Selection Pane (Word, Excel, PowerPoint 2010 and Later)
There may be times when you're working with a series of objects (images, shapes, pictures, text boxes, etc.) and you find it difficult to select a single object or you want to rearrange the order of the objects.
The Selection Pane allows you select multiple objects at once, hide specific objects, and change the order of objects.
- To launch the Selection Pane in Word or PowerPoint, click on the
Select drop-down in the Editing group on the Home tab, and choose
Selection Pane.
- To launch the Selection Pane in Excel, click on the Find & Select drop-down in the Editing group on the Home tab, and choose Selection Pane.
Let's say you are working with a complex Organizational Chart or other series of text boxes and shapes. In the image below, there is a small shape shown in the dashed box. This shape should be removed, but when the user tries to click on it to select it, the text box and/or some of the arrows are also selected.
- Select an object near the one you want to remove.
- The selected object is highlighted in the list on the Selection Pane.
- You can click on the Hide button to the right of the object's name:
- Continue selecting and hiding objects that surround the object you want to select. Hidden objects remain in the Selection Pane list, but are indicated by a dash.
5. When you have isolated the object that you want to delete, simply select it and press the Delete key.
6. Then, go back to the Selection Pane and click on Show All to reinstate the rest of the objects that you temporarily hid.
7. The order in which items are listed in the Selection Pane determines how they appear. If you want to move a particular object behind another, simply drag it down on the list. This is helpful when you have connectors that should appear behind text boxes, for example. Make sure that all connectors appear lower in the list than the text boxes and you won't have to individually move each one behind its related text box.
8. Close the Selection Pane by clicking on the X in the upper-right corner.