AutoCAD QSELECT: A Game-Changing Command for Selecting Objects in your Drawings

[#1]

AutoCAD QSELECT is a powerful command which allows users to quickly and easily select specific objects within a drawing.

You can access this command through the Ribbon: 

Home - Utilities - QSELECT 

Or by simply typing QSELECT on your keyboard.

It can select objects based on various criteria, such as blocks, layers, type, color, and so much more.

QSELECT  allows you to select specific objects with ease and speed, especially in large and complex drawings where manual selection can be tedious and time-consuming.

   

The QSELECT command also provides advanced options, such as the ability to filter objects based on properties and select objects within a certain distance of other objects.

   

Overall, QSELECT is an essential tool for anyone working with AutoCAD, as it helps to streamline the selection process and improve workflow.

AutoCAD Support and Learning - Links

QSELECT

About Selecting Objects based on Shared Properties

Quick Select dialog box

[handjonathan]

Thank you @kristina.youngblut Awsome tip. Its got to be one of my favorite commands in AutoCAD. 

[kristina.youngblut]

Thanks, @handjonathan . I agree! I use this every day.

We could write a book just about this one Topic. It does so much. 

[handjonathan]

Now there's an idea @kristina.youngblut 😂 "The Hitchhiker's guide to QSELECT" or "QSELECT for Dummies"

[DanielLench_]

Yep! this is another core command that must be taught. Thanks @kristina.youngblut 

[kristina.youngblut]

@handjonathan OMGosh, best title choice. I've already started planning it. I love this idea.

@DanielLench_ I agree. Maybe a series to cover on this form + Community Voices.

[ChrisRS]

Great tip!

Quick Select also hides in plain sight in the upper right corner of the Properties pallet.

While you are penning your QSELECT magnum opus*, maybe you can address this issue:

QSELECT purports to select from the entire drawing, including all paper space layouts.
I am new to QSELECT. I need to click the select items button, and wait for the QSELECT form to close,
then [Ctrl]+[A], [Enter], [Enter]. The QSELECT form reopens, and I apply filters.

The resulting selection set includes objects from all layouts.
Is this how it is supposed to work? (My apologies for turning this into a forum post!)

*  @handjonathan gave some great title suggestions.

    I'm showing my age, but you might consider these:

          "Zen and the art of QSELECT Maintenance" or

          "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About QSELECT: But Were Afraid to Ask"

[kristina.youngblut]

@ChrisRS 

Omgoodness completely forgot about it in this location.

You are a life saver to this thread!

I'm partial to @handjonathan because my cats name is Beeblebrox, I am a huge Douglas Addams fan (and Frank Herbert)

Maybe we do a draw for the title!

[C3D_TomR]

QSELECT is a super helpful command for determining what type of objects are in the current drawing and it's an easy way to select them.

[ChrisRS]

@kristina.youngblut 

Re: your Comment No. "Omgoodness"

"Whatever suits you tickles me plumb to death."

Please pick whatever title you like.

They are all at least a tad bit provocative, so you have my unsolicited and unrequired urging to do as you please.

I am a Douglas Addams fan as well.

I find that "42" is a perfectly satisfactory answer to many incomplete, incoherent, ill-formed questions. (Autodesk forums excluded, of course.) 

Charles Addams and Scott Adams each have their own charm as well.

[kristina.youngblut]

I'm embarrassed I had to look up Scott Adams, as soon as it popped up I knew. 

Great references!

[CGBenner]

@kristina.youngblut and others,

Little trivia fact that I was unaware of until recently (some of you may already know this).  Douglas Adams wrote several episodes of Doctor Who in the 1970's when Tom Baker played the Doctor.

[kristina.youngblut]

I do know this, but it was only a couple years ago when I hunted down everything he wrote so I could read it. 

His perspective and imagination helped me think in a new way. Very influential in my youth. 

[ChrisRS]

@kristina.youngblut, Kudos for recognizing Charles Addams.

Back in my government days, I often thought of Douglas Addams when involved in

"Public Awareness" processes:

     …You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way
     to call attention to them had you?
     I mean like actually telling anyone or anything.

                                                        But the plans were on display…

     On display?
     I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

                                                        That’s the display department.

     With a torch.

                                                        Ah, well the lights had probably gone.

     So had the stairs.

                                                        But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?

     Yes, said Arthur, yes I did.
     It was on display in the bottom of

     a locked filing cabinet

     stuck in a disused lavatory

     with a sign on the door saying

     "Beware of The Leopard."

                    Douglas Adams - HHGTG

Hmmm ... "Beware the Leopard" 

Maybe a Tip about large coordinate systems and misbehaving hatches.

Yeah, I'm talking to you, AR-CONC!

[kristina.youngblut]

My mother love Charles Addams. 

Though I realize I have not read all of his work,  I need to rectify that. 

That whole scene was so perfectly written. Thank you for writing it out, i thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Beware the leopard, ulg misuse of hatches is a pet peeve of mine. But than I love to build intelligent components and some people don't know how to set them up correctly for that. Might be a good post actually. 

[vijays2u]

Its a day today tool to be used by all AutoCAD expert. one of my favorite commands in AutoCAD

[kristina.youngblut]

Hahaha never a dull moment!

You guys rock, thanks for getting this taken care of.

@DanielLench_ @ChrisRS 

[rkmcswain]

This is also a good command when you're working with a bloated or corrupt drawing (and who doesn't have to do this...)

You can use this to view ALL of the types of graphical entities in a drawing. You can easily spot something in that list that shouldn't be there. In the example below, say I'm not aware of any RTEXT entities, but now I know there are some in this drawing. Once you complete the command, telling it to select all, you can see how many on the command line.

What if there is one or two? No big deal. But what if there are 3,500 of them? You might have a problem.

Happy Cadding