Select an instrument by clicking it once; a thin blue box shows it is selected. Clicking another instrument selects that one instead. To select several, hold Shift (or Ctrl, or Command on a Mac) while you click each one; Shift-clicking a selected instrument takes it out of the selection. On a tablet with a keyboard, hold Shift and tap. On a tablet without one, or any time you would rather not hold a key, click Select several in the tool row: while it is lit, each click or tap adds an instrument or takes it out, and a note at the right of the row says Select several is on. Click it again when you are done. Select several is in the tool row for everybody and changes nothing in the design. Only what is selected moves: click an instrument to select it, then drag it. A drag that starts on an instrument that is not selected moves nothing; letting go on it selects it. A click never moves an instrument: it only starts to move once you drag a few pixels. To move several together, select them all, then drag any one of them. Click an empty part of the panel to clear the selection. The selection stays after you use a tool, so you can align a row, then distribute it, then nudge it with the arrow keys without selecting it again.
Drag a box to select several at once: press on an empty part of the panel, or beside it, and drag. A dashed blue box follows the pointer, and when you let go every instrument, placard and add-on piece the box touches is selected (a group, whole). Hold Shift (or Ctrl, or Command) while you let go, or have Select several lit, to add them to what is already selected. A box is drawn with a mouse or a pen; a finger dragged on the panel scrolls it.
Select all, beside Select several in the tool row, selects everything on the design at once: every instrument, placard and add-on piece. Ctrl+A does the same (Command+A on a Mac). Press Esc or click an empty part of the panel to clear it.
Copy and paste with the keyboard: select what you want, press Ctrl+C (Command+C on a Mac), then Ctrl+V (Command+V). An exact copy of each instrument, placard and add-on piece appears a quarter inch down and to the right, already selected so you can drag it straight away. Press Ctrl+V again for another copy, a further quarter inch along. An instrument's placards come with it, whether or not you selected them, and stay with the copy; a placard copied on its own is pasted as a placard on its own. Copies keep their groups and are never locked, and Undo takes a paste back in one step. Copy and paste is a member tool.
What you can do with several selected
- Drag any one of them and they all move together.
- Nudge them with the arrow keys, or delete them with Delete.
- Line them up or space them evenly. See Align and distribute instruments.
- Measure between them. See Measure distances on your panel.
- Lock them, group them, or change their color or rating together. See Lock and unlock instruments and Toggle switches and circuit breakers.
- Put one placard across a row of switches. See Placards.
Group selected instruments with Group in the tool row (1 in the picture). A group moves, aligns and locks as one.
Ungroup by selecting the group and clicking Ungroup (2 in the picture). The instruments are separate again.