Can I select alternate (negative normal) with a hotkey?

[colin]

I don't know if there's a hotkey for this or not, but it affects me most when applying constraints... Anyone have a solution? I've been using Inventor since 5.3 and may have missed the "What's New list" at some point!

(Preamble: I know about the pop-down menu to select alternate faces/edges)

Most of the time when I am applying a constraint between two parts, one of the part's faces is away from me (see attached). I have to spin around to grab it or else wait for the pop-up menu to appear.  Is there a hotkey to start with all the negative (away from me) faces first? The Alternate key would be intuitive. The appearing pop-down menu is nice but it is still X seconds+2 clicks when I could just quickly grab the opposite face nearest my cursor with a single click. There are plenty of cases where this would not yield the intended results but plenty that would too...

I included a screenshot example. In that example, I have to either change my view at least twice to fully constrain this part, or else wait for the "other" options menu to pop up each time, then click through it for half the faces. This for me would be 1.5 sec+6 clicks.

This would apply to lots of other contexts as well whenever you're selecting faces, but it affects me most in the constraints arena.

Thanks!

[Tom_Sturtevant · Accepted solution]

Hi -

<CTRL>A is a shortcut for "Select Other".  In many cases it will give you the back-side face when constraining.

Hope that helps!

T.0.M.

[colin]

Tom,

That seemed to do the trick (I didn't know there was a forced "Select Other" using Ctrl+A).

Much appreciated!

Colin

[Ed.Jobe]

I'm looking for something similar. ctrl+A pops the cursor menu for parts, but not for work planes. When I hover over a work plane when constraining, it shows a normal vector. Sometimes (I don't know why) the cursor menu won't appear and I can't select the vector going in the opposite direction. Is there a way to force a selection?

Edit: Could it be because the wp is in a sub-assembly?