Elements in your HelpXplain projects can have a number of different kinds of relationships with each other. The most important of these are nesting and grouping. It's important to understand the basic differences between these two.
The difference between nesting and grouping
Nested elements are contained inside their "parent" element. The parent element is a container. All the elements you add to slides are nested in the slide. In addition to this, you can also nest elements inside other elements.
•Nested elements can be edited individually by selecting them.
•When an element nested inside another element is selected, the parent is identified with a green highlight outline.
•Moving the parent element moves the elements inside it, but resizing a parent element does not resize its nested elements.
•Resizing a slide does resize all the elements it contains along with the slide itself.
Grouped elements are elements that are linked together invisibly so that they behave like a single element. You will generally group elements when you want to avoid accidentally changing anything inside the group and their positions in relation to each other. Effectively, a group is exactly the same as multiple selected elements.
•Normally, editing operations are applied to grouped elements as a single unit.
•You can edit a grouped element on its own by selecting it in the list on the left first, or by holding down SHIFT and clicking on it to select it.
Locking elements and groups to prevent accidental changes
You can also lock single elements or groups to prevent accidental changes while you are working on other elements. Just select the element, then select the tool in the tab, or click in the Lock column in the Objects list.
Locking is also available in the right-click context menu. Selecting the option again unlocks the selected element.
When you are working on a slide all its contents will generally be nested inside the slide. This keeps them together with the slide and also allows you easily to work on each element individually. There are several ways to nest, un-nest and change the nesting of elements.
Restrictions
•Grouped elements should be ungrouped before nesting. It is possible to nest a member of a group inside a parent outside the group. However, it is not generally a good idea because it makes interactions unnecessary complicated.
Nesting an element in another element
To nest an element inside another element, select it in the list on the left and drag it ONTO the parent element and drop it when the parent is highlighted.
 Ellipse2 has been dragged onto Callout2 to nest it inside Callout2 The list indents the nested element to show the new parent-child relationship of the elements.
Un-nesting elements
To un-nest an element, select it in the list on the left and drag it BETWEEN any two other elements and drop it when you see a blue line between the two elements. The new position also defines its position in the stacking order. You can change this with the tool in the tab, or by dragging the element up and down in the Objects list.
The new position of the element will be shown in the list.
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1.Select all the elements you want to group.
2.Select the tool in the Home tab. This is also available in the right-click context menu when you position the mouse over the selected elements in the workspace.
There are several ways to select multiple elements:
Selecting by dragging a lasso with the mouse:
Use the mouse to drag a lasso selection box around the elements you want to group. If slippy canvas in the tab is activated you need to hold down the SHIFT key to drag a selection box. This will select all the elements in the box, even if they are hidden by other elements.
Selecting by clicking:
You can also select multiple elements one after another with SHIFT+Click. This can sometimes be practical but won't work for elements hidden underneath other elements.
Selecting in the Objects list:
You can select multiple elements in the list with CTRL+Click and SHIFT+Click.
Ungrouping:
Select the group in the workspace and then select . All the elements can then be accessed individually again.
Temporary groups:
Selecting multiple items also creates a temporary group for the time the elements remain selected. You can manipulate all the items together in the same way as with a group. The temporary group remains active until you click on the canvas outside the selection.
Editing individual elements while they are grouped:
You don't have to ungroup to edit individual elements within the group. Instead, select the element in the list on the left of the editor window. If the element is covered by other elements you can make it accessible by temporarily hiding the other elements by clicking in the visibility column in the list. You can also edit an element from a group by selecting it with SHIFT + Click.
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