basic navigation problem

B

Barry Garsson

Barry
I have to select large numbers of files in long lists (sometimes over 300) to work with - I understand what holding the shift key does, and also holding the Apple key to select specific items, but working with such large numbers often causes me to lose what I have spent time selecting. For example, if I realize I didn't want a specific file in the middle of a long group of selected files, and try to "deselect" that item I lose the entire group I had selected and highlighted and have to start the selection process all over again. So, two questions: 1) is it possible to select part of a group and "lock" in my selections and proceed to another part of the list and continue selecting without losing the first group (other than cutting and pasting the first group elsewhere)? 2) is it possible to invert my selections: that is, like the "Invert" command in Photoshop, to select what I don't want (usually a smaller group that would be done faster) and then "invert" my choices so it results in everything else being selected instead?
Barry
 
You could select all, then hold the Option key and click on the files you don't want selected.
 
I tried your suggestion (selecting all and holding down the option key to deselect one or more) and it works OK in an ordinary window (opening any window in "Mac HD" and selecting a list of files there, then deselecting with the option key).

But I am using this in Final Cut Pro 5 and it doesn't work there, I didn't realize that the deselect feature is either disarmed, or simply wasn't ever programmed in (yoo hoo, Apple, are you reading this?). If, in FCP5, I am selecting subclips within a group of, say, 300 clips, and I select all of them, and then attempt to de-select one or more using the option key, the first one I "deselect" undoes all of them, all of the highlighted selections are no longer highlighted and I have to go back and re-do the whole thing. I can only, at best, use the shift key to select the longest continuous portion of the list, then very carefully hold the option key down and very carefully select each additional clip individually to add to the total selections.

Not the same as anywhere else in the Mac. Annoying, too.

Barry
 
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