Blender: Hold Alt to Change a Value on Every Selected Object

The Real-World Scenario

Fifty objects in a scene need the same change. Shadow casting off, or viewport display set to wire, or a subdivision level raised by one. You select them all, change the value, and it applies to the active object only. So you click through fifty objects and set fifty values.

Blender does apply a change across a selection, and has for years. The behaviour hides behind a modifier key with no visible affordance, so almost nobody finds it by exploring the interface.

The Solved Feature: Alt-click multi-object editing

The two ways to do it

Hold Alt while you click into a field, type a value, or toggle a checkbox. The change applies to every selected object rather than the active one.

The second route works after the fact. Change the value normally on one object, then right-click the field and choose Copy to Selected. Every other selected object receives the value the active object currently holds. Useful when you have already made the change and then decide it should apply everywhere.

Where it works and where it does not

Object properties, modifier settings, material values and many panel fields respond to both methods. Coverage is broad rather than complete, and the interface gives no indication of which fields participate, so the reliable approach is trying it and checking the result on a second object.

Related behaviour worth knowing at the same time. Typing an equals sign into a numeric field lets you enter an expression rather than a number, and dragging across several fields sets them together.

Why this one is worth the memory

Most hidden features save a few seconds. This one changes the cost of a whole category of work. Any scene built from repeated objects, any import arriving as hundreds of separate meshes, any lighting setup needing the same flag on every lamp becomes one edit rather than a list of them.

The pattern generalises. When a task in Blender means doing the same thing repeatedly, check for a modifier key before starting.

Pro Tips and Gotchas

• Alt collides with Emulate 3 Button Mouse, which reassigns Alt for viewport navigation. Users with the preference enabled need to disable it or use the right-click Copy to Selected route.
• On Linux, some window managers claim Alt-drag for moving windows and intercept it before Blender sees it. Changing the window manager modifier fixes it.
• Copy to Selected pushes the active object's current value out. Alt-editing sets a new value everywhere. The two differ when the active object is not the one holding the value you want.

Where This Fits

The wider discipline is covered in Blender for Motion Graphics, the pillar guide for this area. This page is entry 8 in Features You May Not Know About, a series on capabilities shipping in software you already own.