Appearance
Selection
Selecting entities is the starting point for most editing operations. PlanCAD supports several selection methods that suit different situations, from picking a single object to collecting everything that touches a region.
The Select Tool
Press Escape or click the arrow icon in the toolbar to activate the Select tool. It is the default tool after completing any drawing command.
Click Selection
Click directly on any visible, selectable entity to select it. If multiple entities overlap at the click point, PlanCAD selects the topmost one. Press Tab to cycle through overlapping entities at the same location.
Clicking empty canvas space deselects everything.
Window Selection (Left-to-Right)
Click and drag from left to right to draw a solid blue selection rectangle. Only entities fully enclosed within the rectangle are selected. Entities that cross the boundary are not included.
Use window selection when you want to select a precise group of objects without accidentally picking surrounding geometry.
Crossing Selection (Right-to-Left)
Click and drag from right to left to draw a dashed green selection rectangle. Any entity that intersects or is fully inside the rectangle is selected.
Use crossing selection when you want to grab everything in an area, including objects that only partially overlap the region.
The direction of the drag determines the mode automatically — no mode switch is needed.
Fence Selection
Type FE in the command line to enter fence selection mode. The cursor changes to indicate fence mode is active.
Click a series of points to define a polyline fence. Any entity whose geometry intersects any segment of the fence polyline is selected. Press Enter or double-click near the last point to complete the fence. Press Escape to cancel without selecting.
Fence selection is useful for selecting entities along a corridor or crossing a diagonal cut line.
Adding and Removing from Selection
Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on macOS) and click an entity to toggle it in or out of the current selection. This works with both click and box selection: hold Ctrl while dragging to add or remove a box of entities without clearing the existing selection.
Select All
Press Ctrl+A to select all visible entities on selectable layers. Entities on hidden or non-selectable layers are excluded.
Deselect
Press Escape to deselect all entities and return the cursor to the idle state. If you are in the middle of a multi-step selection mode (fence, move base point, etc.), the first Escape cancels that mode; pressing Escape again clears the selection.
Selection Filter
When a selection filter is active, only entities of the specified type can be selected. The filter is indicated in the status bar as FILTER: [type] highlighted in amber.
To set a filter, use the setSelectionFilter action in the application store (accessible through menu or command options). Setting the filter to null clears it and restores normal selection.
When a filter is active, the existing selection is narrowed to only the matching type. New selections (click, window, crossing, fence) also respect the filter.
Group Selection
Entities that share a group ID are selected together. Clicking any member of a group selects the entire group. This applies to both click selection and box selection.
To break a group, use Explode (keyboard shortcut E with the group selected, or type EXPLODE in the command line).
Object Cycling with Tab
When entities are stacked at the same position, press Tab to cycle through them one by one. The currently highlighted entity is selected on the next click.
Selection Feedback
The status bar shows live selection state:
- Selected: N — number of selected entities.
- A breakdown by type appears in brackets, e.g.
[2 lines, 1 circle]. - If entities span multiple layers, the layer count is shown.
When entities are selected, a bounding box with grip handles appears around the selection. The handles can be used to scale the selection interactively.
Acting on a Selection
Once you have a selection, common operations are available:
| Action | Method |
|---|---|
| Move | Drag the selection, or press M for precise move |
| Duplicate | Ctrl+D |
| Rotate 90 deg clockwise | Q |
| Rotate 90 deg counter-clockwise | W |
| Mirror horizontal | H |
| Mirror vertical | J |
| Delete | Delete or Backspace |
| Move to layer | Click the arrow button next to any layer in the Layers panel |
The Properties panel on the right shows the geometry and style of the selected entity (or a summary for multi-entity selections). You can edit values directly in the panel.
Layers and Selectability
Only entities on selectable layers can be picked. If a layer is visible but not selectable (shown dimmed in the Layers panel), its entities are rendered but immune to all selection methods. This is useful for locking reference geometry while working on a different layer.
Locked layers (shown in red) also prevent editing even if entities on them are selected visually.