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Selecting and working with objects on panel controls

You can place objects on tab panels or slide panels, then move, resize, delete, copy, and format objects.

To select and work with objects on panel controls:

1.	In Layout mode, select one or more panels or objects.

 

To	Do this
Select the front tab panel or slide panel	Click anywhere in the tab panel or slide panel.
Switch a tab panel or slide panel to be in front	Tab panels: Click the tab of the panel that you want to be in front. Slide panels: Click the dot of the panel that you want to be in front.
Select more than one panel of a panel control	Tab panels: Click a tab to bring it to the front, then click the tab again. A box appears around the tab name, indicating the tab panel is selected. Shift-click another tab, then Shift-click it again to add the second tab panel to your selection. Continue Shift-clicking tabs until all the panels you want are selected. Note  If you accidentally double-click a tab and the Tab Control Setup dialog box opens, click OK to close it. Slide panels: Click a dot to bring its panel to the front, then click the dot again. A box appears around the dot, indicating the slide panel is selected. Shift-click another dot, then Shift-click the dot again to add the second slide panel to your selection. Continue Shift-clicking dots until all the panels you want are selected.
Select all tab panels or slide panels and all objects on them	Drag the arrow pointer to make a selection box that surrounds the panel control.
Select multiple objects on a panel	Shift-click each object you want to select.
Select objects on multiple panels	Tab panels: Select some objects on a tab panel, Shift-click a tab to switch tab panels, then Shift-click objects to add them to the selection. Slide panels: Select some objects on a slide panel, Shift-click a dot to switch panels, then Shift-click objects to add them to the selection.

2.	To modify your selection, do the following.

 

To	Do this
Line up the edges of objects on one panel or in the same place in different panels	Select objects on one or more panels. In the Inspector, click Position. In the Arrange & Align area, click one of the following:  • Align Left Edges  • Align on Horizontal Centers  • Align Right Edges  • Align Top Edges  • Align on Vertical Centers  • Align Bottom Edges If you don’t see the Inspector, click Inspector in the layout bar. For more information about aligning objects, see Aligning or distributing objects.
Distribute objects horizontally or vertically the same way on one panel or on different panels	Select objects on one or more panels. In the Inspector, click Position. In the Arrange & Align area, click Distribute Horizontally or Distribute Vertically .
Make objects on one panel or in different panels the same size	Select objects on one or more panels. In the Inspector, click Position. In the Arrange & Align area, click one of the following:  • Resize to Smallest Width  • Resize to Smallest Height  • Resize to Smallest Width and Height  • Resize to Largest Width  • Resize to Largest Height  • Resize to Largest Width and Height
Copy an object	Select an object, choose Edit menu > Copy, then choose Edit menu > Paste.
Delete an object	Select an object:  • Choose Edit menu > Clear.  • Or, press Backspace or Delete.
Format an object	See Formatting and setting up field objects in Layout mode

Notes

•	When you print layouts containing panel controls, only the front-most tab panel or slide panel prints.

•	When you check spelling, only the text on the front-most panel is checked.

•	If you save records as an Excel file, only fields that are on the front-most panel are saved. If you want more control over which fields appear in the Excel file, then export records instead. See Exporting data from FileMaker Pro.

•	The objects on a tab panel or slide panel have their own stacking order within that panel. See Moving objects forward or backward on a layout.

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You can define a custom tab order for objects on a tab panel or slide panel. However, when you press the Tab key, you navigate only to objects on the front-most panel. If you want to automate navigation to another panel, use the Go To Field script step and specify a target field that is on the panel you want to bring to the front. For information on tab order, see Setting the tab order for data entry.

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If a script step specifies a field that is not on the front-most panel, FileMaker Pro selects that field and moves its panel to the front. If, however, the field also appears on the layout and the script locates that field first, the panel does not move forward. To have the panel move to the front in this situation, assign an object name to the field that’s on the panel and use the Go to Object script step to locate that instance of the field.

•	To ensure that objects on a panel are resized along with the panel, specify resize settings for both the panel and the objects. See Setting auto-resize options for layout objects.

•	You can format the appearance of one or more tab panels or slide panels to be conditional (for example, format a tab panel to appear red when a certain condition is met). See Defining conditional formatting for layout objects.

Related topics 

Drawing and inserting objects on a layout

Placing and removing fields on a layout

Selecting and working with objects on a layout

Formatting panel controls