A complex slide may contain a background image, several shapes and a small label partly covered by another object. Dragging the foreground items aside can introduce new alignment mistakes. Use a list-based selection to identify the target before changing the slide’s arrangement.

Save a copy and describe the intended edit precisely, such as correcting a label while keeping the existing diagram positions. Take note of the surrounding visual relationships so you can judge whether the edit affected anything beyond that one object.

In Keynote on Mac, use Slide Only or Navigator view, then View, Show Object List. Select the relevant slide in the navigator. The list follows the visual stack and lets you select covered or grouped objects. It excludes nonplaceholder objects belonging to the slide layout and objects nested inside a text box or shape.

If an expected item is missing, inspect the list’s type filter and search text. Clear All removes type filters; filtering affects the list, not the objects shown on slides. You can rename an item by double-clicking its name. Dragging it above or below another list entry changes its stack position.

Identify before moving

Select a plausible entry and inspect which object is highlighted on the slide. If several entries have generic names, give the confirmed target a useful descriptive name before proceeding. A name such as “Process result label” makes future selection easier than another entry called Shape.

Make the small content change without dragging the list entry. Then compare the slide with the intended edit: the corrected wording should appear while the foreground and background relationships remain intact.

If the target cannot be found, consider whether it belongs to the layout or is nested in another object. Do not create a second copy on top merely because the first object is difficult to select; that can leave two competing versions for the next editor.

Review the visible result

Run the slide at presentation size and read the changed label in context. Check neighbouring labels for accidental displacement or obstruction. If stack order was deliberately changed, inspect every overlapping edge rather than only the selected object. Keep the descriptive object name and document any purposeful layering so the next revision begins with a clear selection target instead of another round of exploratory dragging.

Reference: Apple: Keynote object list.