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Selection techniques

Select components on the canvas to edit their properties, move them together, or delete several at once.

Single component selection

  1. Click a component. It highlights and the edit panel shows its properties.
  2. Click a different component to switch the selection.
  3. Click the canvas background to deselect.

With a component selected you can edit it in the edit panel, drag it, press Delete to remove it, copy and paste it, or right-click it for the context menu.

Multi-select with Shift+Click

  1. Click the first component.
  2. Hold Shift and click more components. Each one joins the selection.
  3. Shift+Click a selected component to remove it from the selection.

Rectangle selection

  1. Hold Shift and drag on empty canvas space.
  2. Components inside or touching the rectangle are selected when you release.

Dragging on empty canvas space without Shift pans the canvas instead.

Select all

Press Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on Mac) with the canvas focused to select every component and connection.

Select all of one type

  1. Right-click a component.
  2. Select Select All followed by the type, for example Select All Buses.

Every component of that type on the canvas is selected.

Editing several components together

When every selected component is the same type, the edit panel edits their shared properties together. When the selection mixes types, the edit panel shows how many components are selected and asks you to select components of one type.

Selecting connections

Click a connection line to select it, then press Delete or Backspace to remove it. Selecting a component does not select its connections.

Moving and deleting several components

  • Drag any selected component to move the whole selection. Connections follow.
  • Press Delete or Backspace to delete the selection and its connections. Press Ctrl+Z

(Cmd+Z) to undo.

Troubleshooting selection

  • If you cannot select or move anything, check the lock button in the canvas controls. Locking

turns off selecting, dragging, and connecting.

  • Zoom in to select small components in a dense diagram.
  • Start a rectangle selection on empty canvas space; starting on a component drags it.

Related topics

On this page

Single component selectionMulti-select with Shift+ClickRectangle selectionSelect allSelect all of one typeEditing several components togetherSelecting connectionsMoving and deleting several componentsTroubleshooting selectionRelated topics