I was hoping that by using stencils I could edit a single instance and have it change throughout my multipage document. It seems this is not possible or am I missing something? Is it possible to accomplish this somehow?

[Joel]

Stencils don't work in the manner that you want, they're really just objects on special read-only documents that can be dragged to a canvas.

We do have it in mind to look at implementing some sort of reference object library in the future.

You might be able to get what you're after here with copying a shape as a PDF and using LinkBack to get the behavior sought.

That all said, the Selection Inspector can quickly filter and select similar objects throughout a document, and then you can apply style changes en masse.

[tielefeld]

Hi Joel!

That all said, the Selection Inspector can quickly filter and select similar objects throughout a document, and then you can apply style changes en masse.

Well, if I group some objects together and inside those groups there is each an object I want to change en masse - How can I select them all in the selection filter? It hides them for me and only shows the groups. Any Help?

Cheers! Great Tool! Without it, my Thesis would look like crap ;)
tielefeld

[Brian]

The selection inspector treats grouped objects as if they were a single shape, but we can file a feature request on making this change so the rest of the team knows you'd like to see this added in the future. Thanks!

[DerekAsirvadem]

Joel/Brain

Well if you are taking the requirement seriously, then it needs a bit of thought re the method, what exactly are we looking for.

I would suggest that, while drawing a diagram using a stencil, if one opens and edits the stencil, upon saving the stencil, there could be an option to "change the objects in the diagram to match the characteristics of the [changed] objects in the stencil".

Personally, I think not. I think it would be better (for many reasons) to instead enhance the Style Brush, to pick up the full set of styles from an initial object, and then be able to change any object that one touches with it. In multi-action mode of course.

Cheers
Derek

[simonpssetterstrom]

Add me to requesting this feature also.

I acknowledge that stencils / updating objects is a complex issue. I would like to see features introduced that help manage stencils, provide the ability to update documents (re-linking) while not requiring this. Something along the lines of master objects or linkback-ing only more powerful.