How can I select an object in the viewport in 2.8(1)? I have imported a large model with lots (hundreds?) of objects. The hierarchy of the model is not very logical so I am trying to fix this.

Therefore I would like to select objects in the viewport to group them. But when I click (trying both the Tweak and Select box tools), nothing gets selected. When I select an object in the Outliner, it selects (and outlines) perfectly fine.
Selecting everything through the outliner is not an option as the object names are the same: group_nnnn (nnnn being a number)

I have tried switching from 'Layout' to 'Modelling' as I read somewhere here, but switching leaves me with an empty viewport.

What am I missing here?



Edit: added a screenshot

Non-empty empties??



With selectables on and empties unchecked:
Hmm ... that's a lot of empties in the outliner ... let's hide them, uncheck empties

Also make sure that objects are selectable, enable Selectable in the restriction toggles - the one that looks like a paper airplane.



If you have checked that the objects are selectable then you need to check the View Object Types Menu has Mesh selection enabled: