View and modify object properties in the property pane

Tekla Structures shows the properties of different model objects and drawing objects in the property pane, which is a side pane window.

Note that you can have only one property pane window open at a time. This means that you can view the properties of only one object type at a time.

You can customize the property pane. For example, you can organize the settings as you wish, or hide or remove the settings you do not need.

To quickly modify the properties of a few objects only, use the contextual toolbar.

Open the property pane

To open the properties in the property pane:

If the property pane is closed: double-click a model or a drawing object, or click the Properties button in the side pane.
If the property pane is open: select a model or a drawing object.
Hold down Shift and click a command on the ribbon.
Double-click a command on the ribbon.

Modify the properties of a model object or a drawing object

To start modifying the properties, double-click a model or a drawing object.

The property pane opens and shows the current properties of the object.
Modify the properties as needed.

Tekla Structures highlights the modified properties in yellow in the property pane.

If you enter a value that is not valid, Tekla Structures indicates the error with a red frame and an exclamation mark.
To clear the selection, click the check marks next to each setting to remove them.

You can clear the check marks one by one, or select a whole section and all its properties.

You can use the Select All and Select None switches at the bottom of the property pane to select all the changes or to clear all the changes.
When you are ready with the modifications, click Modify to apply the changes.
If you want to create an object using the standard values instead of the values you just applied, load the standard file first.

Note that if you use the contextual toolbar or direct modification to modify an object, the current properties do not change and are not automatically applied when you create the next object of the same type.

Modify the properties of multiple model objects or drawing objects

You can select several model or drawing objects in the model or in the drawing, and change their properties at one go. The selected objects can be of the same object type, such as steel columns or drawing sketch objects, or they can be of different object types, but the property pane shows only the properties that are common for all the selected objects.

Select the objects in the model or in the drawing.

Property pane shows the properties for the selected objects.

The settings where the values differ have the text Varies, and the values or options are shown in a list. If there are no common properties, the property pane is empty.
Modify the properties as needed.

You can select a value from a list or enter a new value for a property, in the same way when only one model or drawing object is selected.

Tekla Structures highlights the modified properties in yellow.
Click Modify.

The selected properties are modified.

To check which objects you have selected in the model or in the drawing, click the Object type list button to open the list of the selected objects.

To modify the object selection, hold down Ctrl, and in the list click the object types that you want to exclude or include in the selection.

The content of the property pane changes according to your selection.

If you want to select all the objects, click the Select all button.

Modify the properties of drawing annotation objects in visual editor

The drawing property pane contains a visual editor for editing some of the drawing annotations, such as dimension tags, view labels, associative notes, and most mark types. You can see the resulting annotation as you create it, which makes the editing of the annotation objects much easier.

To start modifying the properties, double-click an annotation object in an open drawing.
The property pane opens and shows the current properties of the annotation object. The properties are located in boxes called containers. Below is an example of the section mark visual editor.
- To load predefined contents for the annotation object, select a property file from the Property file list.
- To show either the property name or the property value in the preview, click the Properties or Values button. These buttons are only available when you are modifying an annotation.
- The % button shows the current zoom level in the preview. You can zoom in or out by scrolling the middle mouse button. Click the % button to zoom to the best fit.
- In section marks, to indicate which end of the cutting line you want to work with, click Start or End.
To add an element in a container, click a container, and then click the New element button.
- If the container is empty, the element list opens automatically when you click the container.
- In most of the visual editors, you can drag elements and containers. In the section mark editor, you can only drag elements inside and between containers. The dimension tag editor only allows you to drag elements inside a container.
- To delete an element or a container, click the red delete button in the upper-right corner of the element or container.
- To search for elements, use the search box that opens when you open the element list. The available elements vary according to the annotation object type.
- To add a user-defined attribute, template attribute, or a custom property, select the attribute from the list of available attributes. To add a hidden user-defined attribute, type the name in the search box and press Enter.
- To add new containers in section marks, detail marks, or view labels, click the New container button. You can add up to five containers.
- In dimension tags, you first need to click a tag container to be able to add elements in the tag in the tag editor. When a dimension tag has some content, the container icon changes to . You can also type text directly in dimension tags, the text will be shown as it is in the container.
Modify the representation of the whole annotation object or an individual element.
For example, modify the font styles and frames.
Modify other annotation object properties.
Click Modify.

The selected properties are modified.

For details about adding and modifying different types of annotation objects, click the links below:

Mark properties.

Add and modify section marks in drawings

Add and modify detail marks in drawings

Dimension properties

Add dimensions manually

Add associative notes in drawings

Modify marks or notes in drawings

View properties in drawings

Create views in drawings

Show only frequently used properties in the property pane

You can control separately for each object type which properties are shown in the property pane. Thus, you can create your favorite sets of properties for every object type, and make the property pane less cluttered by hiding the properties that are not needed frequently.

Customize the property pane layout using the Property pane editor, and mark each property as frequently or infrequently used. When using the property pane, you can select between showing only the frequently used properties or all the properties of one object type.

After you have marked the properties as frequently or infrequently used in the Property pane editor, the Show fewer properties or the Show all properties button is activated at the bottom of the property pane. Use the buttons to switch between showing the frequently or the infrequently used properties.

To show only frequently used properties in the property pane, customize the property pane layout of the selected object type.
In the model or in the drawing, double-click an object to open the property pane.

Only the properties that are marked as frequently used are shown. Other properties are hidden.

If all the properties are marked as frequently used, the Show fewer properties button is not available.
If you want to see all properties, click the Show all properties button.
If you want to switch back to only frequently used properties, click the Show fewer properties button.

Note:
If you close Tekla Structures or switch between modeling mode and drawing mode, Tekla Structures shows the frequently used properties in the property pane.

You have to click the Show all properties button to show all the properties.

Search in the property pane

Use the search to find the needed properties or the user-defined attributes (UDAs). Enter the search term in the search box in the property pane.

If you have several different object types selected in the model, the search finds the properties that are common to the all selected object types. UDAs that match to the search criteria are shown even if they have not been added to the property pane layout.

If you enter a single asterisk * in the search box, all properties and UDAs available for the selected object type are shown. You can then easily enter a value for a property or for an UDA, even if the property or the UDA is not visible in the property pane by default.