: How do I select an object that's below another object in Inkscape? A common problem in Inkscape is that you want to select an object but another object always gets in the way because it completely

@Si6392903

I had the same problem and in Mac. I could find a solution:

Go to XQuartz (general menu up left) > Preferences > Input > "Option keys send Alt_L and Alt_R"

With that, Alt + click will select the top object. The second click will select the object behind and so on.

If you have a Mac Mouse (Magic Mouse) it also works: alt + finger up and down to the surface (that's the equivalent of the scroll wheel in other mouses)

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@Harper654

I use Ubuntu and my solution is hitting Ctrl+Alt+Click to select the object beneath. You may need to click a couple of times to select the exact item you'd like.

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@Miguel516

The XML editor is a good way to select any object, because it shows the full object hierarchy of the document.


Show the XML editor ("Edit → XML Editor…" in the menu).
Open one of the layer nodes (<svg:g id="layer…" …>).
Open zero or more of the group nodes below it, as required (<svg:g id="g…">).
Select an object or group inside this layer / group node.

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@Turnbaugh909

I'm using Ubuntu and I select beneath using Shift + Alt + click.

Or instead of clicking, you can scroll mouse-wheel to cycle select.
That is, Shift + Alt + scroll wheel.
Which is faster and practical, as it can be done in both senses: forward and backward.

The shift adds the object you're targeting to the current selection so another click on the item you don't want deselects and leaves you with your intended item.

So using Christian's shapes I'd select the rectangle, Shift + Alt select the circle and then Shift select the rectangle. Result would be a selected circle.

Ok, its too many clicks for something that should just work but I think this is the quickest and simplest solution.

I may have discovered this intuitively but I've also got this bookmarked - www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11886

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@Kaufman565

Indeed Alt-click in often used by the Window Manager.

So as a workaround, I often use one of these method :

1) The method described by Christian (move, select, undo)

2) Depending on the objects size, selecting with a zone, like :



3) Or the one I use the most, it's "Tab" to go through the objects.
This may seem long & difficult, but as


Objects are often created in order, so selecting the object in front then "Tab" often works
I use Groups a lot, so, for the figure above, 1) select both objects 2) Press Ctrl-G to group them 3) Double click on the group 4) Press Tab once or twice 5) Press Ctrl-Backspace to get out of the group.


Groups are so useful, than I don't struggle anymore to select objects - I'm tabbing.

4) New: since Inkscape 0.91, it seems there is a new method to select objects with Alt+Mouse, as stated in the changelog :


It is now easier to select items which are not at the top of the
Z-order: use Alt+mouse wheel scroll to cycle through all items that
are stacked on top of each other at the location of the mouse pointer
(use Shift+Alt+mouse wheel scroll to add to the existing selection).
At present, groups are not honoured, i.e., only individual items
within groups are considered.

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@Miguel516

There's a great workaround that is actually quite nice to use and might even be useful with a working alt+click: you move an object out of the way, select the object underneath, then hit ctrl+z for undo and the object moves back in place but the selection is not affected at all.

So to select the red circle under the blue rectangle



move the rectangle somewhere where it can't bother anyone



select the circle



and hit undo to get your selected circle.



Tada! This of course also works with much more complicated constellations where alt+click is not a good option.

Probably this workflow was intended by the Inkscape developers but I never found it anywhere and I found out really late so I used some of the time I saved to share this insight. If it's not news for you, well good for you. In any other case, I hope it helps :)

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