When creating vector features of the same geometry type as existing ones, it may be more efficient to copy shapes than to digitize them. You can copy the shapes of any vector feature that you can select in ArcMap. In this example you select buildings from a CAD drawing and paste them into a geodatabase layer of buildings.

You must be working in an edit session to paste features into a feature class or shapefile.

The first step is to select the features that you want to copy. All of the selected features must have the same geometry type (for example, point, line, or polygon) as the feature class that you are going to paste them into. If you accidentally select some features of a different geometry type than the target layer, no features will be pasted into the target layer.

It is important to note that only the shapes are copied from the CAD file into the geodatabase. The Attribute Transfer tool on the Spatial Adjustment toolbar is one way to move attributes from features in one feature class to features in another. The Attributes dialog box on the Editor toolbar also allows you to copy attributes. If you need to duplicate the attributes and geometry at the same time, you should use the object loader or the Append tool in ArcToolbox.