Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 413)

407 USING INDESIGN
Frames and objects
Last updated 11/16/2011
• Position the pointer over the object you want to select and right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) to
display the context menu. Then choose Select and the desired selection option.
Note: Selecting objects using the context menu commands is not the same as using the Object > Select menu commands.
From the context menu, the selections are based on the exact point where you clicked to display the context menu. This
means that the next object above or below the mouse click would be selected, rather than the next object in the stacking
order.
• Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS), and then click the same place repeatedly until you’ve selected
the frame or group you want. (Do not click an anchor point.)
• To select all objects in a group individually, use the Selection tool to select the group, click the Select Content
button
on the Control panel, and then choose Edit > Select All.
3 To progressively drill down or up through a stack of objects, do one of the following:
• Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS), and then choose an option from the Select context menu.
• Choose Object > Select > Next Object Below or Next Object Above repeatedly until the object you want is selected.
When you reach the beginning or end of the stack, the selection doesn’t change.
• Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) and click the stack to drill down from the top of the stack. When
you reach the end of the stack, the selection starts over at the top of the stack. To drill up from the bottom of the
stack, hold down Alt+Ctrl (Windows) or Option+Command (Mac
OS) and click the stack using the Selection tool.
Note: The context menu options are sensitive to the location of the pointer.
Select multiple nested objects
1 Using the Direct Selection tool , click the nested object.
2 Hold down Shift as you click each additional nested object you want to select.
Selection options
Options on the Select submenu (choose Object > Select or choose Select on the context menu) help you select
overlapping, nested, or grouped objects. The availability of some options depends on the type of objects you’re working
with. When using the context menu, the object selected depends on the position of the pointer.
First Object Above Selects the object at the top of the stack.
Next Object Above Selects the object just above the current object.
Next Object Below Selects the object just below the current object.
Last Object Below Selects the object at the bottom of the stack.
Content Selects the content of the selected graphics frame, or, if a group is selected, selects an object within the group.
You can also click the Select Content button in the Control panel.
Container Selects the frame enclosing the selected object, or, if an object within a group is selected, selects the group
that contains it. You can also click the Select Container button in the Control panel.
Previous Object / Next Object Selects the next or previous object in the group if the selected object is part of a group,
or, if an ungrouped object is selected, selects the next or previous object on the spread. Shift-click to skip by five. Ctrl-
click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac
OS) to select the first or last object in a stack.
Arrange objects in a stack
Overlapping objects are stacked in the order in which they are created or imported. You can use the Arrange submenu
to change the stacking order of objects.