Selecting Objects

To move, rotate, or scale an object, or to change its properties, you must first select it. There are several ways objects can be selected, depending on what you want to do.

Selecting

To select objects one at a time

1.   Position the cursor over the object. A dashed line will appear to highlight which object will be selected when you click.

Note: You can turn off this highlighting feature if desired. See Program Settings for details.

2.   Click to select the object. All other objects will be automatically deselected. If you click over multiple overlapping objects, the closest object will be selected first. If you continue clicking, then the next closest object will be selected, and so forth.

3.   If you want to select another object, repeat the above steps while pressing and holding Shift.

To select objects using a selection rectangle:

1.   Pan and/or zoom out until the objects you want to select are fully inside the view.

2.   If you want to add to your current selection, press and hold Shift.

3.   Click and drag to draw the selection rectangle. The rectangle must fully surround the objects you want to select. When you release the left mouse button, the objects will be selected.

To select objects of a certain type:

1.   Select Edit > Select All by Type and choose the desired object type from the list.

2.   All objects of the specified type will be selected.

Note: Grouped objects must be ungrouped before they can be selected using this command.

To select objects similar to the current selection:

1.   Select one or more objects.

2.   Select Edit > Select Similar or press L.

3.   All objects similar to the currently objects will be selected. For example, this will select all plants with the same common name as the currently selected plant(s).

Note: Grouped objects must be ungrouped before they can be selected using this command.

To select all objects in the landscape:

1.   Select Edit > Select all or press A.

2.   All objects in the landscape will be selected.

To select plants:

1.   Select Edit > Select Plants. The following dialog will appear:

Common name
Enter the plant's common name. You can enter the entire name, or just part of the name. If you don't want to search by common name, then leave this field blank.

Note: The search is case insensitive. For example, searching for "Rose" is the same as "rose".

Botanical name
Enter the plant's botanical (scientific) name. You can enter the entire name, or just part of the name. If you don't want to search by botanical name, then leave this field blank.

Note: The search is case insensitive. For example, searching for "Rosa" is the same as "rosa".

Types
Select which types of plants you want to select.

Planting zones
Select which planting zones you want to select.

Plant Hardiness Zones
Click to display the plant hardiness zone maps. These give you an idea of which plants will grow best in your area.

2.   Enter the selection options and click Select Plants. All match plants will be selected.

Note: Grouped plants must be ungrouped before they can be selected using this command.

Deselecting

To deselect objects one at a time:

1.   Position the cursor over the object you want to deselect.

2.   Press and hold Shift.

3.   Click to deselect the object. Each time you click the object, its selection status will toggle on or off.

4.   Repeat for each object you want to deselect.

To deselect all objects:

1.   Select Edit > Select None or press N.

- OR -

1.   Position the cursor over an unoccupied area of the ground or sky.

2.   Click to deselect all objects.

To undo any selection change, click Undo.

When an object is selected, it renders a special shape to indicate the selection. Objects defined by an outline (such as a house, region, or fence), render the outline that defines their shape. Other objects, such as rocks, trees, and accessories, render a rectangle around the entire object.

In the following example, the air mattress is currently selected. The beach ball is highlighted (meaning that a click will select it) but is not currently selected.

See also:

Moving Objects
Rotating Objects
Scaling Objects
Deleting Objects
Cut, Copy, & Paste
Grouping & Ungrouping Objects
Setting Object Properties
Undoing and Redoing Changes