Word Processing Capability and FBD Sketching

KenL. · ‎Sep 09, 2011

1. Word Processing Improvements

I use Mathcad for structural analysis in the aerospace industry. Currently I perform all my calculations in Mathcad and then copy everything into MS Word for my final structural analysis report. I would like to see Mathcad offer more control over word processing so that I can eliminate the need for Word and do the entire report in Mathcad. Others have mentioned the issues with tables. Here are some more specifics that I'd like to see.

a. Automatic Table of Contents, List of Figures, and List of Tables

b. Auto Caption for figures and tables

c. The ability to hide the header on the title page

d. The ability to have portrait and landscape page layouts in the same document

2. Sketching Tools

I'd like to have the ability to sketch free body diagrams in Mathcad. It would be nice to have standard symbols that are used in statics and mechanics of materials such as arrows, fixed constraint symbols, pinned constraint symbols, distributed loads, CG, etc. The ability to have dimensions in the sketch update with changes to a dimension used in a calculation would make the sketch feature a very valuable tool. I know this is something that can be done with ProE, but it would be extremely useful with a simple sketch as well.

3. Copy and paste feature in Prime

Currently Mathcad Prime doesn't offer the ability to copy and paste into Word which renders it useless to me as I can't get any of my calculations into my final report. Additionally, I'd like to see improved pasting into Word. Currently I paste from Mathcad 15 into Word as bitmaps in order to keep arrangement in Word simple and keep the text legible. Even with a bitmap paste, the document looks crisp on screen, but when I print, all the pasted Mathcad text is blurry on paper. I'd like to see improvement here as soon as possible until Mathcad's word processing features are brought up to speed.

Mathcad is an excellent tool, nearly perfect for structural analysis. I'm looking forward to future improvements that will make it my one stop tool for structural analysis reports.

MikeArmstrong · ‎Sep 14, 2011

1. Word Processing Improvements
I use Mathcad for structural analysis in the aerospace industry. Currently I perform all my calculations in Mathcad and then copy everything into MS Word for my final structural analysis report. I would like to see Mathcad offer more control over word processing so that I can eliminate the need for Word and do the entire report in Mathcad. Others have mentioned the issues with tables. Here are some more specifics that I'd like to see.
a. Automatic Table of Contents, List of Figures, and List of Tables
b. Auto Caption for figures and tables
c. The ability to hide the header on the title page
d. The ability to have portrait and landscape page layouts in the same document

Very good suggestion. This would be a massive improvement.

2. Sketching Tools
I'd like to have the ability to sketch free body diagrams in Mathcad. It would be nice to have standard symbols that are used in statics and mechanics of materials such as arrows, fixed constraint symbols, pinned constraint symbols, distributed loads, CG, etc. The ability to have dimensions in the sketch update with changes to a dimension used in a calculation would make the sketch feature a very valuable tool. I know this is something that can be done with ProE, but it would be extremely useful with a simple sketch as well.

This has been requested by many users of the years. There are plans afoot to include a sketcher is a future release of Prime.

Currently Mathcad Prime doesn't offer the ability to copy and paste into Word which renders it useless to me as I can't get any of my calculations into my final report. Additionally, I'd like to see improved pasting into Word. Currently I paste from Mathcad 15 into Word as bitmaps in order to keep arrangement in Word simple and keep the text legible. Even with a bitmap paste, the document looks crisp on screen, but when I print, all the pasted Mathcad text is blurry on paper. I'd like to see improvement here as soon as possible until Mathcad's word processing features are brought up to speed.

Have you tried saving your Mathcad worksheet as a rtf file and opening in Word?

You can also insert a live Mathcad document inside a Word document and the Math regions print out clear.

Mike

KenL. · ‎Sep 20, 2011

Mike,

Thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear the sketcher is coming. I have tried the rtf route as well, but the info from Mathcad is brought into Word in frames which seem to make formating the Word document much more difficult and it seems to have a significant impact on file size as does the insertion of a live Mathcad document. That's why I've been sticking with the bitmap route. I did all of my copy and paste experiments with Mathcad 14 though so I'm not sure if any of the copy and paste features changed with 15.

Ken

MikeArmstrong · ‎Sep 21, 2011

Thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear the sketcher is coming. I have tried the rtf route as well, but the info from Mathcad is brought into Word in frames which seem to make formating the Word document much more difficult and it seems to have a significant impact on file size as does the insertion of a live Mathcad document. That's why I've been sticking with the bitmap route. I did all of my copy and paste experiments with Mathcad 14 though so I'm not sure if any of the copy and paste features changed with 15.

I hadn't really looked into the impact embedding a Mathcad worksheet into Word or saving as a rtf file has. I don't think Mathcad 15 has any additional features for pasting into Word.

Mike

ThomasBarr · ‎Sep 21, 2011

In case the guy's who write Mathcad code have not tried it I recommend they do a few problems, make a plot then copy/paste to Word or Power point then the trouble starts. It can screw up in ways you would never believe. It will overwrite some data, the charts will drift around. Mathcad 14, 15 and Prime all act different. You can do a Mathcad problem in 20 minutes then spend two hours trying to make a good looking report. This is a long standing problem please fix it!

Tom Barr, Huntsville Al

MikeArmstrong · ‎Oct 14, 2011

I have to say I have managed to insert into Word reports without that much hassle. Usually I will copy and paste into IrfanView and then paste the image into Word. Not the best solution but it does work.

Mike

ShawnPete · ‎Apr 17, 2012

Have you tried creating PDFs from the selected area of the Mathcad Prime worksheet?

MikeArmstrong · ‎Apr 18, 2012

No, why?

Mike

ptc-4397158 · ‎Sep 06, 2012

I can't believe Mathcad Prime doesn't allow copy and paste of graphs into Word! Seriously!? What use is Mathcad if you can't get stuff into a report! Major dissapointment! There are a few more issues I have with Mathcad Prime. Why can't I highlight some text and just start typing to replace that text? I have to press the delete key first. Is it too hard to ask that Mathcad behave like every other software in the world? Also, I really liked using the period key to do a subscript (Mathcad 15)- super fast. Now I have to do ctrl - (cumbersome).

Sincerely,

Dissapointed and Frustrated

olivierlp · ‎Jan 03, 2022

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