In SOLIDWORKS, you can select objects as follows:
- Click objects in the graphics area
- Press Ctrl while clicking to select more than one object
- Drag the pointer from left to right to define a box selection or from right to left to define a cross selection
- Right-click one entity of a sketch object with multiple entities in a chain (such as a rectangle or polygon) and choose Select Chain from the shortcut menu
- Right-click one edge in a loop of edges in a part and choose Select Loop for operations such as feature fillet and chamfer
- Right-click two edges in a loop of edges in a part and choose Select Partial Loop to select a series of connecting edges
- Select features, components, planes, drawing views, and other items in the FeatureManager design tree
For many operations, you can select the objects either before or after selecting the tool you want to apply.
Feedback
To help you select, entities highlight as you pass the pointer over them, and the pointer changes to include the icon for the type of entity it senses.
Select Other
You can right-click an object and choose Select Other to step through all the items under the pointer. When you choose a face, the face is hidden so you can see inside the model.

Selection Filter
You can set the Selection Filter to the kind of item that you want to select: faces, edges, vertices, surface bodies, reference geometry, sketch entities, dimensions, and various types of annotations. With the filter set, the kinds of items that you specify are identified when you pass the pointer over them.
Click Toggle Selection Filter Toolbar
on the Standard toolbar to make the Selection Filter toolbar visible.
