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Keystroke to deselect all objects


P Retondo

Question

Could we have a key to deselect all objects? Clicking in the drawing space is not always the most reliable method, because groups and other objects can be inadvertantly selected by a click. Besides, a keystroke is often easier and faster.

In Photoshop the keys are "ctrl + d" and in ACAD it's "esc" twice. I'd suggest a single click of the "esc" key, since that is what we have been advised to use to "clear out" from (i.e., change focus from) the object info palette. It seems like a similar kind of function. If hitting "esc" does two things (change focus to the drawing and deselect all objects), that would be a natural pairing. It's like, "clear the decks of everything ongoing, and get ready for something new."

By the way, I still think it is more consistent with other software, and even VW's own text tool, to use the number pad "enter" to change focus out of the OIP. Regular keyboard "enter" could do the same thing, since it has no logical use in the OIP anyway. "Tab" and arrows would be the logical choice to navigate fields in the OIP.

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Another solution is to go into the Workspace editor. In the Menus section Turn down the Edit list and there is an item for Deselect all. Add it to a convenient place in your menus, and assign a key command to it and Voila you have a keystroke you can hit that deslects everything and retains your current tool.

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Thank you Ion!

Every day I learn something new about this amazing program that I've been using for 5 years.

P Retondo,

I have 27 single keys that issue Menu Commands. Now there's something that really does enhance VectorWorks. Try it!

A macro utility assigns the meaning Ctrl-V to the F2 key, Ctrl-C to the F3 key, etc.

My keyboard has 12 extra function keys to which I can assign any meaning.

I also macro the tilde, backslash, and Insert keys as commands, since I don't need them when typing texts.

mgSimplify and EZ Macros are just two of dozens of cheap macro utilities for PC's. Quickeys for Mac's, a little pricier. Assign different meanings to the same key in different programs. Include longer sequences of keystrokes and even mouse action in the macro definition if you want. Define the macro on the fly, just by doing it while the macro utility watches and records your keystrokes.

Focus FK-8200 and 9200 keyboards have 24 Function keys, 12 of them hardware programmable. They also have a built-in calculator on the keypad, which can send the calculated value to the cursor location.

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I think you should NOT assign the "esc" to deselect because if you are rendering the escape can quit the rendering proces when something is going wrong.

I had to do it several times.

In OS 9.22 is use often Quickeys for :

- going in one step from B/W to colours

- switching in seeing the rest of drawing or not while entering into a group

- going to the option "zoom into line-weight" or not

- ....

I think that alt-D should be a good option for this shortcut if it is not already used !

[smile]

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Thanks for the clarification, Jan15. As we are all aware, VectorWorks has different parameters for assigning keyboard shortcuts. Menus have to use a key with Command and (optionally) a combination of Shift and Option. Tools have to use a key by itself and (optionally) a combination of Shift and Option.

I think it makes more sense to eliminate the distinction between menus and tools when assigning keyboard shortcuts. Any item (menu or tool) should have the ability to assign a key by itself or with a combination of Shift, Option an Command.

Perhaps this should be added to the wishlist?

Dan

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Dan,

I would certainly prefer the ability to assign any key or combination to either a Tool or a Command, but I think Nemetschek is against it. To really work, the term "any key" would have to include Function keys.

BG,

Good point, and yet another VectorWorks feature I've overlooked. But on my Windows system, that works for VW8 (in fact, even if you right-click on an object), but not for VW10.

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I've just discovered, via another thread, that the Workspace Editor in version 10 allows the user to select what's in the Context (right-click pop-up) Menus. Under the "Menus" tab.

So you can add "Deselect All", if it's not already there, or any other Menu Command, to the Context Menus. That's nice.

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