MS Paint Selection Tools

The Selection tools in MS Paint allow a specific part of the drawing to be selected — highlighted and boxed — so it can be moved, copied, deleted, or transformed independently from the rest of the canvas. Selecting the right area precisely is a fundamental skill that makes editing images much more controlled and efficient.

Types of Selection Tools in MS Paint

MS Paint offers two selection tools, both found in the Image group on the Home tab:

1. Rectangular Select

The Rectangular Select tool selects a rectangular (box-shaped) area of the canvas. This is the most commonly used selection method. Click and drag to draw a rectangle around the part of the drawing that needs to be selected.

2. Free-Form Select

The Free-Form Select tool selects an irregular, custom-shaped area. Instead of drawing a rectangle, the mouse is moved in any direction to trace around the exact shape of the object that needs to be selected. This allows very precise selection of non-rectangular objects.

How to Use the Rectangular Select Tool

1. Click the Select button in the Image group (it shows a dotted rectangle)
2. Click the dropdown arrow below it to choose Rectangular selection
3. Move the mouse to the canvas
4. Click and drag to draw a selection rectangle around the desired area
5. Release the mouse — the selected area is shown with a dashed border (marching ants)

How to Use the Free-Form Select Tool

1. Click the Select dropdown button
2. Choose Free-form selection
3. Click and drag the mouse around the object to trace a custom shape
4. Release the mouse — MS Paint connects the start and end points automatically
5. The selected area is enclosed in a dashed rectangle that fits the traced shape

Select All

To select the entire canvas at once, press Ctrl + A. This highlights everything on the canvas and is useful when the entire drawing needs to be moved, copied, or resized.

What to Do After Making a Selection

Once an area is selected, several actions become available:

Moving the Selection

Hover the mouse inside the selected area. The cursor changes to a four-sided arrow. Click and drag to move the selected portion to a new position on the canvas. The original location fills with Color 2 (usually white) after the selection is moved.

Deleting the Selection

Press the Delete key on the keyboard. The selected area is replaced with Color 2 (background colour). This is a fast way to erase large sections of a drawing at once.

Copying the Selection

Press Ctrl + C to copy the selected area to the clipboard. The original drawing stays unchanged. Then press Ctrl + V to paste it elsewhere on the canvas or in another application.

Cutting the Selection

Press Ctrl + X to cut the selected area. It is removed from its original position and placed on the clipboard, ready to be pasted somewhere else.

Transparent and Opaque Selection Mode

Below the Select button in the dropdown, two background options appear:

Transparent Selection

When moving or pasting a selection, the white areas inside the selected region become transparent. Only the actual drawn pixels move — the white background does not cover the destination area. This is ideal for moving objects that have a white background without creating white patches on the drawing.

Opaque Selection

When moving or pasting a selection, everything inside the selection box moves — including any white or background colour pixels. This can create white patches over other parts of the drawing when objects are moved.

Example: Draw a blue star on a white background. Select it with Transparent Selection enabled, and drag it over a yellow area. The star moves across the yellow area without a white box appearing around it. With Opaque Selection, a white rectangle would appear around the star, covering the yellow.

Resizing a Selection

After making a selection, small square handles appear on the edges and corners of the selection box. Drag these handles to resize the selected area before moving or copying it. This stretches or shrinks the selected pixels to a new size.

Inverting a Selection

To select everything on the canvas except the currently selected area:

1. Make a selection
2. Click the Select dropdown
3. Click Invert selection

Everything outside the original selection now becomes selected. This is useful for deleting a background while keeping the foreground object.

Deselecting a Selection

To cancel a selection without making any changes:

• Press the Escape (Esc) key, or
• Click anywhere outside the selected area on the canvas

Practical Exercise

1. Draw three different shapes on the canvas (a rectangle, a circle, a star)
2. Use Rectangular Select to select the circle
3. Move the circle to a different position on the canvas
4. Use Free-Form Select to trace around the star
5. Copy and paste the star — two stars now appear on the canvas
6. Select the rectangle and delete it using the Delete key
7. Enable Transparent Selection, select the circle, and drag it over the star to see the transparent effect

Selection skills are the foundation for more advanced editing tasks like copying, cutting, and pasting parts of images.