Is it possible to select objects by their color in BricsCAD?

ByCADbrief Staff

Short Answer

Yes — in BricsCAD, you can select objects by their color using QSELECT, which is the fastest and most common professional method for filtering objects by property. Choose the object type, set the color property, and apply the selection to the entire drawing or current selection. Limitation: this only works reliably on actual object color properties, not visual appearance from plot styles.

What You Need to Know Before

Warning: Objects set to ByLayer or ByBlock may not behave as expected if you are trying to find what only looks like a color on screen. A common failure is assuming all red objects have Color = Red, when many actually inherit that color from their layer.

How to Select Objects by Color in BricsCAD

  • Command: QSELECT

  • Shortcut: No default shortcut

  • Quick Steps:

    1. Start QSELECT from the command line, or go to the Ribbon and open the selection/filtering tools if available in your workspace.
    2. In the Quick Select dialog, set Apply to = Entire drawing, choose the Object type you want or leave it broad, then set Properties = Color.
    3. Set Operator = Equals, pick the target color, and click OK to create the selection set.

Variables & Settings

  • Key Setting: Apply to = Entire drawing / Current selection

  • Expert Setting: If you use Current selection, QSELECT only filters objects already selected first. For full-drawing color selection, use Entire drawing to avoid missing objects outside a preselection set.

Why it Fails

  • Cause 1 (Geometry): The objects may not have a direct color assigned; they may be set to ByLayer or ByBlock, so filtering by object color does not return them as expected.

  • Cause 2 (layers/Locks): Matching objects may be on locked layers, which can prevent normal editing after selection even though they were found.

  • Cause 3 (Command/Logic): The wrong object type or wrong scope in QSELECT can exclude valid matches, especially if Apply to is set to Current selection instead of Entire drawing.

Quick Fix & Best Practice

  • Quick Fix: Run QSELECT, set Apply to = Entire drawing, then filter by Color and verify whether the target objects are truly assigned that color instead of ByLayer.
  • Manager’s Verdict: Use QSELECT for fast property-based cleanup, QA, and standards checking. Avoid relying on color selection alone when office standards use ByLayer extensively.

FAQ

Can I select only red lines in BricsCAD?
Yes, use QSELECT and set Object type to Line and Color to Red.

Can I select objects by layer and color at the same time?
Not in one simple QSELECT pass; use one filter first, then refine the selection.

Does this work on blocks?
Yes, but block references may be ByLayer or ByBlock, so the visible color may not match the block’s actual color property.

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