Selection in Fusion

There are several ways to select objects in Fusion and filter or adjust selection sets.

Selection is always active. The active selection mode displays on the toolbar in the Select panel.

You can click individual objects in the canvas, the Browser, or the Timeline to select them.

Tip: Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (MacOS) to add objects to or remove objects from the selection. Hold Shift to only add objects to the selection without removing objects if you click them or include them in a selection boundary twice.

select menu

There are three selection modes in Fusion, and you can switch between them to help you accurately select the objects you want to select.

Selection mode Shortcut
window selection icon Window 1
freeform selection icon Freeform 2
paint selection icon Paint 3

Window selection is the default selection mode.

Window selection mode

The Window window selection icon selection mode lets you specify opposite corners to define a rectangular selection boundary. The background inside the area changes color and becomes translucent. The direction that you drag from the first point to the opposite corner determines which objects are selected.

Freeform selection mode

The Freeform freeform selection icon selection mode lets you draw an irregularly shaped selection boundary. The background inside the area changes color and becomes translucent. The direction that you drag determines which objects are selected.

Paint selection mode

The Paint paint selection icon selection mode lets you click and drag to select anything you move across.

Adjacent Faces selection mode (Generative Design and Simulation only)

The Select Adjacent Faces adjacent faces icon selection mode lets you automatically select all faces that are adjacent to the objects you select.

Selection tools

The Selection Tools let you select objects based on specific properties.

Component drag

Component Drag lets you move components when you click and drag them in the canvas.

When Component Drag is unchecked, hold Alt to drag components.

Note: By default, components in assemblies are flexible in Fusion, able to move freely until you define assembly relationships between them, like joints. Each instance of a component is flexible, independent of other instances.

Selection priority

The Selection Priority tools let you filter selection to only solid and surface bodies, faces on solid and surface bodies, edges on solid and surface bodies, or components.

Only one Selection Priority tool can be active at a time. If you click the active Selection Priority tool again, it removes the filter and you can select all object types again.

Selection filters

You can check or uncheck the options in the Selection Filters menu to include or exclude selected objects by type.

Selection Sets

With a set of objects selected, you can right-click anywhere in the canvas and select Create Selection Set to create a new selection set from the selected objects.

Selection sets display in Browser, in the Selection Sets folder. When you click a selection set, it automatically selects all of the objects in that selection set at once.

Workspace-specific selection tools

You can find additional Selection Tools in the Simulation and Generative Design workspaces.

Tool Description
adjacent faces icon Select Adjacent Faces Selects all faces adjacent to the current selection.
all occurrences icon Select All Occurrences Selects other occurrences of the same object automatically.
similar occurrences icon Select Similar Occurrences Selects other objects with similar dimensions.
show all components icon Show All Components Shows all the components in the design.
isolate icon Isolate Hides all unselected or unrelated bodies and components.
unisolate icon Unisolate Shows all components and bodies that were hidden by Isolate.

Selection filters: