Copying and pasting objects between reports

The copy and paste functionality allows you to reuse report objects within the same report and between different reports, preserving the object styles, properties, and metadata references. Some examples of objects that you can copy and paste are pages, queries, visualizations, tables, lists, and other objects.

When copying from a source report and pasting to a target report, both reports must be opened in the same browser, on the same tab, on different tabs, or in different windows of the same browser. The reports must also reside on the same instance of the Cognos® Analytics installation.

Note: You can also copy and paste objects between reports, dashboards, stories, and explorations. For more information, see Copying and pasting assets.

Before you begin

Ensure that the reports that you are copying from (source report) and pasting to (target report) are in edit mode.

About this task

When you paste multiple objects in a report, a dialog box is displayed to allow pasting the objects in a new table.

Dialog for creating tables for pasted objects

By default, the table has two columns with the number of rows that matches the number of objects that are being pasted. You can override the number of rows and columns. If the table does not have enough cells, you see the following message: The table is too small for the number of assets. If you click No, the table is not created and the objects are pasted one below the other. If you close the dialog box by clicking the x icon, the paste action is canceled.

Data items that do not match the slot type in the report visualization are dropped.

When you copy and paste from a report to another report, referenced objects, such as queries referencing other queries, are pasted in the target report. For detailed information, see Copy and paste behavior.
Note: Cognos Analytics might change the name of the source object to avoid name conflict with objects that are already present in the target report.

When you copy and paste from a report to another report, and you select the page body or a table, all items within the page body or the table are copied to the target report. For example, you have a table with 10 cells, and each cell has a list, crosstab, and visualization. You do not need to select the items in each cell one by one. Instead, select the whole table and perform the copy action. A message informs you that one asset is copied. In reality, Cognos Analytics copied all assets, 10 in this example.

Copying and pasting elements of a page works in the same way.

You can paste multiple times in the same or different report.

Procedure

  1. Select one or more objects in the report.
  2. In the source report, click the copy icon Copy icon in the toolbar, or use the keyboard shortcut for your operating system to copy.
    A message is displayed that the objects are copied.
  3. In the target report, select the location, such as a table cell or the page body, and click the paste icon Paste icon. If you use the Paste to option, you can paste the object before, after, or inside the selected area.

    You can also use the keyboard shortcut for your operating system to paste.