diff --git a/Post/PViewDataList.cpp b/Post/PViewDataList.cpp
index 12ad9664de1825c8ed3b810171fdc4eb88447404..351c2edce294ae09857005c09c48a94d72d6844e 100644
--- a/Post/PViewDataList.cpp
+++ b/Post/PViewDataList.cpp
@@ -960,14 +960,25 @@ std::vector<double> *PViewDataList::incrementList(int numComp, int type, int num
   return 0;
 }
 
-void PViewDataList::import(int N[24], std::vector<double> *V[24])
+void PViewDataList::importLists(int N[24], std::vector<double> *V[24])
 {
   for(int i = 0; i < 24; i++){
     std::vector<double> *list = 0;
     int *nbe = 0, nbc, nbn;
     _getRawData(i, &list, &nbe, &nbc, &nbn);
     *nbe = N[i];
-    *list = *V[i];
+    *list = *V[i]; // deep copy
   }
   finalize();
 }
+
+void PViewDataList::getListPointers(int N[24], std::vector<double> *V[24])
+{
+  for(int i = 0; i < 24; i++){
+    std::vector<double> *list = 0;
+    int *nbe = 0, nbc, nbn;
+    _getRawData(i, &list, &nbe, &nbc, &nbn);
+    N[i] = *nbe;
+    V[i] = list; // copy pointer only
+  }
+}
diff --git a/Post/PViewDataList.h b/Post/PViewDataList.h
index 4423b131f37a66d892e30257de55c2fc8ada4732..b91c022f3f4df5ddd51a74f1b2d4249e092c4d78 100644
--- a/Post/PViewDataList.h
+++ b/Post/PViewDataList.h
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@ class PViewDataList : public PViewData {
   // specific to list-based data sets
   void setOrder2(int type);
   std::vector<double> *incrementList(int numComp, int type, int numNodes = 0);
-  void import(int N[24], std::vector<double> *V[24]);
+  void importLists(int N[24], std::vector<double> *V[24]);
+  void getListPointers(int N[24], std::vector<double> *V[24]);
 
   // I/O routines
   bool readPOS(FILE *fp, double version, bool binary);