Resources » Technical Support Blog » Selecting Objects in AutoCAD

Selecting Objects in AutoCAD

April 21, 2025 Tim Schaubroeck

In AutoCAD, there are several ways to select an object.

  • You can point at it and click on it
  • You can use a window to choose objects.  There are 2 types of selection boxes.
    • Window – you click on the left for the first point and then to the right.  It will choose everything that is completely inside the box you chose with your 2 points
    • Crossing box – you click on the right and then click to the left.  Autocad will select everything that is within the box and also everything that crosses the boundarys of the box.
  • Lasso Selection: Click, drag while holding the left mouse button down, and release the mouse button to create a freeform selection area.   The objects select will depend on the direction that you draw the lasso area, similar to how the window select worked.
  • Polygon: Click once to start a window selection, then enter the type of polygon you wish.  Then click the vertices of the polygon.  This is similar to the lasso selection however, it uses straight edges.
  • Window Polygon – selects only the objects that are completely within it.
  • Crossing Polygon:  selects objects that are crossed by or enclosed within the polygon.
  • Fence: Click once, enter F, then click points on the drawing.   It will draw a fence and selects objects that the fence touches.
  • Qselect:  This command will allow you to select all the objects that meet a particular criteria.  You can use this command to choose objects based on color, type, layer and many other options.

If you have objects on top of objects, you can choose which one to select by mousing over the top of the object.  One of the objects will highlight.  Then use shift-space to scroll through all the objects on top of each other

If you would prefer to have a list of the objects on top of each other to choose from, enter DSETTINGS on the command line.  The click on the selection cycling tab and choose Allow Selection cycling. And the Display select cycling list box will show the popup box.

 

  

About the Author

Tim Schaubroeck

FM Support Specialist

More Content by Tim Schaubroeck
Previous Article
Find the expiration date in an Autodesk license file

There are 2 options to find the expiration date of the Autodesk license file.

Next Article
How to use Archibus filters in Archibus Smart Client
How to use Archibus filters in Archibus Smart Client

Smart client has several methods for using filters to restrict the data in the view you’re are looking at.

×

Get Tips Delivered.

Subscribe to Email Updates.

First Name
Last Name
Country
Thank you!
Error - something went wrong!
Return to Resources