Selecting model diagram elements

The selection mechanism is straight-forward. First select one or more elements on the model diagram, then perform an action on the selection.

To select a single element, click on it using the pointer. To continue to select further elements, hold down the Ctrl key (Cmd key on the Mac) whilst clicking on them. If you select an element by mistake, click on it again with the Ctrl key held down, and it will be unselected, leaving the rest of the selection unchanged. To abandon a selection altogether, click in a blank area of the diagram, outside any selected submodels. To select multiple elements at once, drag the pointer across the area containing them: a marquee (rectangular selection) will be drawn around the elements that are included in the area. If you drag outside the model window during this operation, it will be scrolled in that direction bringing more space into view. The elements will all be selected when the drag is released. If any part of an element (other than the caption) is included in the area, it will be included in the selection. If you drag a marquee around some elements while holding the Ctrl key down, any elements in the marquee that were not already selected will be added to the selection. You cannot unselect elements by ctrl-dragging.

The context menu contains the commands "Select all", "Unselect all" and "Invert selection". These apply within the submodel in which you right-click to display the menu, and any submodels nested within it.

Selected components and captions will be highlit in blue. Links between selected components are also highlit in blue, while links between selected and unselected components are green. These green links will stretch if the selection is moved, and will be deleted if it is cut, but will not be put on the clipboard.

Ghosts of selected components, and base components of selected ghosts, will be highlit in bright green. It is also possible to have components connected to the selection highlit like this. Under the "View" menu, select "Highlight back" -> "One level". Now all components starting influences going to the selection, including via ghosts, are highlit. There is also the option to highlight back two or three levels, and an equivalent choice for highlighting forwards, which shows up components influenced by the selection. Components that are highlit in this way are not affected by actions done on the selection.

Various actions can be performed on selected element(s). The actions are available in the context menu, invoked with a right click. Once one or more elements are selected, the action chosen from the context menu will be performed on the selection, wherever the mouse is when the right-button is clicked.

The selection can be cut or copied to the clipboard. If you paste the clipboard into another program, such as Microsoft Word, a picture (metafile) will be shown in the document. If you paste the clipboard into Simile, the elements will be inserted, complete with functions and other properties.