Selecting and deselecting objects

You select objects to edit, move, or modify them in any way. You can simultaneously modify multiple objects if they are all in the selection set. Objects that are selected appear in the selection color. You can also control the selection of objects in a schematic page when you drag the mouse pointer diagonally across the schematic page.

To select an object

Position the pointer on the object, then click the left mouse button or press the space bar. The object appears in the selection color. Selection handles appear along the boundary box of an object selected in the schematic page editor. If the entire object is selected, all selection handles are the same size. A large handle indicates the point at which the object is selected.

When you open the part editor from the schematic page editor, the part you are editing cannot be selected on the schematic page. After you close the part editor window, the part can be selected.
You can resize an object by selecting it at a single point and dragging.

To select objects that converge at a single location

Click the point at which the objects converge to select all objects.

To add or remove an object from the selection set

Position the pointer over the object and press Ctrl while you click the left mouse button. All objects in the selection set appear in the selection color. In the spreadsheet editor, this selection method is unavailable because the selection set is limited to contiguous cells.

To control the selection of objects during a mouse-drag operation in the schematic page editor

From the View menu, choose the Selection Filter command.
The Selection Filter dialog box appears.
Select the check box corresponding to the object that you want to be selected during the mouse-drag operation.
Click OK.
The next time you drag the mouse pointer diagonally across a schematic page, only these objects will be selected in the schematic page.

To select all objects in an area

From the tool palette, choose the selection tool.
Move the pointer to one corner of the area. Press and hold the left mouse button while you drag the pointer to the opposite corner, then release the left mouse button. Every object in the selection set appears in the selection color and the set behaves as one object.

You can specify whether the selection set includes all objects intersected by your selection rectangle or only those objects fully enclosed by the selection rectangle. From the Options menu, choose the

Preferences command, and then choose the Select tab.

To select an entire contiguous polyline

From the tool palette, choose the selection tool.
Press and hold the left mouse button while you drag the pointer to select an area that includes some portion of the line.

To select all objects on a schematic page editor or in the part editor

From the Edit menu, choose the Select All command.

To select from among overlapping objects

In the schematic page editor, position the pointer over the stack and press the Tab key while you click the left mouse button. This cycles through the objects in the stack.
In the part editor, press the SHIFT key and click the overlapped objects repeatedly to select each object one by one in rotation.

To select all portions of a net on one schematic page

Select one segment of the net. The segment changes to the selection color.
Right-click to display a context-sensitive menu.
From the pop-up menu, choose the Select Entire Net command.

To deselect the selected objects

Click an area where there is no object or part, or press the Esc key. Note that a part occupies a rectangular area encompassing all its graphics and property text; this means that a part may occupy a larger area than is apparent.

To deselect an object that you have just placed, you must select the selection tool before clicking the mouse or press ESC to end mode and press ESC again to deselect the object.

To change the selection color

From the Options menu, choose the Preferences command and then choose the Colors tab.
Click the Selection color. The color palette window opens.
Select the new color and click OK to dismiss the color palette.
Click OK to dismiss the dialog box.

When you click on a wire segment, only that segment and its two handles are selected.