Shift+b not working on multiple mashes selected in --world outliner--

I’m trying to select multiple faces with shift+B. How ever mashes are everywhere in the level. Shift+B works only if I select mashes in EDITOR view but selecting multiple mashes in World Out liner then Shift+B is not working. It’s really silly that you can not apply one material to all the mashes in the world out liner and actually have to look for each mash in editor. That’s really time consuming and a bit silly. There’s got to be some one complaining about these cause of such time loss. If you think I’m being silly then please help me understand what I’m doing wrong. Thanks to the one!