Context Menus
Several surfaces in the application respond to a right click with a context menu whose entries fit the content under the pointer. The menus are localised in the application language.
Feature-specific entries
Each surface registers its own context menu — there is no single universal table/label/tree menu:
- OPC UA — References table (the References panel in the PLC Online editor pane): Copy Node ID · Copy Browse Name · Copy as JSON · Subscribe (adds the referenced node to the watch list).
Project Explorer context menu
Right-clicking a node in the Project Explorer tree (in the TIA Portal side bar) opens a context menu whose entries change with the node you clicked — a block, a folder, a Library node, or a safety node. The full set:
| Group | Entry | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Navigation | Open in Editor | blocks (opens the read-only source editor) |
| Navigation | Open as XML | data blocks (editable XML view in a separate tab; saving writes the block back) |
| Navigation | Find References (Shift+F12) | blocks (per-block where-used → the TIA References view) |
| Navigation | Open in Automation Compare Tool | blocks written in LAD, FBD or GRAPH, fail-safe blocks included (shows the block with its networks in the SIMATIC Automation Compare Tool installed on your PC; not offered for know-how-protected blocks) |
| Clipboard | Copy Name · Copy Path | every row in the tree |
| Clipboard | Copy Number | blocks |
| Export ▸ | Select for Export · Export Selected · Import Files… / Import All… | blocks and folders |
| Protection ▸ | Set Protection · Clear Protection | blocks |
| Vault ▸ | Assign Stored Vault Password · Unprotect with Stored Password · Bulk Protect · Bulk Unprotect | blocks and folders (while the Password Vault is unlocked) |
| Create | New Screen · New Screen Folder | the Screens folder and every screen folder of a WinCC Unified device |
| Create | New Tag Table Folder | the HMI Tags folder and every tag table folder of a WinCC Unified device |
| Create | Duplicate Screen | WinCC Unified screens (you confirm the copy first, and it gets its own screen number) |
| Create | New Data Log · New Alarm Log · New Alarm Class · New Connection | the matching folder of a WinCC Unified device; you enter a name and the new object opens in its detail view ready to be set up |
| Create | New Script Module | the Scripts folder of a WinCC Unified device, from TIA Portal V19 (the new module opens in its editor) |
| Create | New Plant View · New Node | the Plant views folder of the project, and a plant view or one of its nodes |
| Create | Create Discrete Alarms in Bulk | Discrete Alarms of a WinCC Unified device and its alarms (creates many alarms at once from a text file you pick) |
| Edit | Rename (F2) | WinCC Unified screens, screen folders and tag table folders, the tag tables, logging tags, alarms, alarm classes, OPC UA alarm types, connections, data logs, alarm logs and audit trails of a WinCC Unified device, and the plant views and plant view nodes of the project |
| — | Delete | blocks, data types, tag tables, HMI items, and folders; on a WinCC Unified device also its text and graphic lists, and the plant views and nodes of the project. A folder is removed together with everything in it, and the confirmation says how much that is. The default tag table of a PLC stays in place: it is left out of the deletion and named in a message, also when it sits in a deleted folder |
| Refresh | Refresh This Folder | folders (reloads only that part of the project and leaves the rest of the tree expanded as it was) |
| — | Show F-Signature (toggle) | safety nodes |
Only the entries that make sense for the clicked node are shown, so a folder, a code block, and a Library node each present a different subset.
Several further entries round out the menu:
- Show in Version Control — opens the Source Control view.
- Safety Printout — on a safety node, exports the safety program to PDF or XPS.
- Library ▸ — Copy to Library (on blocks); on Library nodes: Instantiate to Project · Export Type Version · New Folder · Rename · Clean Up Library · Delete (shown per node kind). On a type of the project library and on one of its versions the same submenu offers Export Type Documents · Import Type Version from Documents · Show Instances · New Version (Edit) · Release · Discard · Set as Default · Delete Version, and the Types folder offers Import Type from Documents.
Right-click in code editors (the SCL editor and diff view) keeps the editor's own cut/copy/paste menu — the new menus do not override it. Text boxes (input fields) keep the operating-system native cut/copy/paste flyout.