Simple Wires Help

- Getting Started: /manual/docs/getting-started.html
- Projects Dashboard: /manual/docs/projects.html
- Sharing Projects: /manual/docs/sharing.html
- Drawings and the Start Page: /manual/docs/drawings.html
- The Drawing Editor: /manual/docs/editor.html
- Functional Blocks and Ports: /manual/docs/blocks.html
- Master Library: /manual/docs/equipment-library.html
- Warehouses: /manual/docs/warehouses.html
- Racks and Rack Panels: /manual/docs/racks.html
- Drawing Cables: /manual/docs/cables.html
- Off Sheet Pointers: /manual/docs/off-sheet-pointers.html
- Shapes, Text and Images: /manual/docs/shapes-text-images.html
- Page Setup and Drawing Settings: /manual/docs/page-setup.html
- Printing and Exporting: /manual/docs/print-export.html
- Project Data Grids: /manual/docs/project-data.html
- Signal Types: /manual/docs/signal-types.html
- Drawing Revisions: /manual/docs/revisions.html
- Teams: /manual/docs/teams.html
- Billing and Plans: /manual/docs/billing.html
- Your Account: /manual/docs/account.html
- Themes and Appearance: /manual/docs/appearance.html
- Keyboard Shortcuts: /manual/docs/keyboard-shortcuts.html
- FAQ and Troubleshooting: /manual/docs/faq.html


# Off Sheet Pointers

Off sheet pointers (also called sheet references or feathers) let a cable leave one drawing and arrive in another. The source drawing shows the cable from the source port to a pointer. The destination drawing shows the same cable from a pointer to the destination port. Once the two pointers are linked, each one shows the equipment, port and drawing at the other end.

Pointers also work within a single drawing, for example to avoid a long cable run across the page.

## Pointer types

Open the **Off Sheet Pointers** section of the left pane. It holds the same two pointers in five shapes:
off-page connector, rounded rectangle, arrow, open arrow and square arrow. Switch the section to **List** to read which is
which: the shapes are captioned **To, off-page**, **To, rounded**, **To, arrow** and so on, under the
headings **To another drawing** and **From another drawing**.

- **To another drawing**, also called an **Off Right** pointer: has one input, and is drawn with a green
  outline. Place it in the **source** drawing and cable the source port to it.
- **From another drawing**, also called an **Off Left** pointer: has one output, and is drawn with a red
  outline. Place it in the **destination** drawing and cable it to the destination port.

The rest of this page and the app's own messages use the Off Right and Off Left names. The palette draws its
icons in the pane's own colour, so you see the green and red outlines once a pointer is on the page.

{{< screenshot name="off-sheet-pointers-palette" alt="The Off Sheet Pointers section of the left pane showing Off Right and Off Left pointers in five shapes" >}}

The open arrow and square arrow are half as wide as the others, and they carry their labels beside the
shape instead of over it: the system name, then the port, then the drawing at the other end. Use them where
a pointer sits in a crowded part of the page.

## What a pointer shows

A pointer carries the details of the other end, so you can read a cable's destination without opening the
other drawing. Each one shows, from the top: the manufacturer and model of the equipment at the other end,
its system name, the port name and connector the cable lands on, and the name of the drawing it's in.

Until it is linked, a pointer shows placeholder text such as **Other Port**, **??** and **Other Drawing**.
After linking, the text is filled in from the other end and kept up to date; you can hide or restyle each
line, but you can't type over it. See [Changing the appearance of pointers](#changing-the-appearance-of-pointers).

In the source drawing, the cable runs from the source port into the **Off Right** pointer:

{{< screenshot name="off-sheet-pointers-source" alt="The source drawing: a cable from an output port into an Off Right pointer, which names the equipment, port and drawing at the other end" >}}

In the destination drawing, the matching **Off Left** pointer feeds the destination port:

{{< screenshot name="off-sheet-pointers-destination" alt="The destination drawing: an Off Left pointer feeding an input port, naming the equipment, port and drawing it came from" >}}

## Rules

- A pointer links only to another pointer: an **Off Right** pointer to an **Off Left** pointer.
- Each pointer takes exactly one cable. A cable can't go straight from one pointer to another.
- Both pointers need their cable before you link them.
- The signal flows one way: source port, cable, **Off Right** pointer, then **Off Left** pointer, cable, destination port.

## Placing pointers

Work through the source drawing first, then the destination drawing. Both pointers need their cable before
you can link them.

