group" a "Live copy
group" respectively.
Soft Groups
Ordinary Groups as described in “Grouping and ungrouping objects (on page 120)” sit
on a single layer, they cannot span layers.
SOFT GROUPS are an alternative way of
linking objects together where the objects can be across several different layers.
Selecting one member of a Soft Group also selects all other members of the same Soft
Group – even members that are on invisible or locked layers. This means when you
delete, move, rotate or otherwise transform one member of a Soft Group, all the other
members are similarly modified.
The status line indicates when a Soft Group is selected.
Creating Soft Groups
To create a Soft Group, select all the objects that are to be included in it and then
choose “
ARRANGE->APPLY SOFT GROUP” (or press “Ctrl+Alt+G”). Note that if the Soft
Group is to include members on invisible or locked layers, you’ll need to make those
layers temporarily visible and editable using the Page & Layer Gallery in order to
select the objects and Soft Group them.
An object cannot be a member of more than one Soft Group and Soft Groups cannot
be nested (soft groups as members of soft groups).