Chapter 7
Mathcad Worksheets
Worksheets and Templates
Rearranging Your Worksheet
Layout
Safeguarding an Area of the Worksheet
Worksheet References
Hyperlinks
Distributing Your Worksheets
Worksheets and Templates
As you use Mathcad you create a worksheet file. Mathcad uses XMCD as the file extension for worksheets.
When you create a new worksheet in Mathcad, you can start with Mathcad’s default choices, or you can use a template that contains customized formats. Mathcad comes with a variety of predefined templates. You can extend this set by saving any of your Mathcad worksheets as a new template.
Creating a New Worksheet
When you first open Mathcad or click
on the Standard toolbar, you see an empty worksheet based on the worksheet template (Normal.xmct). You can enter and format equations, graphs, text, and images in the worksheet, as well as modify worksheet attributes such as numerical format, headers and footers, and text and math styles.
To create a new worksheet based on a template:
1.Choose New from the File menu. Mathcad displays a list of available worksheet templates.
2.Choose a template other than “Blank Worksheet.” By default Mathcad displays worksheet templates saved in the Template folder within the Mathcad program folder. Click “Browse” to find a template in another folder.
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Opening a Worksheet
Open an existing worksheet by choosing Open from the File menu [Ctrl] O, then browse to your files. You can also type a path directly into the File Name box, including URLs.
Saving Your Worksheet
To save a worksheet, choose either Save or Save As from the File menu and enter a file name with an XMCD file extension or one of the other extensions described below. The XMCD files are in XML format so the content and data can be read by other applications. You can compress the worksheets by saving as XMCDZ (compressed XML format). Both formats can be opened directly in Mathcad.
You can save a worksheet in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), so that the file can be viewed through a Web browser, or in rich-text format (RTF), so that it can be opened by most word processors. You can also transform the XML format to HTML or other representations using XMLT language.
Saving Your Worksheet in an Earlier Format
Worksheets created in an earlier version of Mathcad open in the current version, but files in the current version of Mathcad can not be opened in earlier versions. Mathcad 14 allows you to save a worksheet as Mathcad 11, 12 or 13. In general, regions or features that don’t work in an earlier version appear as bitmaps.
Creating a New Mathcad Template
When you create a worksheet based on a template, all of the formatting information and any text, math, and image regions from the template are copied to the new worksheet. Templates allow you to maintain consistency across multiple worksheets.
A template specifies:
•Definitions of all math styles (Chapter 4).
•Definitions of all text styles (Chapter 6).
•Margins for printing (see “Layout” on page 67).
•Numerical result formats and values for Mathcad’s built-in variables (Chapter 8).
•Names of Mathcad’s basic units and the default unit system (Chapter 8).
•The default calculation mode (Chapter 8).
•Ruler visibility and measurement system (see “Aligning Regions” on page 65).
•Regions you’d like created by default in new worksheets (for example, a collapsed area with extra unit definitions and calculations you use across worksheets).
•File properties including title, author, description and keywords.
•Graphic elements such as company logos and headings.
To create a new template:
1.Create a new worksheet and set the above values manually or use the Mathcad default values.
2.Add the equations, text, and graphics you want to appear in all new files.