Cannot Select Objects using mouse cursor (Word 2010)

Question

Hi

I recently upgraded from Office 2007 Pro to 2010 Pro+. I inserted some shapes and when to select them - prior to grouping. I did the 'normal' thing: click the arrow shape on the ribbon, clicked Select Objects, brought my cursor on the page again and left-click and hold while I lasooed the objects. The lasooe part didn't happen. Nothing was captured by moving the cursor over the area where the objects were.

Can anyone suggest what's happening, and how it can be put right?

Thanks

Answer 1

Lasso selection works as long as the document is in Word 97-2003 format (in Compatibility Mode). When it's converted to Word 2010 format (or created new in Word 2010), dragging doesn't even show the lasso outline.

This is not true in Word 2007, which does lasso selection in both formats.

I assume this has something to do with the change in the graphics engine between 20007 and 2010, but it's a bug whether Microsoft classifies it that way or not. Ctrl+click is not a usable substitute when there are a large number of small pieces to be grouped.

As a sort-of-workaround, try using the Selection Pane (on the dropdown from the Select button). Unfortunately, that doesn't support Shift+click to select a lot of items in one click.

Answer 2

No the Selection pane is of little use.  It just lists all the objects on the page.  I want to select objects in a group, just like everyone else who has contributed to this.

Answer 3

In the user interface, see if you find the Selection Pane useful (Home tab | Select | Selection Pane).

Answer 4

MS continues to shows us their apparent lack of skills.  To solve this I wrote a macro in Excel 2010 and copied it to Word 2010 (Word macro recorded is extremely poor). I had to change "activesheet" to "activedocument" but nothing else. The result gives the same functionality we are looking for but it is slightly crude. 

As stated in the code below, I wrote the macro, assigned it to a shortcut key, then insert a new rectangle to surround the objects I want to select and run the macro via the shortcut.

If I can do this in VBA, Microsoft can implement it in Word 2010. (I am just an amateur.) My solution is not the most elegant but it shows that it can be done in Word 2010. 

It not really a solution that will work for those who don't play with macros.  However in my mind it is clear evidence that this is a BUG.

Sub selectobjects()

' Assign this macro to a Word keyboard shortcut, via File, Options, Customize Ribbon,

' Keyboard shortcuts, Categories = Macros, etc

' Insert a rectangle around the objects you want to select

' (as you would have with the Select Objects cursor)

' The run this macro by shortcut key from your document.

' Not yet tested when added to normal.dotm

Dim ShapeItems() As Variant ' must be variant with Option Base 0. First index is 0

Dim icount As Integer, ishape As Integer

icount = 0

ishape = 0

' find the last object number corresponding to the selection rectangle just added

iobj = ActiveDocument.Shapes.Count

ActiveDocument.Shapes(iobj).Select

leftx = ActiveDocument.Shapes(iobj).Left ' find corners

topy = ActiveDocument.Shapes(iobj).Top

rightx = leftx + ActiveDocument.Shapes(iobj).Width

bottomy = topy + ActiveDocument.Shapes(iobj).Height

For Each myshape In ActiveDocument.Shapes

ishape = ishape + 1 ' count of all shapes

If myshape.Left > leftx And myshape.Top > topy And _

myshape.Left + myshape.Width < rightx And myshape.Top + _

myshape.Height < bottomy Then

ReDim Preserve ShapeItems(icount)

ShapeItems(icount) = ishape

icount = icount + 1 ' count of collected shapes

End If

Next

Selection.Delete ' delete the initial rectangle

' multiple select all objects inside the rectangle

ActiveDocument.Shapes.Range(ShapeItems).Select

End Sub