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A
auxiliaryjoel
Inspiring
July 19, 2018
Answered

How to Deselect an item from a group selection

  • July 19, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 40639 views

Is it just me or is it etremely hard to deslect an item from a a selection of multiple items:

For example if I drag cursor to pickup text boxes, background boxes, and then click+hold shift) to deselect one of the items -

most of the time, the item I am focusing on, or clicking, does not get deselected, but something else does.

This works a hell of a lot better in Illustrator (i.e. it actually works) whereas in InDesign it just aint happening

What am I missing?

    Correct answer BobLevine

    Take advantage of layers and the ability to lock items. Also, sometimes it's easier to deselect objects from the layers panel.

    3 replies

    philipr79341629
    philipr79341629
    New Participant
    November 25, 2020

    The shortcut is: Shift + Ctrl + A

    Found this in Edit -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Edit Menu

      BobLevine
      BobLevineCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      July 19, 2018

      Take advantage of layers and the ability to lock items. Also, sometimes it's easier to deselect objects from the layers panel.

      M
      Malcolm Whild
      Participating Frequently
      July 19, 2018

      Hi - this should work OK - always has for me. I do the same type of thing - dragging over an area and then shift-clicking to deselect what I don't want.

      However, what can make it harder is if you want to deselect something which is further down in the stacking order of the objects you have already selected. In that case, you could select and hide what you don't want, or you could use layers to control the content (I hardly ever use layers in Indesign but use them all the time in Photoshop).

      Regards,

      Malcolm

        A
        auxiliaryjoelAuthor
        Inspiring
        July 26, 2018

        I find that if a text box is in the selection, and I shift click directly onto a text box, 9 times out of 10 it will deselect the object below the text box. Almost as if the program is set to prefer keeping text boxes selected. It is really frustrating.

        M
        Malcolm Whild
        Participating Frequently
        July 26, 2018

        I haven't seen this behaviour, but I would do my selecting the other way round - rather than select all then deselect what I don't want, I tend to select what I don't want first, then hold down shift and drag to select the page. Those objects that I selected first will be deselected at the same time as the others are selected.

        Regards,

        Malcolm

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