Select source

Use this control to select the type of source for the specification, either the Library or another project. For the latter, you can select from all projects or from a specific one with the next option.

Select list options

Use this option to limit the scope of the list from which you will pick. If you keep this option set to "All available items," the system will show all specifications in the library or all specifications in all projects. If you instead select one or more of the criteria options, you can limit the items in the list to just a subset of the available ones.

If you specify either a project or a vendor when narrowing down the list, FF&EZ will remember them and use them automatically if you use the Import function again.

Select from available specifications:

This is the list of available specifications from which you can select a source to copy. Unless you have limited the display with one or more filters from the "List Options" box, you will see either the entire set of specs from the Library or all specs from every project. 

Replacement options

Since it is possible to import with the Edit command as well as when you are adding a new spec, determining what will be replaced is an important issue. You would not want the imported Spec ID to replace the existing one for your project, or have costs and prices replaced if you did not want them to be.

To help control this, the import setup screen shows the values for critical fields from both the existing spec and the one you have selected to import. For any other fields, it is assumed that you have chosen the Import function because you want to replace them. For the critical fields, however, you can choose what you want to have replaced (note that if these fields are blank in the target spec, we assume that it is okay to replace them).

To use this feature, simply examine the highlighted choices, which are the values that will be kept or replaced when the import is done, and override the selections as desired.

Retain original spec status

Each specification has status fields that are typically cleared when a new specification is created by cloning or importing. Leave this box unchecked unless you want the imported data to include status information from the source specification. If you do import the status information, you can clear individual fields manually after the import is done.

Retain submittal requirements

If the source specification had any submittal requirements set, this option will retain them.

Retain submittal status

If you are retaining any submittal requirements, you can also retain the current status of those requirements. You might use this if you want to keep the requirements but don't need to trigger a new request on this particular project. 

Select

Clicking this button selects the specification you have highlighted and copies its contents to the current specification in your project. Note: You can also double-click a specification to immediately select it and return to the spec screen.

Note: After selecting a spec to import, the actual changes (imported data) are not saved until you actually save the spec you are adding or editing (the imported data is simply treated as if you entered it yourself). This allows you to double-check that the incoming information did not replace any critical items in your current specification. 

Cancel

This button closes the form without selecting a specification to import. You can also press [Esc] to do this.