# Select objects

> Select objects with a click or a box, take single objects out of the selection again, and clear it with Esc.

4 min · Updated 2026-11-11 · https://vcad.dk/en/help/select-objects

Once you are done, the objects you want to change, move or delete are blue in the drawing.

## Before you start

- No tool is active. If one is, press **Esc**. If you are in the middle of drawing, press **Esc** again.

## Select by clicking

1. Hold the mouse over an object in the drawing. It lights up when a click would select it.

    ![The boundary line at the bottom of the drawing lit up because the mouse is over it, and ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/select-objects/hover.png)

2. Click the object. It turns blue, and it is now selected.

    > If the object is part of a group, the click selects the whole group. An imported file arrives as one group, so a click on a line in it selects the whole import.

3. Click the next object. A click always adds to the selection and never replaces it.

    ![The boundary line and the left building both selected and blue, with the building that was just added ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/select-objects/click-adds.png)

> When a tool asks you to select objects, for example **MOVE: Select entities, then press Enter**, you select the same way. Press **Enter** when you are done.

## Select with a box

1. Press the left button on an empty spot in the drawing and drag to the right. A blue box follows the mouse, and what lies completely inside the box lights up.

    ![A blue box dragged to the right over the left building, which lies completely inside the box, lights up and is ringed, while the right building, which sticks out of the box, does not light up](https://vcad.dk/help/select-objects/box-right.png)

2. To also get what the box only touches, drag to the left instead. The box is green, and everything it touches lights up.

    ![The same box dragged to the left is green, and now the right building, which the box only touches, lights up too and is ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/select-objects/box-left.png)

3. Let go of the button. What lit up turns blue and is selected along with what you had selected before.

    > Does the box keep following the mouse after you let go? Then **Drag to select** is off. Click the other corner to finish the box. You turn it on in the account menu under **Settings**, the **General** tab, the **Drawing** section.

## Take objects out of the selection

1. Hold **Shift** and click a selected object.

2. To take out several at once, hold **Shift** and drag a box.

## Clear the selection

1. Press **Esc**.

    > A click on an empty spot does not clear the selection. Use **Esc**.

## Select everything

1. Press **Esc** so nothing is selected.

    > **Ctrl+A** does not select everything in VCAD. Use the right-click menu instead.

2. Right-click in the drawing.

    ![The right-click menu open at the mouse in the middle of the drawing, with nothing selected and Invert Selection second from the bottom of the menu ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/select-objects/context-menu-en.png)

3. Click **Invert Selection**. Everything you can select turns blue and is selected.

## Select all objects of the same kind

1. Press **Esc**, then click one object of the kind you want more of.

2. Right-click in the drawing.

3. Click **Select Similar**. All objects of the same kind on the same layer turn blue and are selected, but not those inside a group. If you selected a group, VCAD selects every group on the same layer.

    ![Both buildings selected and blue after Select Similar was used on the left one, with the right building, which came along, ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/select-objects/similar.png)

## If something doesn't work

| What you see | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| An object does not light up and cannot be selected | It is on a locked layer. Unlock the layer in the **Layers** panel. |
| Objects you know are there cannot be seen | The layer is frozen, and frozen layers are hidden. Thaw the layer in the **Layers** panel. |

## Related guides

- [Move around and zoom the view](https://vcad.dk/en/help/move-and-zoom-the-view.md): Zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, move around with the wheel pressed down, and find the whole drawing again with Show all.
- [Change an object's layer, color or linetype](https://vcad.dk/en/help/change-object-properties.md): Change the layer, color, linetype and elevation of one or many objects at once in the Properties panel.

Stuck? Write to us at info@vcad.dk