Selecting the right GameObject in the Unity scene view appears simple but can be surprisingly annoying where there’s a lot of stuff in a level. If this sounds familiar to your experience, I’d like to share my workflow solution with you:
Selection Utility on the Asset Store
The Selection Utility is a lightweight Unity tool that facilitates selecting GameObjects in the Scene view by displaying a context menu with all objects currently under the mouse cursor as a popup list.
Features
• Works with 2D, 3D, and UI objects
• Scrollable list
• Does not interfere with regular scene controls (camera pan, zoom, etc)
• Respects Unity’s builtin selection features (e.g. locked layers)
• Search by name or component type
• Component icons to identify objects easily
• Prefabs are indicated in blue
• Supports large scenes and many entries in the list
• Looks good in Unity’s light and dark skin
• Source code included
User Preferences
• Hide icons by their type (e.g. Transform)
• Global enabled flag
• Click dead zone (e.g. touchpad & accessibility)
• Search field toggle
Why do I need this?
This tool improves the default selection methods in Unity. Trying to find a GameObject in a long list within the Hierarchy window can be difficult, since names may not be perfectly descriptive for all use-cases (e.g. props are named Rock_00, Rock_01, etc). Often, it is easier to find objects by their position and context in the Scene view. However, since Unity also considers invisible and overlapping objects, it can require many clicks until the desired target is selected. With Selection Utility the same can be accomplished in typically two clicks, but it also supports a search within the spatial context of the mouse pointer.
Versions 1.1 is released with two helpful additions and a few minor adjustments:
Hover Outline
Sometimes, naming isn’t perfect and images say more than words, so now GameObjects receive a colored outline in the scene view when hovering in the selection popup. Currently, this only works in the builtin renderpipeline (URP and HDRP are unsupported) and only for 3D (meshes) and 2D (sprites). Let me know if you’re project is already on the new pipeline and if the outline is a priority for you, then I’ll prioritize getting the shaders to work.
Filters
You can filter objects in the list into the categories 3D, 2D and UI. Simple, but a big saver when working with UI that overlaps level geometry for example.
Version 1.2 is released and allows you to customize the filter toolbar. If you’re not happy with the default filters 3D/2D/UI simply register a custom delegate function to add, remove, replace or reorder the list of data filters.
The FilterModifier property is a delegate that accepts any custom function that receives and returns a list of data filters. The provided list is a copy of the default filters and can be directly modified any way that makes sense for you. The popup UI will automatically accommodate for the required space.
A DataFilter is a type that holds the name of the item in the popup toolbar and provided a function that receives a GameObject from the scene and returns true if it should be shown in the current tab. The function can be a lambda.
Version 2.0.0 is released! 
It’s been a while, but I’m finally back in business, so to say, here to keep adding new features.
- A new hierarchy tab shows the parents of the hovered GameObject, making it easier to identify objects that are named unique only within their context, e.g. “PlayButtonContainer > Button” and “CreditsButtonContainer > Button”.
- While hovering an item, press Delete/Backspace to delete it.
- While hover a prefab item, press P to enter the prefab stage
- Use the API to customize key actions
- Bug fixes for Unity versions 2021 - 6000
Next, I’ll be working on supporting the outline shader in all render pipelines.
