.Select Tool

Use the Select Tool to specify the entities you will modify when using other tools or commands. The entities that are included in a selection are referred to as the selection set. Activate the Select Tool from the Principal Toolbar or from the Tools menu.

Keyboard Shortcut: Spacebar

Selecting a Single Entity

SketchUp allows you to make both single-entity and multiple-entity selections. To select a single entity:

1. Select the Select Tool. The cursor changes to an arrow.
2. Click on an entity. The selected entity is highlighted in yellow.

Selecting Multiple Entities

Multiple-entity selections are useful when you want to perform a single operation on several entities (the selection set). Multiple-entity selections use an expandable selection box to surround the entities you want in the selection set. To select multiple entities:

1. Select the Select Tool. The cursor will change to an arrow.
2. Click and hold the mouse button a short distance away from the entities you want to select to start a selection box.
3. Drag the mouse to expand the selection box over the elements you want to select.
• Clicking to the right-side and dragging to the left, called a crossing selection, selects any elements within the selection rectangle, including those that are only partially contained in the rectangle. The following images show a right-to-left selection selecting two components, though none are completely within the bounds of the selection box.

• Clicking to the left-side of the entities and dragging right, called a window selection, selects only those elements completely within the selection rectangle. The following image shows a left-to-right selection selecting one component because only one component (the left speaker) is completely within the bounds of the selection box.

4. Release the mouse button when all of the elements are either partially included (left-to-right selection) or fully included (right-to-left selection) in the selection box.

Adding and Subtracting From a Selection Set

The Select Tool can be used with one or more keyboard modifiers to add or remove entities from a selection set.

Adding to the Selection Set (Ctrl)

Press and hold the Ctrl key (the cursor will change to an arrow with a plus sign) while clicking on additional entities to add entities, one-by-one, to the selection set. Or, press and hold the Shift key (the cursor will change to an arrow with a plus and minus signs) while clicking on additional entities to add entities, one-by-one, to the selection set.

Changing Selection Status for an Entity (Shift)

Press and hold the Shift key (The cursor will change to an arrow with plus and minus signs) while clicking on entities to invert the selection status of the entity (currently selected entities will become unselected, unselected entities will be come selected).

Subtracting from the Selection Set (Shift+Ctrl)

Press and hold the Shift and Ctrl keys simultaneously (the cursor will change to an arrow with a minus sign) while clicking on currently selected entities to remove entities from the selection set. Or, press and hold the Shift key (the cursor will change to a plus sign and minus sign) while clicking on currently selected entities to remove the entities, one-by-one, from the selection set.

Tip - Use the Group entity to group items within a selection set as a temporary way of quickly reselecting the same group of items. See the Group entity for additional information.

Expanding the Selection Set Using the Mouse

You can automatically add to a selection set clicking the Select Tool multiple times in rapid succession. Click once on an entity to select that entity. Click rapidly twice (double-click) on an entity, namely an edge or face, to select corresponding faces or edges respectively. Click three times (triple-click) on an entity, namely an edge or face, to select he edge or face and all entities physically connected to that edge or face. The following image shows this click/selection sequence.

Tip - Use a context-click to invoke the context menu for an entity. Many context menus have a Select submenu allowing you to expand a selection using one of the following commands: Bounding Edges, Connected Faces, All Connected, All on same layer, and All with same material.

Selecting or Unselecting All Geometry

Use either the Select All menu item in the Edit menu or press Ctrl+A on the keyboard to select all visible elements in your model.

Use the Deselect All menu item in the Edit menu,press Ctrl+T, or click on any empty space in the drawing area to de-select all currently selected entities.