Grouping drawing components combines multiple components into a single component. Grouping is useful when you should rearrange or manage many components on the screen. Instead of having to drag multiple components, you can click once and select multiple items and move them at one time.
Ungrouping is particularly important when editing imported images, such as maps. In order to edit one area of the image, you might need to ungroup the image first.
The Group options described in the following subsections are available under the Edit menu, and also by right-clicking a drawing components.
To group drawing components:
Use the selection methods listed above to select components. For example, this might include elements, shapes, and associated text labels.
Elements generated by an Automatic layout cannot be grouped with other items.
Right-click the group, then select Group.
The selected components become a single component.
To ungroup drawing components:
Select the group.
Right-click the group, then select Ungroup.
Actions performed on a group affect the group as a single entity. They do not affect individual components within the group. For example, if you drag and drop an element from the Explorer pane to a group, it binds to the entire group, not to any single drawing component in the group.
However, it is possible to change individual components while keeping the group intact. These changes include modifying shapes, colors, text, and binding elements to shapes or lines.
To change individual objects within a group:
Select the group.
A dashed box outlines the group.
Another hint for identifying a group is in the Palette ID label. The node type displays in the label, and in the case of a group, it displays a <G> ID label instead of a <PATH> ID.
Right-click, then select Change Group.
A yellow band outlines the group.
Select individual components within the group and make changes.
You can edit only the components that have white selection “handles,” which were added using the drawing tools. Components that were linked or copied to the drawing from the Element hierarchy have grey selection “handles” and cannot be edited.
The hierarchy elements, such as Your Firewall, cannot be edited.
When finished, right-click the container, then select Save Group.