Selection

QUICK SUMMARY

1. Tap+Hold on the canvas to activate selection
2. Select strokes you want to edit or delete
3. Use selection filters at the bottom of the screen to limit selection results

Concepts is vector-based, giving you the freedom to pick up and move, tweak, or change any stroke at any time after it is drawn. This is perfect for design iterations, reorganizing mind maps or preparing materials for clients after feedback.

Selection Methods

There are four ways to select strokes in your drawings.

The Selection Tool

In the Brushes menu, you can choose the Selection tool (the arrow) and set it as a separate tool on your Tool Wheel or Tool Bar. Touch the screen to use it like you use any tool.

Tap+Hold

Tap+Hold anywhere on the Canvas to activate Selection. You can change the activation time and which selection method gets activated in Settings → Interaction → Tap+Hold to suit your workflow better.

Finger Action

If you are using a supported stylus, configure your Finger Action to Select (Settings → Interaction → Touch Input → Finger Action). Your finger will work as the Selection tool while your stylus uses your selected preset in the Tool Wheel.

Layer Selection Popup

If you want to select all strokes on a single layer, you can tap on the active layer to open the Layer Selection popup. Tapping the selection arrow icon will select everything on that layer.

The Selection Menu

Once you have activated Selection by one of the methods, you will find a menu at the bottom of the screen. This is the Selection menu. The Selection menu helps you filter the strokes you would like to select from.

• When using the Selection tool from your Tool Wheel, the menu will remain on screen as long as the tool is active.
• When selecting with Tap+Hold, the menu will remain for as long as your finger rests on the screen. With a second finger, you can toggle the menu buttons to set your filters (more about those below).

Item Picker (left) and Lasso (right) with their respective selection menus.

In the Selection menu, depending on which toggle you have active, you'll find from left to right:

1. Selection Type toggle. Tap it to toggle between Item Picker (single item selection, with the ability to add or subtract strokes individually), Lasso (multi-select using drag to lasso your strokes), and Color Picker (select color and vector properties from strokes).
2. Partial On/Off toggle. Allows you to choose whether you would like to select partial or complete strokes inside your selection. (Only applicable to Lasso)
3. Lock toggle. Includes or ignores any strokes you may have locked while drawing.
4. Layers toggle. You can choose whether to select inside your active layer only, or inside all layers at once

Selecting with Lasso

1. Activate the Selection tool with Tap+Hold, Selection tool, or by Finger Action. By default, the first selection option is Lasso.

2. Drag your finger across or around the strokes you want to select. Lasso again to subtract from the selection.

3. If you lasso a selection and decide you want to add further individual strokes, you can lasso more items or toggle the button to Item Picker via the Selection Type toggle, and continue adding to your selections.

Selecting with Item Picker

1. Activate the Selection tool with Tap+Hold, Selection tool, or by Finger Action. By default, the first selection option is Lasso. Tap the Selection Type toggle and you will find the Item Picker. This is a single-item selection, which allows you to add and subtract individual strokes to your selection.

2. Drag the crosshairs over a stroke. Once a stroke can be selected, a circle appears around the crosshairs.
3. To select a single stroke, let go, and the stroke gets selected. To select multiple strokes, tap the screen with another finger to select the stroke you are hovering over.

4. If you want to add strokes to your selection, access the picker again and drag the crosshair to your next stroke and tap the screen to add it to your selected strokes.

5. To subtract a stroke from your selection, drag the crosshairs to an already selected stroke. You will see the plus sign turn to a minus sign. Tap the screen to remove the stroke from the selection.

Color Picker

If you tap through the Selection toggles from Lasso to Item Picker, the third toggle is the Color Picker. This vector color picker offers a few more capabilities than standard color pickers in other apps. It allows you to select and remember color, brush, and stroke properties, and set them to your tools. Read more about the Color Picker in the Color section.

The Selection Popup

Above the selection box is a Selection popup. This tool offers many useful features to help you work with your strokes.

1. Copy to clipboard. Tap the paperclip to copy your selection to your device's clipboard. Tap Paste in any app supporting the feature to paste in a transparent background PNG of your selection. Inside Concepts, you can paste strokes from the clipboard from the Import menu. You can also attach colors from other apps to your clipboard, and access them on the Color Wheel (iOS only).
2. Duplicate selection. You can duplicate anything you have selected. Just touch Duplicate and it will create a copy for fast iterations. Drag the duplicate to a new layer to keep your iterations in order.
3. Group selection. This allows you to bundle all strokes inside your selection into a single group. You can then select the entire object by selecting a single stroke inside the group, instead of having to re-select multiple strokes. To ungroup them, just select the object and tap the group button again.
4. Lock selection. The Lock button locks your selection from subsequent selections and adjustments you might make. You can access the locked item again by allowing selection of locked items in the Selection menu filters.
5. Delete selection. To remove a selection, tap the Delete button.
6. Flip Horizontally. This flips your selection horizontally. Great for creating reflections and shadows.

Flip Vertically. This flips your selection vertically. Great for creating reflections and shadows.

Adjusting a Selection

Once you have selected a stroke or group of strokes, you will notice the Selection toggles at the bottom of the screen have changed to give you a few more helpful toggles.

1. Rotate. Allow or disable rotation for your selection. Toggle the rotation status on/off.
2. Scale / Stretch / Off. Scale scales the whole selection, scaling the stroke size as well. Stretch stretches strokes but keeps the same tool size. When scaling/stretching is turned off, your strokes are locked from scaling or stretching.
3. Filters. Tap this to show the Selection menu items, Item Picker, Lasso, Color Picker and selection filters.

4. To Scale your selection, use a two-finger gesture to pinch and spread your selection. You can also use the Zoom tool or keyboard shortcut.

5. To rotate the selection, use a two-finger gesture to rotate your selection. You can also use the Rotation tool or keyboard shortcut.

6. You can also select an exact angle rotation and scale of your selection using the angle and size field below the status bar at the top of the Canvas. Tap+Hold the angle or size field to bring up a keyboard, and type in your custom value. When rotating, objects will rotate clockwise. To avoid accidentally turning or scaling your selection when moving the object, first lock your rotation and scale toggle on the Selection menu.

Transforming a Selection

You can use the four corner handles around a selection to scale or distort the selection. These handles are your Control Points.

1. Drag directly from a single point to scale/stretch a selection. Put another finger on the screen to lock the aspect ratio while resizing.

2. Tap to activate one corner point and drag to distort your selection.

3. Tap to activate two corner points and drag with one finger to skew the selection.

4. Tap to activate two corner points and pinch or spread with two fingers to warp your selection.

Please note that scale/stretch needs to be active for the control points to show.

Highlight Selection

1. By default, Concepts highlights your selected strokes, graying the unselected content. The active selection is also brought to the front, meaning that if the stroke you selected is behind other strokes, it will be visually presented on top.
2. In the Settings → Interaction → Tap+Hold menu, you will find an option to Highlight Selection. Toggle this on or off as you prefer.
3. When Highlight Selection is toggled off, the color of the drawing stays as it is. The active selection is still brought to the front.

Highlight Selection and Nudge

You can also use Highlight Selection with the Nudge tool.

1. When Highlight Selection is turned on, you will see both before and after strokes as you nudge lines on your screen with the original stroke slightly grayed out.
2. When Highlight Selection is turned off, you only see the adjusted stroke.