Selecting the Stage or objects on the Stage using keyboard shortcuts

You can select the Stage or an object on the Stage using keyboard shortcuts. Selecting the Stage with a keyboard shortcut is equivalent to clicking on the Stage. Any other element currently selected becomes deselected when the Stage is selected.

Once the Stage is selected, you can use the Tab key to navigate through all objects on all layers, one at a time. You can select instances (including graphic symbols, buttons, movie clips, bitmaps, videos, or sounds), groups, or text fields. You cannot select shapes (such as rectangles) unless those shapes are instances of symbols. You cannot select more than one object at a time using keyboard shortcuts. Objects are selected on the Stage using the following criteria:

• If an object is currently selected, pressing Shift+Tab selects the previous object.
• Pressing Tab the first time selects the first object that was created on the active frame in the active layer. When the last object on the top layer is selected, pressing Tab moves to the next layer beneath it and selects the first object there, and so on.
• When the last object on the last layer is selected, pressing Tab moves to the next frame and selects the first object on the top layer there.
• Objects on layers that are hidden or locked cannot be selected with the Tab key.

Note: If you are currently typing text into a text box, you cannot select an object using the keyboard focus. You must first change the focus to the Stage and then select an object.

To select the Stage:

To select an object on the Stage: