Why this matters
As you build scenes in Synthesia, you’ll add text, media, avatars, and shapes - also known as assets. Knowing how to select and group assets makes it easier to move things around and keep your layout organized — especially as your scenes grow.
This article covers the core skills you need to arrange content on your canvas.
Select assets on your scene
Select a single asset
Select directly on the asset in the canvas.
Select multiple assets
Hold down Shift and click each asset you want to select.
Select all assets in a scene
Click anywhere on the canvas, then press:
⌘ + A on Mac
Ctrl + A on Windows
Select overlapping or hidden assets
Right-click anywhere on the canvas.
Choose Select from the top of the menu.
Hover over any item in the list to highlight it in the scene.
Click the item in the list to select it.
Group assets together
Group different assets within a scene to manipulate them together.
To group assets in a scene
Hold the Shift button on your keyboard.
Select the assets you wish to group.
Right click on your scene to open the menu.
Select Group (or the Keyboard shortcut ⌘ + G on Mac Ctrl + G on Windows)
💡 Not able to group several assets together? This could be due to one item being a locked asset, which cannot be grouped.
✍️ If you see the error "An animation's trigger inside this group was deleted," ungroup the assets, fix or remove the affected animation trigger, then regroup them.
To ungroup assets
Select the asset group.
Right click your selection to open the menu.
Click Ungroup (or the Keyboard shortcut ⌘ + G on Mac
Ctrl + G on Windows)
What's next?
📚 Once you’re comfortable selecting and grouping assets, you can learn how to lock elements and tidy your layout to keep scenes clean as they become more complex.