Using Grouped Icons

What grouped icons are, how to identify them, and grouping and ungrouping icons.

Stefan Pintaric avatar
Written by Stefan Pintaric
Updated over a week ago

Our Group feature is a versatile tool that keeps multiple objects connected, enabling you to manipulate them collectively. When you move, scale, or rotate a grouped icon, all the components within it move as a cohesive unit. Let's dive into the specifics of using grouped icons.

On this page:


Using grouped icons

You can use the group functions to:

  • Modify a number of objects together (e.g. changing color of particles simultaneously)

  • Arrange or move parts of an illustration quickly

Many of the icons in our library are grouped by default to give you more control. Grouped icons can be identified by their purple bounding box.

Editing a grouped icon will display the below textbox to indicate this action.

Note: Ungrouping into individual icons is only available for Premium users. To browse plans, click here.


Grouping and ungrouping icons

To group objects together:

  1. Hold down the Shift key and click each of the objects you’d like to include in the group. Alternatively, you can drag over the objects to select them.
    Note: To deselect an object, press Shift and click on it.

  2. Then, group the object using one of the following methods:

    1. Press Ctrl + G (Mac: Command + G)

    2. Click Group from the top menu, or

    3. Right-click and select Group from the menu.

  3. A purple bounding box will appear, indicating the selected objects are grouped.

To ungroup objects:

  1. Click the grouped objects.

  2. Press Ctrl + Shift + G (Mac: Command + Shift + G), or select Ungroup from the top menu.


Editing objects within a group

To make changes to the same type of icon within a group:

  1. Double-click to enter the group. You will see the purple banner confirming that you’re making edits to a group.

  2. Right-click the first object to display the below menu, and choose "Select All Same Icons".

    1. You can change the color from a list of Color Presets or choose from more choices under Color Overlay. For more choices, see how to use our color picker tool here.

    2. You can move the grouped icons together anywhere on the canvas.

  3. Click “Exit group” on the top right of the canvas to save your changes, or click anywhere on the canvas until the purple banner disappears. Alternatively, press Escape (esc) on your keyboard.

To make the same changes to different types of icons within a group:

  1. Double-click to enter the group. You will see the purple banner confirming that you’re making edits to a group.

  2. Click on the first object to select it, and hold the Shift key to select any additional objects. Then, edit the color in the left-hand panel under Color Overlay or move it around as you’d like.

  3. Click “Exit group” on the top right of the canvas to save your changes, or click anywhere on the canvas until the purple banner disappears. Alternatively, press Escape (esc) on your keyboard.


Transforming multiple selected icons

After selecting multiple icons, you can also transform them independently, or as a group. To do so:

  1. Hold down the Shift key and click each of the objects you’d like to include in the selection. Alternatively, you can drag over the objects to choose them.

    1. To select all instances of the same icon, click the "Select same icons" tool in the top toolbar.

    2. Note: To deselect an object, press Shift and click on it.

  2. Select the "Transform" tool and choose "As a group" to rotate/resize the selection as a single unit. Or, select "Independently" to rotate/resize each object in place, independent of the positioning of other icons in the selection.

  3. Choose your desired units, and whether to lock the object's height:width ratio


If you have any questions or concerns:

Open our chat messenger (bottom-right of any BioRender web page).

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