Some commands mentioned earlier in this chapter also are able to operate on all selected and visible objects. The Arrow tool is used to select/deselect objects and also to move objects or selections. If you click and release on an object with the Arrow tool, it will unselect everything else and select the object. Selected objects change color to reflect that they are selected. If you Shift click, it will add the object to (or remove) the object from the existing selection. If you drag with the mouse button down with the Arrow tool, one of several things could happen: if you first pressed the button on a selected object, you will be moving the selection to where you release the button. If you first pressed the button on an unselected object, you will be moving that object. If you first pressed the button over empty space, you will be drawing a box to select everything inside the box. The Shift key works the same way with box selections as it does with single objects.
Moving a single un-selected object is different from moving a selection. First of all, you can move the end of line, or a point in a polygon this way which is impossible by moving selections. Secondly, if rubber banding is turned on, moving a single object will rubber-band the attached lines. Finally, it is faster to move a single object this way since there is no need to select it first.
You can select any visible object unless it is locked. If you select an object, then turn off its visibility with the Layer controls, it won't be moved if you move the remaining visible selection.
If you have not configured to use strokes in the Pcb
user interface, then
the middle mouse button is automatically bound to the arrow tool, regardless
of the active tool (which is bound to the first mouse button). So using
the middle button any time is just like using the first mouse button
with the Arrow tool active.
The entries of the Selection menu are hopefully self-explanatory. Many of the Action Commands can take various key words that make them function on all or some of the selected items.