**In the source drawing**

1. Open the drawing that has the equipment the signal leaves.
2. Expand **Off Sheet Pointers** in the library pane and drag one of the **To another drawing** pointers
   onto the page, near the edge the cable leaves by.
3. Draw a cable from the source port to the pointer's input on its left. See
   [Drawing Cables]({{< relref "cables" >}}).
4. Save the drawing with **File > Save** or <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>S</kbd>.

**In the destination drawing**

5. Open the drawing where the signal arrives.
6. Drag the matching **From another drawing** pointer onto the page.
7. Draw a cable from the pointer's output on its right to the destination port.
8. Save the drawing.

Each pointer takes one cable, so use a pair of pointers for each signal that crosses drawings. Place the
pointers where they read easily, such as down one edge of the page, and use the open arrow or square arrow
where space is tight.

## Linking pointers

You can start from either drawing.

1. Right-click a pointer and choose **Link Pointer**. The **Select Other Pointer** dialog opens.

   {{< screenshot name="off-sheet-pointers-menu" alt="The right-click menu of a pointer, with Link Pointer, Follow Pointer and Reset Pointer" >}}

2. Under **Select Drawing**, choose the drawing that has the other pointer. A preview of that drawing appears. Pick the drawing you are in to link two pointers on the same page.
3. In the preview, click the other pointer to select it. You can zoom the preview with the mouse wheel.
4. Click **Do It!**.

{{< screenshot name="off-sheet-pointers-link-dialog" alt="The Select Other Pointer dialog with a drawing chosen and the other pointer selected in the preview" >}}

Both pointers now show the system name, port name and connector of the equipment at the other end, and the
name of the other drawing. Simple Wires saves both drawings.

To check a link, right-click the pointer and choose **Follow Pointer**: the other drawing opens with its
pointer selected. If it opens the wrong drawing, or the text still reads **Other Drawing**, the pointers
aren't linked to each other.

If the link fails with **Link Failed! Please link a left pointer (RED) to a right pointer (GREEN)**, check that you picked an Off Left pointer to go with an Off Right pointer (or the other way round), and that both pointers have a cable.

> [!TIP]
> Save both drawings before you link. The dialog reads the other drawing as it was last saved.

<!-- VERIFY: linking writes the other drawing from its last saved copy. If a teammate has that drawing open with unsaved changes, are their changes lost? -->

## Following and resetting a pointer

Right-click a linked pointer to use:

- **Follow Pointer**: opens the other drawing and selects the linked pointer.
- **Reset Pointer**: unlinks this pointer and returns it to its placeholder text.

Reset Pointer only unlinks the pointer in the drawing you are in. Open the other drawing and reset its pointer as well.

<!-- VERIFY: after Reset Pointer, does the other drawing's pointer keep showing the old link data until it is reset too? -->

## How cable data flows across drawings

After you link two pointers, the two cables act as one:

- Changing the source or destination equipment's text (system name, manufacturer, model, alias, location), or a port's name or connector, updates the pointer and the cable in the other drawing.
- Changing the cable number, length, cable type, signal type or stroke properties of one cable updates the other.
- Simple Wires saves the other drawing for you. If someone on your team has it open, it updates on their screen.
- Renaming a drawing updates the drawing name shown on every pointer that points to it.

<!-- VERIFY: does Save As on a drawing update the pointers that point to it (the old manual said so)? -->
<!-- VERIFY: edits made in the Project Data > Equipment grid update cables in that drawing, but do they reach linked pointers in other drawings? -->

In the project data:

- The **Cables** grid lists both halves of the cable, one for each drawing. Both have **Is Off Sheet Pointed** checked; the destination half also has **Is Off Sheet Pointed Right** checked. Filter on that column to list each cable once.
- The **Bill of Materials** counts the cable, its connectors and its cable type once, from the source half. Pointers themselves are never counted as equipment.

See [Project Data Grids]({{< relref "project-data" >}}).

## Changing the appearance of pointers

You can't type into most of a pointer's text, because it comes from the other end. You can change how the pointer looks.

1. Select one or more pointers.
2. On the **General** tab of the right pane, pick a different **Shape**, or change the stroke and fill. Drag the resize handles to change the size.
3. On the **Text** tab, choose a **Text Kind** (for example **SysName** or **Drawing Name**), then set its **Font**, **Size**, **Foreground** color, or bold and italic. Use the eye button to hide that text.

{{< screenshot name="off-sheet-pointers-appearance" alt="A selected pointer with the Text tab open and Text Kind set to Drawing Name" >}}

See [Shapes, Text and Images]({{< relref "shapes-text-images" >}}) for the General and Text tabs.