[Unsolved, but giving up] Selecting within a rectangle

[dpaddy]

I'm having difficulty selecting (which I need to do so that I can group).
What would solve all my problems is some way to indicate a rectangular region and then select EVERYTHING within that rectangular region;
I've tried to hold down the mouse button, but there is an icon of a hand and dragging simply moves things around.

Clicking the individual items does not work because the wong thing gets selected which then covers up other things that need to be selected.

[keme]

You can click+drag a selection rectangle, but you have to start the rectangle on an empty spot of your drawing (where you see the background) or else you get that hand dragging an object around.

It is also possible to shift+click to select multiple items.

If objects are behind others, Alt+click will select the "next in stack".

[dpaddy]

No luck selecting with click+drag because the hand never goes away, no matter where I click.
Moreover, shift+click does not work for the reason described in my original post, and Alt+click does not work because -- or so I surmise from the behavor -- I evidently have only one "stack".
Selecting via tab will select the first thing I need to select, but then selecting the others is prevented by the problem described in my original post.

I sincerely appreciate the help, but I'm pressed for time... and so will use gimp to edit the image

Bye

[lino]

I am sorry if I am late with the answer. For others having the same problem:
it only appears that only top/biggest object is selected. Marks show us only selection boundaries, not each object selected.

Try to move selection and you will see that all objects in the area are moving together. Also, you can see the number of selected objects in left bottom corner of the screen.