Select objects

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Learn how to quickly select think-cell elements and PowerPoint shapes using keyboard and mouse shortcuts. You can also use these shortcuts to select parts of an element, such as table cells or chart features. Selecting multiple objects is useful in many ways. For example, you can format multiple elements at the same time or paste text into multiple objects.

The following keyboard and mouse shortcuts apply to Windows. For Mac shortcuts, see Keyboard and mouse shortcuts.

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Select objects with your mouse

To select multiple objects, do one of the following:

  • Drag the bounding outline over the objects that you want to select. Objects that you want to select must be completely inside the bounding outline.
  • Hold Shift, then select the objects that you want.
    • When selecting think-cell elements, this action selects a range of elements.
    • When selecting PowerPoint shapes, this action selects individual shapes.
  • Hold Ctrl, then select the objects that you want. You can also remove objects from your selection by holding Ctrl, then selecting the objects that you want to remove.

Select objects with your keyboard

After you've selected an object, you can select a different object using the keyboard. To do so, select and hold Alt, then use the arrow keys.

To add elements to a range of selected elements, hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift, then use the arrow keys. This does the same thing as using Alt and the arrow keys as described earlier, except that this action adds to the selection instead of changing the selection.

To expand your selection, select Ctrl+A repeatedly. For example, if you've selected a table cell, Ctrl+A first selects all other cells in the table, then all other elements on the slide. When a chart feature is selected, this action selects all features of the same type—for example, if you've selected a segment label in a column chart, pressing Ctrl+A first selects the other segment labels in the series, then all segment labels, then all chart labels.

Use the outer selection frame

When you select multiple objects, including at least one think-cell element, an outer selection frame appears around the objects. Here's what you can do using the outer selection frame: