Collapsible Areas: A Mathcad Prime 2.0 Feature We DON’T Want to Conceal!

[AnnaGiangregori]

Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday! Well, it's that time again. We have a new blog post in the Mathcad Prime 2.0 blog series! Today's post is called "Collapsible Areas: A Mathcad Prime 2.0 Feature we DON'T Want to Conceal!" This post is all about what Collapsible Areas are, how they can be used, and how you can interact with them. Here is a brief excerpt:

"Collapsible Areas get their name, because you can collapse the content within them and “hide” it from view. You do this by pressing the minus sign on the left. You can always reopen the area to view and share the hidden content by pressing the plus sign that appears when the area is collapsed. Below is an example of what the open and closed Collapsed Areas look like together.

Note the plus and minus signs indicating whether an Area is open or closed. You can create labels to mark the Areas or simply leave them blank. You can always see if there is a Collapsed Area in a worksheet by the prominent horizontal line and the plus sign that appears on the left-hand side of the worksheet."

Check out the entire blog post here! Also, if you haven't already, check out this short blog on PlanetPTC Community! Comment about your favorite LearningExchange video, and have the chance to win a fun prize!

Enjoy,

Anna

[MikeArmstrong]

This isn't really an improvement though is it. We had these in Mathcad 15.

Mike

[AnnaGiangregori]

That is correct, Mathcad 15.0 did have collapsible areas as well. Mathcad Prime 1.0 however, does not have this feature so it is brand new to Mathcad Prime. I see this as an example of Mathcad Prime 2.0 adding back some of the existing features and capabilities that earlier versions of Mathcad had, as a result of customer feedback.

[ValeryOchkov]

Hi Anna.

Can we have in Mathcad Prime 2.0 areas in an area?

We can do so with some problems im regular Mathcad:

[mzeftel]

Valery,

There may be a workaround that you discovered, but areas within areas is not a supported feature of earlier versions of Mathcad.

Mona

[ValeryOchkov]

Mona Zeftel wrote:

Valery,

There may be a workaround that you discovered, but areas within areas is not a supported feature of earlier versions of Mathcad.

Mona

We can not create an area in the created area but we can create a new area not far from one old area and move the new area into the old area. Try please.

It vwll be good to have this nested area in Mathcad Prime! Mathcad Prime Minister has this wery useful tool

[RichardJ]

I've done this too, but I ran into some nasty problems afterwards. I forget exactly what they were, but they were nasty enough that I stopped doing it!

[ValeryOchkov]

Richard Jackson wrote:

I've done this too, but I ran into some nasty problems afterwards. I forget exactly what they were, but they were nasty enough that I stopped doing it!

See one my sheet:

[MikeArmstrong]

This is great news as this is one of the feature which would have prevented my company from switiching to the new software.

Mike

[ValeryOchkov]

Sorry,

can we lock areas in Mathcad Prime?

[mzeftel]

Locking areas will not be a feature of Mathcad Prime 2.0.

Sorry,

Mona

[ValeryOchkov]

Mona sorry!

But PTC makes every effort to allow users said, "Mathcad Prime is a step back"

[MikeArmstrong]

Mona sorry!

But PTC makes every effort to allow users said, "Mathcad Prime is a step back"

I agree that area's should be able to be locked, but at least we have locked area's again.

1 step in the right direction.

Mike

[ValeryOchkov]

But PTC makes every effort to allow users said, "Mathcad Prime is a step back"

But I understand the policy of PTC with Mathcad (Prime)

[LouP]

In the earlier version of mathcad I use (I confess nothing! :-), the only way to move the end of an area is to drag it - unless I've been missing something all these years. This isn't so bad if you only need to cover one or two screens. For very long areas, this is a major inconvenience. Does the new area capability have a means to simply scroll/page to the desired end of the area in the worksheet and then insert the true end via a right click (e.g., insert area end here)? If not this, is there another technique? Or is dragging the end through myriad screens the only way to move it?

Lou

[MikeArmstrong]

Lou Poulo wrote:

In the earlier version of mathcad I use (I confess nothing! :-), the only way to move the end of an area is to drag it - unless I've been missing something all these years.

You can move the end of a collapsed area by striking enter when the cursor is in the collapsed area.

I'm sorry I can't check your query because my Mathcad Prime 2.0 license has expired.

Mike

[LouP]

Hitting "Enter" when in a collapsed area just increases the space within the collapsed area ( at least in v11). It doesn't move the end of the are relative to what follows the area end bar. If I have ten screens of work that I decide later to enclose in an area, I know of no way to put the end at the desired place other than dragging it half screen at a time, and again, and again...

Lou

[mzeftel]

Lou,

I understand what you are asking for, but we don't have that feature yet. Unlike in Mathcad 15, in Mathcad Prime 2.0, you can copy and paste content into a small area, and it will expand accordingly. I just tested it in both versions.

Mona

[MikeArmstrong]

I understand what you are asking for, but we don't have that feature yet. Unlike in Mathcad 15, in Mathcad Prime 2.0, you can copy and paste content into a small area, and it will expand accordingly. I just tested it in both versions.

Well thanks definately another improvement.

Mike

[MikeArmstrong]

Hitting "Enter" when in a collapsed area just increases the space within the collapsed area ( at least in v11). It doesn't move the end of the are relative to what follows the area end bar. If I have ten screens of work that I decide later to enclose in an area, I know of no way to put the end at the desired place other than dragging it half screen at a time, and again, and again...

Sorry Lou,

I misunderstood what you were asking. It can be a bit annoying when you want to expand the collapsed area. I feel your pain.

Mike

[RichardJ]

I know of no way to put the end at the desired place other than dragging it half screen at a time, and again, and again...

The pain is over faster if you drag it 6/10 of a screen each time, rather than 1/2.

[PhilipOakley]

The easy way in the older versions is to change the zoom size to 25% (or less), with the 'View Regions set on, and then you can see worksheet 4 pages at a time, and while yoiu are at it find those missing regions that are off the right hand side.

I presume Prime has a zoom setting 😉

Also, with View Regions it is easy to see the area markers as they extend all the way to the right.

[RichardJ]

The easy way in the older versions is to change the zoom size to 25% (or less)

Great tip! Where the heck were you the last 50 times I had to drag it 6/10 of a screen at a time, and again, and again...?

[LouP]

Why would I want to use such a simple solution when I can whine and wait for a more complicated SW fix? Ditto for Rcihard's last comment.

Lou