Flash glossary: Selection tool
Whenever you want to modify an object, you first have to select it. You can select objects with the pointer (also known as the Selection tool), Subselection tool, and Lasso tools. You can group individual objects in order to manipulate them as a single object. When you select objects or strokes, they are highlighted with a marquee.
The Selection tool in Adobe Flash Professional enables you to select entire objects by clicking an object or dragging to enclose the object within a rectangular selection marquee.
Note: To choose the Selection tool, you can also press the V key. To temporarily switch to the Selection tool when another tool is active, hold down the Control key (Windows) or Command key (Mac OS).
To disable the Shift-selecting option, deselect the option in the Flash general preferences.
You must completely enclose instances, groups, and type blocks in order to select them.
Here's what you can do with the Selection tool:
- To select a stroke, fill, group, instance, or text block, click the object. If you want to select connected lines, double-click one of the lines.
- To select a filled shape and its stroked outline, double-click the fill. In order to select objects within a rectangular area, drag a marquee around the object(s) to select.
- To add objects to a selection, hold down the Shift key while making the additional selections.
- To select everything on every layer of a scene, select Edit > Select All, or press Control+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac OS). The Select All command doesn't select objects on locked or hidden layers, or layers not on the current Timeline.
- To deselect everything on every layer, select Edit > Deselect All, or press Control+Shift+A (Windows) or Command+Shift+A (Mac OS).
- To select everything on one layer between keyframes, click a frame in the Timeline.
Note: If you want to lock or unlock a group or symbol, select the group or symbol and then select Modify > Arrange > Lock. Select Modify > Arrange > Unlock All to unlock all of the currently locked groups and symbols.
To learn more about working with the Selection tool, see the section titled Selecting objects in the Flash documentation.
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