You can quickly locate objects you want to work with by using navigation keys together with commands for collapsing and expanding the Object Navigator. Expanding an entry in the Object Navigator makes objects visible that were previously hidden because they were in a collapsed state. Collapsing an entry hides objects that were visible in the expanded state.
Object Navigator entries are prefixed with a plus, minus, or bullet symbol that indicates whether the entry is expanded or collapsed, as follows:
+ (plus) The entry contains lower-level objects that are hidden because the entry is collapsed.
+ (grayed out) The entry does not yet contain any lower-level objects.
- (minus) The entry contains lower-level objects that are visible because the entry is expanded.
o (bullet) The entry is an atomic object that cannot contain lower-level objects.
Use the following menu commands to expand and collapse selected Object Navigator entries. These commands are valid only when the current selection has a + or - in front of it.
You can expand or collapse an Object Navigator entry by clicking the + (plus) or - (minus) symbol in front of it:
Expand/Collapse vs. Expand All/Collapse All The Expand and Collapse commands affect only entries at the level immediately below the current entry. In contrast, the Expand All and Collapse All commands are recursive, meaning that they expand or collapse entries at every level that is below the current entry.
After expanding a collapsed entry, some lower-level objects might still be hidden. For example, when you Expand a form object, all of the blocks in that form will be visible; however, the items in each block (which are at the next level down in the object hierarchy) remain hidden if they were previously collapsed. In contrast, when you Expand All, every object and node at every level under the current entry becomes visible.