Selecting elements by entering a region

You can also select elements by specifying a region rather than clicking elements. When working with the selection rectangle, you can specify whether you want to select elements fully bounded by the region, fully bounded and intersected or only intersected elements.

The Selection area of the Actionbar and the Filter Assistant toolbar provide the following options:

• Selects the elements that are fully bounded by the selection rectangle.
• Selects the elements that are fully or partially bounded by the selection rectangle.
• Selects the elements that are partially bounded by the selection rectangle.
• Selection depends on the direction in which you enter the selection rectangle:
  • Entering the region in the positive x-direction only selects the elements that are fully bounded by the region.
  • Entering the region in the negative x-direction selects all the elements that are fully or partially bounded by the region. With this method, the selection rectangle is shown as dashed lines.

    Note: Select elements based on direction is the default.

The selection rectangle is displayed as a colored area, which is indicated by the icons. The color of the area changes with the selection option you activate.

The easiest way to enter the region is to press and hold down the left mouse button and to enter two points that define diagonally opposite corners of a selection rectangle. You can also use Fence to enter a freeform region.