You can select all the entities in a defined area on your drawing using just your mouse. First you need to make sure that all the parts of the drawing you want selected are visible. We recommend using the FIT TO WINDOW command found in the VIEW menu.

This will make your entire drawing fit onto the screen, you can then use the ZOOM WINDOW command also found in the VIEW menu to zoom in on the exact area you want.

If the drawing has multiple layers, make sure all the entities you want selected are on layers that have been defined as "Editable" in Layer Options. If they are visible but uneditable you will need to go into the LAYER OPTIONS and turn the EDITABLE option on for those layers. If you are only using one layer, this is not a concern.

Dragging a selection box with the mouse will not work if Point Select Mode is active. To see if Point Select Mode is enabled, look in the OPTIONS pull-down menu. If there is a checkmark next to the command, then click on it one time with the left mouse button to turn it off. You can also click on the Point Select Mode button on the Toolbar at the top of the screen. The button looks like this:  .

The selection box won't work if there is another drawing command active. If you are unsure of other commands being active hit the ESC key a few times to clean any commands.

If any part of the drawing inside the selection area has been "Group Defined" with a part of the drawing not inside the selection box, it will not be selected. You can select that group and use GROUP EXPLODE to separate it. If a part of the drawing inside the selection box is a symbol it will not be selected either, the EXPLODE command will help in that case.

When the above conditions are met, you can simply place your cursor outside the area you want to select. Using your mouse, push down and hold the left button and drag it over the area. A rubber-band box will follow the cursor across the screen. Hold the mouse button down until the rubber-band box encloses all the objects you want selected. The selection box is placed and all the entities inside it will become selected. The selection handle will be placed at the center of the selected area.