Selecting an object

PagePlus tbr tools selectionflyout Selecting an object Before you can change any object, you need to select it using one of a choice of tools. The tools share a common Selection Tool flyout on the Tools toolbar.

PagePlus tbr tools pointer Selecting an object

Pointer Tool
Click to use the Pointer Tool to select, move, copy, resize or rotate objects.

PagePlus tbr tools lasso Selecting an object

Lasso Tool
Click to use the Lasso Tool to draw a freeform region under which any objects will become selected.

PagePlus tbr tools rotate Selecting an object

Rotate Tool
Click to use the Rotate Tool to rotate an object around a rotation origin (normally centered). See Rotating an object.

Prior to any selection, PagePlus objects will display a “glowing” selection hover highlight around the object. In a complex grouping of objects, this indicates which object will become selected.

PagePlus select hover1 Selecting an object PagePlus select hover2 Selecting an object

To select an object:

  • Click on the “glowing” object using one of the tools shown above.

    PagePlus select Selecting an object
    The above example shows an unselected and selected object (showing Move and Group buttons).

If objects overlap, click on the overlapping area until the “hidden” object is selected.

For more precise object selection, you can draw an irregular-shaped lasso around one or more objects in a complex design.

To select an object with the Lasso Tool:

  1. Select the PagePlus tbr tools lasso Selecting an object Lasso Tool.

  2. Draw a “lasso” around the object(s) you want to select. A shaded lasso region is created around the object.

    PagePlus select lasso Selecting an object

  3. Release the mouse button. All of the objects within the lasso region are selected.

  • If attempting to lasso an object within a group, remember to ungroup the objects first.

  • To avoid picking up an object under your cursor, keep the Shift key pressed as you draw the lasso.

  • If you prefer to keep the Pointer Tool selected, you can lasso objects as described above with the Alt key pressed.

To select a text object with the Pointer Tool:

  • Clicking on a text object (artistic text or text frame) with the Pointer Tool selects the object and also positions the blinking text selection cursor within the object’s text. In this mode, you can edit the text.
    PagePlus select text Selecting an object

  • Double-, triple-, or quadruple-click to select a word, paragraph, or all text.

  • To select only the text frame, click the frame’s bounding box.

  • Clicking on a group selects the grouped object. Ctrl-click to select an individual object within a group.

Selecting text frames and tables

Objects of the above type let you select the whole object or the containing text within it equally. The former lets you manipulate the frame (its columns, frame margins, fill, border, etc.) via Frame Setup after selecting its frame boundary. The latter allows for editing and formatting of the frame text or table text by clicking inside the frame. To help you understand what selected “mode” you are in, PagePlus shows different object boundaries accordingly.

PagePlus select objectmode Selecting an object

PagePlus select editingmode Selecting an object

text frame selected; showing solid frame boundary

text selected; showing hatched frame boundary

  • For freeform or curved lines the same is true—selecting a line shows a solid object boundary, while editing line nodes shows a hatched boundary.

Selecting objects from the Layers tab

So far we’ve looked at selection of ob
jects on the page. While this is the primary way to select objects, it’s possible to select any object from the Layers tab instead. Layers are shown for the selected page only, but can be useful in identifying, then selecting, a specific object in a complex page design for further editing.

PagePlus select fromlayers Selecting an object

If you click on the object name in the Layers tab the object becomes selected; double-clicking on the object name zooms into your object, fitting it to your visible workspace.

Selecting an object