Selecting with Move Tool in APub

[Chul]

Hello Affinity Users,

I'm posting this out of curiosity & slight frustration. I'm using the latest version of APub (1.7.3) & my document is a good mix of pictures & text & some vectors. When I go to select a group of a picture & rectangle it simply will not do anything. I can click on it all I want & nothing ever happens. I always end up going to the layers panel & grabbing it from there. It's clearly on top, not in the background at all. Weird..

Anybody else notice this or is it my file alone??

Good day!

-Chul

[stokerg]

Hi Chul,

When you say nothing happens, doesn't the whole group get selected?  Thats what happens for me.  Can you post a sample file?

Also If you hold down CTRL and click the object in the group, only that one will be selected.  I think the issue here is that the group is technically one object, so you click and everything in that group gets selected, which I would say is expected behaviour and the reason we have the CTRL click method  

 

[Chul]

Thanks for your reply, @stokerg!   No, nothing gets selected. I did find out though that if I precisely click on the very edge of the object/group it will select it. I will see if I can post a sample this afternoon..

Thanks for clarifying on the CTRL click, that's  a handy feature to know & use!

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Chul said:

Thanks for clarifying on the CTRL click, that's  a handy feature to know & use!

By the way:

Another way to select an object inside a group is to Double-Click the item on page: the 1st click selects the group, the 2nd an object inside.
Additionally an OPTION-Click does select the grouped objects in their layer order and enables you to select objects behind others.

Once an object of a group got selected by a double-click for instance then another Double-Click will switch to the Node Tool + highlights its single nodes and offers their individual node selection.

p.s.: On mac a CTRL-click would select the object AND open the context menu. Instead CMD-click selects the object only in macOS.

[Chul]

5 hours ago, thomaso said:

By the way:

Another way to select an object inside a group is to Double-Click the item on page: the 1st click selects the group, the 2nd an object inside.
Additionally an OPTION-Click does select the grouped objects in their layer order and enables you to select objects behind others.

Once an object of a group got selected by a double-click for instance then another Double-Click will switch to the Node Tool + highlights its single nodes and offers their individual node selection.

p.s.: On mac a CTRL-click would select the object AND open the context menu. Instead CMD-click selects the object only in macOS.

That's what I was currently doing for selections within a group....

I tried creating a sample file, but that one cooperates perfectly so I don't know what the deal is..

Thanks for your responses anyway!

[thomaso]

2 minutes ago, Chul said:

I tried creating a sample file, but that one cooperates perfectly so I don't know what the deal is..

My hints do not touch the issue you mentioned:

6 hours ago, Chul said:

No, nothing gets selected. I did find out though that if I precisely click on the very edge of the object/group it will select it. I will see if I can post a sample this afternoon..

Possibly besides (or instead, if it isn't related to a document) a screen video would show your specific issue of "nothing gets selected". Make sure to show the complete page (or spread) and the layers panel.

Honestly I still have difficulties with selecting objects inside a group on page with move tool, too. I am simply not used to press an additional key as a default function – I'd rather appreciate I'd need to press one if I want to select the entire group only. Or, to be able to kind of unlock the group property of being selected automatically when an object on page is meant to be clicked.

[Chul]

8 minutes ago, thomaso said:

My hints do not touch the issue you mentioned:

Right. I forgot to clarify, sorry! What I meant was simply that I was doing it your way & had found that the CTRL click method handy to know if I want one precise thing especially.

 

10 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Possibly besides (or instead, if it isn't related to a document) a screen video would show your specific issue of "nothing gets selected". Make sure to show the complete page (or spread) and the layers panel.

I would but it's business info that can't be shown just everywhere...

 

11 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Honestly I still have difficulties with selecting objects inside a group on page with move tool, too. I am simply not used to press an additional key as a default function – I'd rather appreciate I'd need to press one if I want to select the entire group only. Or, to be able to kind of unlock the group property of being selected automatically when an object on page is meant to be clicked.

Neat idea! That would be sweet being able to sort of unlock your group.. What I do right now is group & ungroup however I need it for the moment. Which definitely isn't the fastest thing on the earth.. It works.

[thomaso]

3 minutes ago, Chul said:

it's business info that can't be shown

If you have the issue with other documents then indeed it might be worth to create a sample file. A group of 3 rectangles for instance, partially covering each other, would be enough to see you clicking on the middle of an object versus on the objects edge.

5 minutes ago, Chul said:

What I do right now is group & ungroup however I need it for the moment.

Yes, an awful workflow. I prefer meanhwile the additional key clicks or selection within layers panel. But its all still not a fluently, intuitive workflow.