Thanks for the replies. I was hoping there was some kind of simple solution, like a key combination that told Visio to ignore the shape under the cursor when using Area Select. Guess not.
1. I had thought of layers, but I'd never used them before and I couldn't find a quick description in the help of how to do so. In the meantime I've found some explanations and tried it out. works ok, but also inconvenient. Is there a way to get the Layer Properties dialog to stay open (similar to the Size & Position window)?
2. Also, deselecting shapes seems to be a one by one affair, and I have found some shapes, especially lines, nearly impossible to deselect. Is there a way to use Area Select to deselect?
3. A related question. Older versions of Visio clearly displayed which shapes were selected as the selections were shown individually. Newer versions indicate the entire area enclosing the selected shapes, even if there are shapes within the area that are not selected. The coloring that distinguishes selected shapes from those that aren't is not always easy to see, especially with very small shapes, and I frequently end up with unwanted shapes in selections. Is there a way to display selections the old way with current versions of Visio? I'm using 2003.