# Command Macro Conundrum to make 'group editing mode'?

**URL:** <https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/command-macro-conundrum-to-make-group-editing-mode/106513>\
**Category:** Rhino for Windows\
**Created:** [August 2, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/command-macro-conundrum-to-make-group-editing-mode/106513 "2020-08-02T04:29:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![l11](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/l11/32/224559_2.png) [@l11](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/l11)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/command-macro-conundrum-to-make-group-editing-mode/106513/1 "2020-08-02T04:29:44Z")

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'\_Isolate SelAll Ungroup  
It hides the selected group as well.  
'\_Isolate Ungroup  
It isolates the selected group, but it doesn’t ungroup even though I see Command: Ungroup in command line.

How would I create this ‘group editing mode’ using Isolate?

Eventually, I tried '\_Invert Hide SelAll Ungroup. (I also have '\_Invert Lock SelAll Ungroup) It does what I want, but it takes a few more seconds to select invert and hide because the model is very big. Isolate is quick, and I’m hoping how to make this ‘group edit mode’ by command macro, using Isolate.

Of course I also have macro commands to group back and unhide/unlock others. However, this isn’t perfect. If I have groups in a group, I can’t have the large group back after I’m done editing the inside group. Any good ideas to solve this?

I see Rhino team always responds groups is a selection and use Shift+Ctrl to select sub objects, but it won’t work when there are so many things going on in the model, especially for an architectural model with a huge set of fixtures, furniture, light fixtures, etc.

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**Author:** ![pascal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/pascal/32/479395_2.png) [@pascal](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/pascal)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/command-macro-conundrum-to-make-group-editing-mode/106513/2 "2020-08-13T21:43:57Z")

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Hello - `Isolate` looks broken, to me, in that it seems to ignore ‘Pause’ in a macro. I will investigate…  
Flipping the process around seems to work though:  
`! _Ungroup _Pause _SelLast _Isolate`

-Pascal

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**Author:** ![l11](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/l11/32/224559_2.png) [@l11](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/l11)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 9:33am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/command-macro-conundrum-to-make-group-editing-mode/106513/3 "2020-08-16T09:33:27Z")

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Thank you very much. Your Macro with Isolate works. Isolating is much faster than selecting invert with a complex and heavy model.

If you could help me understand, I have a couple questions.

1. What does ‘pause’ do?
2. The macro I set up worked without ‘!’ at the beginning. What does ‘!’ actually do?
3. I thought ‘\_’ was only needed for specifying a command, such as ‘_zoom\_selected. But '_’ wasn’t needed between two different commands. Am I misunderstood?

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**Author:** ![pascal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/pascal/32/479395_2.png) [@pascal](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/pascal)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/command-macro-conundrum-to-make-group-editing-mode/106513/4 "2020-08-16T16:47:24Z")

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Hello - please see

[https://docs.mcneel.com/rhino/6/help/en-us/index.htm#information/rhinoscripting.htm](https://docs.mcneel.com/rhino/6/help/en-us/index.htm#information/rhinoscripting.htm)

-Pascal

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![l11](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/l11/32/224559_2.png) [@l11](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/l11)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/command-macro-conundrum-to-make-group-editing-mode/106513/5 "2020-08-18T03:51:27Z")

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Thank you. I will read up the page.