Moving Circuits in EAGLE
Eagle has excellent tools for moving circuit sections around within a sheet or layout. When moving between sheets however, one must be careful not to lose the layout associated with the circuit being moved. In particular EAGLE's implemenation of CUT and Paste is not typical. EAGLE's CUT command operates more like a copy in so much as the original is not automatically deleted following execution of the PASTE command. This has a consequence when using CUT and PASTE to move circuit sections between sheets.
EAGLE CUT and PASTE
EAGLE has a command for MOVE as well as CUT and PASTE. So you may always MOVE a set of objects so long as you are not changing the context. So, for example, you can move objects and (and groups of objects) within a board layout or within a single schematic sheet. The MOVE command cannot, however, be used to move circuit sections from one sheet to another within the same schematic because there is no method for specifying both the source and the destination. While CUT and PASTE might be elected for this purpose, the EAGLE implemenation of CUT will have the effect of duplicating the circuit if the orginal still exists when it is PASTED. The duplicated circuit will contain new components which will have no layout associated with them (they will be placed somewhat arbitrarily on the layout as all new components are). If one then deletes the original schematic circuit section manually, its associated layout will also be deleted. The result will differ from a move in the following ways:
- The components will have different reference designators
- Any existing layout for the circuit section will be lost!
Solutions and Work-arounds
First, please note... these are non-standard and unsupported work-arounds and not in any way guaranteed. Changes to, or different versions of, EAGLE software may make them non-functional or worse. Also it is possible I am simply wrong (that happens) so ... there is no way to say this strongly enough ...
SAVE YOUR FILES BEFORE YOU TRY ANYTHING POSTED HERE!
Delete Before Paste method
With this method you can move circuits from one schematic sheet to another without affecting the layout. It is done by closing the layout file so it is unaffected and then selecting the section to be copied in the schematic, deleting the original (so that the references do not need to change), and then pasting to the desired location. Save your files.. A small mistake and you layout can be lost. Click Here for Step by Step Details
Single Sheet method
I should probably list this one first, it is the most obvious and there is not much risk to your files. Simply do not use multiple sheets. I actually use this method in my business. I make a single sheet with multiple frames. Then I design everything and lay it all out, moving things as I like. If I feel the need to seperate the sheets then I can use the method above but at least I just do it once at the end of the project.