Maybe it is me or the program but when I am editing I want to put the sims already in the town before exporting so they will stay in the town when it exports... when I try to use the "edit in Game" feature the CAS buttons are blacked out... is there any way to add sims before exporting???

I have seen a lot but so far I haven't seen where this feature is available. A player who posted at the official forum was trying to figure out if it can be done.

I don't think it can be done... at least, it's clearly not an INTENDED feature of CAW. Where have you seen evidence that it's available somehow, Misty? Or did I misinterpret your post?

Would be nice to be able to test a world with sims before exporting, for sure, but I have the impression that the worlds we can edit in CAW aren't complete, and that in particular there's no support for sims living in them... hence why we can't open files in CAW that have already been exported and/or played.

UMB, not sure why you want to be PMed with the info if anybody has it. If such a thing WERE possible, wouldn't you want it to be shared with the rest of the community here in the forum?

From World Creator PDF (Walkthrough):

12. How to add Sims into your world
a. Currently, adding Sims to your world is done once your world is imported into The Sims™ 3 or The Sims™ 3 World Adventures. Once you’ve downloaded a world from the exchange or created your own world to play, simply start a new game and add the Sims just as you world for Sunset Valley or Riverview. The Sims can be downloaded from the exchange and placed from your game’s Library or created in CAS and then moved onto a lot. If you want to have specific Sim families in your town, it’s best to create all of the families and place them all in their lots before starting to play your game. You can also just add the family that you want to play and let Story Progression fill in the extra Sims for you!