Selection Tools in LightBurn¶

Mastering selection tools is fundamental to an efficient workflow in LightBurn. This guide covers basic to advanced selection techniques.

Basic Selection¶

Activate Tool: The Selection Tool is active by default. You can reactivate it by clicking the icon in the toolbar or pressing Escape.
Click to Select: Click on any object to make it active. An active object is shown by an animated dashed outline.
Group vs Ungroup:
- Ungrouped: Simple dashes.
- Grouped: Dots and dashes. Grouped objects move together as one unit.

Box Selection Modes¶

There are two ways to select multiple items by dragging your mouse:

Enclosing Selection (Red Box)¶

How: Click and drag from Left to Right.
Result: Only objects fully contained within the red box will be selected.

Crossing Selection (Green Box)¶

How: Click and drag from Right to Left.
Result: Any object touched by the green box or fully inside it will be selected.

Keyboard Modifiers¶

Add to Selection: Hold Shift + Click.
Remove from Selection: Hold Ctrl + Shift + Click.
Toggle Selection: Hold Ctrl + Click.

Access these via the Edit drop-down menu: * Select All: Selects everything in the workspace. * Invert Selection: Selects everything that isn't currently active. * Select Open Shapes: Crucial for identifying shapes that need to be closed before filling. * Select All Shapes in Current Layer: Selects everything on the same color/layer as your current selection. * Select Contained Shapes: Selects all objects inside a closed shape.

Pro Tip: Select Small Shapes¶

Located in the Tools menu, the Select shape smaller than selected tool is excellent for cleaning up messy designs by finding and deleting tiny unwanted artifacts.

Source: LightBurn Software Official Tutorials