FL Studio is famous for its "clicky" workflow. You click everything. But when you need to move 50 hi-hat notes at once, clicking them one by one is painful.

Here is how to select things like a power user.

1. The Golden Rule: Hold Ctrl

In FL Studio, Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) is the "Select" modifier.

• Ctrl + Click: Selects a single note (and keeps previous ones selected).
• Ctrl + Drag Box: Draws a red box. Anything inside gets selected. This is the #1 way to grab a group of notes.
• Ctrl + A: Select All.

2. The Magic Lasso (Hidden Feature)

This is a secret setting that most pros turn on immediately.

1. Go to Options > General Settings.
2. Under "Input", check "Click-and-hold & special gesture functions".

Now, go to the Playlist or Piano Roll. If you Circle your mouse quickly around a group of notes (without clicking anything!), they will magically get selected. It feels like casting a spell. Once you get used to it, you can't go back.

3. Selecting by Pitch / Color

Imagine you have a complex melody with chords and bass all in one pattern. You want to delete just the C# notes.

• Click a key on the piano keyboard (left side): This selects ALL notes of that pitch in the entire clip.
• Shift + C: This selects all notes currently matching the selected "Color Group" (MIDI Channel).

4. Timeline Selections (The Red Bar)

In the Playlist (Arrangement view), you often want to loop a section.

• Ctrl + Click on the Bar Numbers (Top): This makes a red time selection. When you press Play, FL Studio will only loop this part.
• Double Click the Time Marker: This removes the selection.

Summary Cheat Sheet

Action	Shortcut (PC)	Shortcut (Mac)
Box Select	Ctrl + Drag	Cmd + Drag
Select All	Ctrl + A	Cmd + A
Deselect	Ctrl + D	Cmd + D
Invert Selection	Shift + I	Shift + I

Wrap Up

Stop clicking notes one by one. It’s bad for your carpal tunnel and bad for your creativity. Hold that Ctrl key and start dragging boxes!