When offsetting or copying edges in a sketch, you can select a “chain” of connected edges. A chain is a connected group of edges in which each edge may be connected to, at most, one other edge at each endpoint—like the links in a chain. The chain method is available only in the Sketcher, and it allows you to select a chain of edges as if they were a single entity.

When you are performing a task that allows you to pick more than one edge from a sketch, ABAQUS/CAE displays a field in the prompt area. The field allows you to choose between the two selection methods—individually and by chain, as shown in Figure 19–5.

After you use the chain method, you can click the individually method in the prompt area and [Shift]+Click on individual edges to append them to your selection. You can also [Ctrl]+Click on edges to unselect them. In addition, you can continue to use the chain method and use [Shift]+Click to append more chains to your selection.