You can define whether specific objects and groups can be selected in the 3D and schematic views. This can come in handy and speed up your workflow if you are working in a very dense scene and there are one or more objects that you don't wish to select.
Selectability is a setting that determines whether you can select an object using the mouse in a 3D or schematic view. For objects, it is a parameter on the Visibility property editor, while for groups it is a parameter on the Group property editor.
Unselectable objects are displayed in dark gray in the wireframe and schematic views.
Regardless of whether an object's Selectability is on or off, you can always select it using the explorer or using its name.
In addition to the Selectability parameter itself, there are a couple of other factors that affect whether you can select objects: visibility, groups, and layers.
You cannot select an object in a view if it is not visible in that view (that is, if it is actually hidden rather than merely occluded by other elements). Hidden objects are not displayed in the 3D views, so they cannot be selected in those views. However, hidden objects are displayed as outline boxes in the schematic, so they can still be selected in that view.
For more details about visibility, see Hiding and Unhiding Objects [Viewing and Playback].
Selectability of Groups and Layers
The selectability of an object can also be affected by its membership in groups and layers. Groups and layers let you control the selectability (as well as the visibility) of all their members. You can make all members of a group or layer selectable, make them all unselectable, or make them selectable or not depending on their individual Selectability parameters.
For more details about using groups and layers, see Grouping Objects and Scene Layers.
