4.3.2.2. Changing Properties for a Group of Objects

You can change the properties of a group of objects at one time by selecting two or more objects and then selecting Objects -> Group to create a group. Once the group is created, you can set properties for all objects in the group. To do this, either double-click on the group or right-click to display the context menu and select the Properties option. The Properties: Group dialog will display. Only properties that pertain to all of the selected objects will display in the dialog. If your group contains only objects of one type, then all of the properties for that object type will display.

For example, if a group contains all basic Line objects, all of the Line properties will display in the Properties: Group dialog. If a group contains a basic Line and a basic Box, the Properties: Group dialog will only show Line width, Line color, and Line style, since these are the properties these objects have in common.

Changing properties for a group is a powerful feature of Dia. For example, say you have a large diagram and you need to change the line style of all the basic Line objects everywhere in the diagram. You can accomplish this easily with the following steps.

With this technique, you can quickly change the properties of many objects. This also works with selections containing multiple object types, as long as all of the selected objects have the properties you want to change.