One Position Edit, Many Atoms: Make the Inspector Work for You

Changing the coordinates of several atoms one at a time is slow—and it is easy to lose track of which atoms have already been edited. In SAMSON, the Inspector can apply an attribute change across a selection, making it useful for coordinated edits. The key is understanding what value the Inspector displays and what the Relative option does.

Start with a deliberate selection

Select the atoms you want to affect, then open the Inspector using Interface > Inspector, the selection’s context toolbar, or Ctrl+2 on Windows and Linux, or Cmd+2 on Mac. The Inspector organizes attributes by node type and attribute group, so the selection determines what kinds of properties you see.

Multiple atoms selected in the Inspector

One detail matters when a selection contains several nodes of the same type: the Inspector displays the attribute values of the last selected node of that type. So the position shown is not necessarily an average or a summary of all selected atoms. It is a useful reference value, but don’t mistake it for a description of the whole group.

Choose whether to preserve the group’s shape

When you edit an attribute for a selected node type, the change is applied to all selected nodes of that type. For atom positions, the Relative setting determines whether the group keeps its internal spacing.

  • Relative on: the selected atoms move together while retaining their relative positions. This is the setting to use when you want to reposition a group without collapsing its atoms onto one coordinate.
  • Relative off: the selected atoms’ positions are set to the same value. That changes their relative arrangement, so it is not the choice for moving an intact group.

Before editing, pause to ask: “Am I moving this group, or assigning every selected atom the same position?” That simple check can prevent an unexpected result. If you do make a change you don’t want, SAMSON’s history mechanism lets you undo it.

Changing positions for multiple selected atoms

Find the attribute instead of hunting for it

If the Inspector contains more attributes than you need, use its filter. With atoms selected, type position to narrow the list to matching attributes. This is especially helpful when your immediate task is a coordinate edit and you want to avoid changing a neighboring property by mistake.

Filtering the Inspector to show matching attributes

After locating the attribute, make the change and observe the structure. The Inspector is not only a place to enter values: it gives you a direct way to connect a property edit with its effect on the selected molecular model.

A quick, safer editing routine

  1. Select only the atoms intended for the edit.
  2. Open the Inspector and check that the displayed node types match your selection.
  3. Filter for the attribute you want, such as position.
  4. For a group move, keep Relative enabled; turn it off only if you intend to assign the same position to every selected atom.
  5. Review the result and undo if it is not what you intended.

This workflow is useful whenever a property needs to be changed consistently across a group. Just remember the Inspector’s two selection rules: displayed values come from the last selected node of each type, while edits apply to all selected nodes of that type.

For the full explanation of the Inspector and its attributes, visit the SAMSON Inspecting documentation.

Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON.

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