Illustrator randomly selects unrelated objects

About once a day, when I click on an object with the direct selection tool, the bounding box will be way larger than it should, implying another object on another artboard is included in the selection.
This happens when the object I am selecting is NOT grouped with anything else. Moreover, is seems buggy because the mystery object doesnt have its "edges" visible the way it would if it were legitimately selected.
I can deselect all, but then anything I click on, the selection's bounding box is expanded to include the mystery object. The only way I have found to deal with it is to drag a corner of the bounding box, then undo, and then click off again. Then Voila! I am able to select my object (or any other) without the mystery selection happening.
I use clipping masks a lot, as well as many artboards, and have wondered if it's related to this, as the mystery objects are sometimes masked images, and often on another artboard. However, the mystery objects are not always masked.
Anyone else having this weird problem??
I had it with CS5, and hoped it would go away with CS6, but it has not.

Ok, here is the first screen shot I've been able to get.
I know you can't see much at the full screen here since it's too small, so here's a closer look:
You can see above that the text box upper left is selected. That's the one I clicked on. Its edges are visible, and it's shown as selected in the layers panel. However the bounding box is much larger, yet no object it goes around has edges showing. Here are some zoom-ins of the same screen:
This last one shows that the bounding box seems to go around this text box ("webcast series"), yet it's not truly selected. This box has nothing to do with the one I actually clicked on, and moreover, no matter what I clicked on, the bounding box would wrap around this too.
So, I did what I always do, and grabbed a handle and dragged. It resized BOTH my "science of relevance" text box and the "webcast series." When I hit release the handle, then undo, everything goes back to normal, and I can click on any other object again without it selecting the ghost object. They go back to being perfectly unrelated to each other.
So weird!

Similar Messages

Illustrator CC Allowing Direct Tool and Selection Tool to Only Select Some Objects at Random

Whenever I try to select any object I've created, some will show that they can be selected while others are not available to be selected for no apparent reason except at random. This happens regardless if all my layers are unlocked.

I just attempted the UNLOCK ALL option, but I saw that it was unavailable. I'm almost certain that this might be a possible glitch. One of my pieces that was having a lock issue like all the others, has for whatever reason unlocked itself and every object is now selectable. I did nothing out of the ordinary routine for this change to happen.

Illustrator hanging or hesitating when I select an object

Hey guys, I've got a question and I know that I can't be alone on this.
I've been having an issue for the last few months with Illustrator CC hesitating when I select an object. It happens randomly. I could be selecting text, an image, a shape, an anchor point, anything.
Here's what happens:
I'll select an object with the direct selection tool and (without holding down the mouse button) move my cursor on to the next object.
Instead of being selected, there will be a noticeable delay, and after about half a second, the object that I just selected will follow my cursor as if I had clicked and dragged and then released.
Mostly it happens when I'm selecting multiple objects to do a move or a group or just something to a few things, but it doesn't only happen with multiple objects. Every time it does happen, I have to cmd+z, and reselect everything. This is super annoying when I've just spent a good amount of time direct selecting some anchor points and I have to go all the way back and do it over. This is absolutely destroying my workflow.
Also, I know it's not hardware related.
I have a brand spanking new 2014 MBP 15 inch retina. 16gigs ram, core i7, the whole shebang. Apple recently (yesterday) gave me this machine in replacement for one of identical specs, because I and they determined that some other things shouldn't be happening that were happening. Now, I don't believe this is the case anymore as I've just opened up illustrator for the first time and whaddya know. I was having a bunch of other problems with that other computer, and I thought this was just another symptom.
I use illustrator all day. I've been using it for years, on much less powerful machines. I have a 2011 dell at home that I prefer using now because of this problem. I'm not doing anything ram intensive, and it doesn't only happen on large illustrator documents. It happens in Mavericks and Yosemite. I'm all the way updated in everything. I'm not using a fancy mouse or wacom, and it happens with the trackpad as well.

It's a Mac retina display issue. Adobe seem to have been unable to optimise their products for retina displays yet...
See this thread also: Illustrator CC 2014 extremely choppy. Please help.

How, in Illustrator CS5, can I select all objects with three points (or nodes)?

I am quite new to Illustrator, but it seems this should be simple. (It is trivial in CorelDraw X4: After selecting an object with three nodes, I go to Edit > Find and Replace > Find Objects > Find objects that match the currently selected object, and navigate through the remaining menus.)
In Illustrator CS5, the options under Select > Same do not seem to include selecting all objects with the same number of nodes as the currently selected object.
Double-clicking on the Magic Wand Tool also fails to provide such an option.
Thank you for any help.
P.S. Also useful would be knowing how to add other criteria to this search, e.g. how to select all objects with three points *and* the current fill color.

There is a script that can select "less than x points"
Kelso Cartography

Is there a way to shift select multiple objects in layer palette, not just highlight multiple object

Hi,
Is there a way to shift select multiple objects in layer palette, not just highlight multiple objects?
I would want to do this when I have a bunch of objects hidden under some other objects on the artboard. This feature is available in PSD, so I assume Illustrator should have it.
Thanks!

