Copying/Pasting WBS Legs

You can Copy and Paste entire WBS legs, in two ways:

Using the clipboard, which copies just the data displayed in the WBS Sheet.
Using the Copy WBS Utility, which copies the WBS Sheet data and any associated data.

A copied WBS element becomes a child under the target WBS element. If the copied elements contain children or grandchildren, they retain their parent-child relationship when pasted. The WBS ID field is updated based on the replacement characters.

If the start and complete dates of the WBS element that is being copied fall within the range of the new parent WBS element's dates, MPM pastes in the dates with no change.

If the start and complete dates of the WBS element that is being copied fall outside the range of the new parent WBS element's dates, MPM changes the child WBS element's dates to match those of the new WBS parent's dates.

If you have copied several (but not all) children of a parent and then pasted them under a different parent, only the selected children are copied. If the selected child also has children, all children are copied and the hierarchy is preserved.

You can also select WBS legs in the WBS Tree for copying, but only when using the Copy WBS Utility. You cannot select WBS in the WBS Tree when copying and pasting to the clipboard.

Copying/Pasting WBS Legs Using the Clipboard

Copying WBS Legs to the clipboard is a fast way to populate the WBS when many elements contain similar information; however, remember that any associated data such as Task Descriptions and Estimate data is not copied using this method.

To copy and paste WBS elements using the clipboard, complete the following steps:

To select the WBS leg(s) to be copied, click on the row number of the WBS leg to be copied. The entire row becomes highlighted. To choose multiple contiguous rows, click and drag on the row numbers, or hold the Shift key while clicking the first and last row numbers.
To copy the WBS leg(s) to the clipboard, click $image\winm0061_wmf.gif$ Copy , click Edit » Copy WBS(s), or press Ctrl+C.
Click on the row number of the WBS parent under which you would like the copied element(s) to be pasted. If you have more than one WBS window open, you can copy and paste elements between WBS windows.
Paste the WBS leg(s) from the clipboard. Click $image\winm0062_wmf.gif$ Paste , click Edit » Paste, or press Ctrl+V. WBS leg(s) are pasted as new WBS leg(s). Pasting does not override any existing WBS leg(s).