“Active” vs. “Selected”: What’s the difference?
Think of a cup of water. The things you can do with the water (such as stirring or sweetening it) are different from the things you can do with the cup (such as moving or lifting it).
That’s basically the difference between working with an active part and working with a selected part. An active part is like the water; a selected part is like the glass.
You make a part active
mwhen you want to work with the contents of the part
mby clicking anywhere in the part
When a part is active, a gray border appears around it, and the menu items for the part appear in the menu bar.
When a part is active, its menus are available in the menu bar. Only one part can be active at a time.
You select a part
mwhen you want to move, resize, or delete the part
mby clicking the gray border of an active part, or by clicking the part while holding down the Command (x) key on the keyboard
When a part is selected, “handles” appear at its corners. You can now resize, move, or delete the part.
When a part is selected, the container part’s menus are available in the menu bar. You can select multiple parts.
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