Move Tool Grabs Entire Artboard

[Elizapainter]

I’m using Affinity 2 on iPad Pro to creat repeat patterns with 2 artboards and symbols.  I cannot use my move tool to drag across vector objects on Artboard 1 and have it select those elements to then click on “Add” to have them all on one curve.  It will select individual elements if i just tap on one, but i need to select several at once - ie leaves and stem for a floral.  It either does nothing at all or it grabs the entire Artboard and drags it out of position.  I’ve tried this on every setting.  I’ve closed and opened the app.  I’ve even saved All of my work and deleted the app and then started from scratch and it’s doing exactly the same thing.

I can grab and group from the layers panel, but when I need to take all of the elements from the top of my pattern and repeat them at the bottom to complete the repeat, finding and selecting all of those elements is excruciatingly slow, inaccurate, inefficient and not tenable for a professional work flow!!

Am I missing something?  Is there a setting somewhere for this quick easy selection process.  I know other artists for whom this works perfectly.  I have tried groups, objects and default - it’s supposed to work perfectly on default but I’ve been messing with this for weeks and am about to give up and just work on my desktop.  

Please help if you have the answer,

Thank you and much Aloha,

Elizapainter

[NotMyFault]

If you use the right template, you can fully automate the process and do not need to copy tiles manually.

Simply put the shapes or bitmaps in the correct section (symbol) depending on if it used  at the middle, edge, or corner of the tile.

 

see link for half tile pattern template.