[Inkscape-user] Patterns

I'm new to Inkscape, so if this is a dumb question please be gentle with me ...

Is there any way of having predefined patterns available for a drawing? Here's my scenario:

- I have a room plans drawn in a CAD application - I generate SVG by printing through the SVGmaker print driver - I'd then like to be able to apply patterns to objects in the room plans without having to import each object and then convert it to a pattern

If there's no intrinsic way to do this in Inkscape at present, am I right in thinking that it should be feasible to pre-process the SVG file and include the appropriate pattern definitions within it before I open it in Inkscape?

Thanks

Dave

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