Ubuntu: Up and Running

Selecting Files and Folders

All the previous operations are well and good if you are only copying a single file or folder (even if the folder has subfolders). But often you need to select groups of items for copying, moving, and even deleting, and there are several ways to highlight multiple selections.

Lassoing Items

If all the items you are interested in are located within a rectangular area, you can click the file browser background and then drag a lasso around them. When you release the mouse the selected files will be highlighted. In Figure 6-5, I have chosen to lasso the four items to the right. Notice how a rectangular shape (like an elastic band stretched around four points) outlines the selected area, which itself now has a slightly darkened background color.

Figure 6-5. Lassoing a group of files and folders

Individually Selecting Items

For even more control over selecting files and folders, you can hold down the Ctrl key and click each item once to add to the selection group. If you make a mistake, don’t worry, because each time you click the item’s state will toggle between being selected and unselected. Figure 6-6 shows three items that have been selected in this manner, which couldn’t have been achieved any other way.

Figure 6-6. Three items have been individually selected

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