Isolate and hide
Purpose
Three switches hide objects for the running session without touching layers, groups or Z levels: ◐ Isolate shows only the selected objects, ◌ Hide takes the selected ones out of view, ◉ Show all brings all back. The state is never saved — after loading a drawing everything is visible.
Access
- Header bar above the drawing area (4, 5, 6) — visible with “Select” and “Move”.
- Right-click menu of the drawing area: “◐ Isolate”, “◌ Hide”, “◉ Show all objects” (1, 2, 3).
- No palette command; not in the ribbon or the classic toolbar.
left half
right half
Procedure
Isolate
- Select elements, dimensions or hatches — without a prior selection the post-selection starts.
- “◐ Isolate”: everything not selected disappears (status bar “n element(s) isolated, m hidden — “Show all objects” brings them back”). The button “Show all” turns blue as long as something is isolated or hidden.
- Isolating again replaces the old isolation.
Hide
From the right-click menu “Hide” hides the selection once and clears it (“n element(s) hidden — “Show all objects” brings them back”); without a selection: “Hide: please select elements first”.
The button in the header bar is a continuous mode: it hides the current selection and then stays active (blue) — every further click hides the hit object, a rubber band everything inside (“n element(s) hidden — click more; ESC or right-click finishes”, “Hidden (n in total) — ESC or right-click finishes”). Esc, right-click or another click on the button end it. Locked objects are skipped, guides are never hidden. Hiding also works on top of an isolation.
Show all
“◉ Show all” brings isolated and hidden objects back (“n object(s) shown again”); if nothing is hidden: “Nothing is isolated — all objects are visible”.
Effect
Hidden objects are not drawn, not snapped and not selected — not even with “Select all”; they are missing in the viewports of a sheet as well. Layer eye, group eye, block eye and Z level eye stay untouched; for permanent hiding use those (Layers, Groups, Z levels).