Photoshop CS6: selecting all shapes contained inside a rectangular area

Question

In PowerPoint, Visio, and many other programs, there's a "rectangle selection" mode which allows selecting a group of objects by drawing a rectangle with the mouse. All objects which are fully contained within that rectangle are included in the selection. Objects which are not fully contained within the rectangle are not selected.

Does Photoshop CS6 have a similar feature for selecting a group of vector shapes spread across multiple shape layers? I know how to use the Direct Selection tool to select a single vector shape, but not how to select multiple shapes based on their position on the page.

I tried Googling on "cs6 multi-select shapes" and many other similar queries and got nothing useful, but I'm sure there's an easy solution that I've overlooked.

Answer 1

No such feature exists in Photoshop.

Answer 2

That's not possible, I'm afraid.

It's not as good, but you can use the Move Tool (V), and shift-command-click to select multiple layers at once.

I'd really love Illustrator's lasso selection tool.

Answer 3

Yes you can do that . Choose "Move tool" (at the top of the tool box). And then at the top line of the screen (right under the menus) you'll see "Auto select" option. Check the box next to it, on the left side, to make it active and then on the right side of "Auto select" you'll see drop down menu ...choose "group"

Answer 4

And I forgot - then you'll use "move tool" as selection tool. Basically draw rectangular area with "move tool" above the layers you want to select as "group" and all the layers inside that rectangular will be selected.