Thanks for the reply, Harron.
I'm using CS4 & below.
Highlighting object - click on object in layers palette & it turns blue
Select object - click on object in layers palette to the right of the circle, which creates a square, and selects the object on the artboard
How do I shift-select multiple objects in the layers palette...select 50 objects with a click, then a shift-click? Shift-select works for highlighting, but not selecting. On most programs shift-select is used to grab a bunch of stuff...:0)
In the past I have inadvertently selected multiple objects in the layers palette, by somehow alt?-dragging over the layers...or something...I can't re-create it.

A simple selection of objects behind and much more

Selecting things under a different object in the Illustartor is sometimes very annoying.
For proper selection of objects was invented several tools. Please use them alternately depending on the situation.
- outline mode
- preferences = object selections by patch only
- menu Lock = lock selection, All artwork above other layers
+ isloate mode
+ smart guides
+ layers (pity that to this day can not enable the option automatically locates the object)
But still the selection of one object over time requires a lot of time and clicking. Especially if they are just above or below.
The Blender is such a great option. According to me, works well and is easy to use. You can work on hundreds of superimposed objects, and continues to act quickly. it is not perfect but I would very I would see in Illustrtaor. However, this requires a better reflection of the current use of the objects in Illustrator than it is today.
New Method of Selection:
1. Click on an object once and you select an object on top,
2. for any re-clicking LBM selects an object underneath. Simple, fast and understandable.
+. By clicking and selecting objects at the same time watching a dream in which Appearance palette name and see what properties of the selected object.
+. Adding to the selection or subtraction:
         - When I have selected the correct object can click on the layer name
          - Layer palette displays a view of all layers
          - New: Automatically expanding palette view to show the structure of the objectindicated in the structure of the layers and stack.
          - Now I can easily add or subtract to the selection of other objects or select just another object.
Important to work with this method to modify the interface illustartor.
1. Palette Appearance must expand and show more things. For example, as in this description:
    http://forums.adobe.com/message/3024803#3024803
2. This rapid work with objects should also improve the Illustrator interface and make it more useful.
     Quick change opportunity to give a name or a group or object.
     Even now it is missing this opportunity. Even now it is missing this opportunity. For example, click and change the name in these views:
     One Clik and change name of layers or object or group or patch...
Note. If it can be easily and quickly rename objects. RBM is an option on the menu will show that the category of the popup list of objects under the cursor.
It would be enough to click on the object and would be selected. Super for me!
3. New. The new functionality.
     - Appearance palette retains the settings of the object was last selected. Just as color palette ikon "Out of... Click to correct".
The appearance palette, she could be named: "Last appearance use. Click to Add or Click+Alt to show".
     - This allows me to select a different object, and quickly give it the properties of the previous one.
     - Or click on the icon of the previous appearance when they are showing up and I choose only the one I want to use the new facility, eg by drag & drop the icon of the appearance of the currently selected object. — Something like a story last selected object appearance to choose to use the newfacility.
Or better. Drop-down list to the history of recently used names of objects.
The choice would result in giving the highlighted current object stored Apperance.Alt + Click does not change the selected object apperance just simply list Apperance with the possibility of drag and drop individual features in the current Apperance select object.
Appearance to such a list could choose to display in the view layers palette by clicking on the icon Apperance.
Of course, the idea presented is not conclusive, show just the way we work withillustartor expect from a modern program.
After the present work in Illustartorze are really very complex and currentlydevotes much time on it just to check something.
Currently Illustartor reminds me of a Christmas tree with different ideas than theprofessional tool for my daily earning.
I spend my time like other colleagues on this forum because I support the idea, and Adobe Illustrator.
I hope someone appreciates it. I've been looking around for an idea for anotherprogram to work with vectors.

and...

Illustrator CS - Selection Tool not working correctly

Hi all...
A customer of ours has an odd Illustrator CS problem. When she tries to use the Selection Tool to select any item, it auto-selects everything. Even if she uses the selection box by dragging the cursor over anything, it selects all the different items in the image.
Has anyone seen this or fixed it before?
Many thanks!

How about this?...
With the selection tool/black arrow tool, you can select the object, change the color or opacity and move it...but can't un-group it.
With the direct select tool/white arrow tool, when you try to select an individual shape to make slight changes to the path...the anchor points will show up as you mouse over them, but nothing shows when you click on the path.
When drawing a new shape with the pen tool, the anchor points don't show as you draw the shape. No handles appear...but the shape shows up. It's like feeling your way around a dark room on instinct.
...and it's only doing this in one particular file. When another file is opened all the quirks listed above do not happen. Each tool works as it should.

Random Numbers with Objective-C

Hey Guys,
I'm creating a blackjack program and I need to randomize 52 numbers, ensuring not to repeat any number.
I know I can use the following to generate a number between 1-52, but I need the to eliminate the possibility of the same card being drawn twice:
cardNumber = arc4random() % 52 + 1;
Any idea on how I would do this? Code example would be helpful!
Thanks,
Justin

Hi Justin -
Justin Carman wrote:
I'm creating a blackjack program and I need to randomize 52 numbers, ensuring not to repeat any number.
I would initialize an array (the deck) with the card values, then use your random number as the index into the array. Each time a card is chosen just remove its value from the deck and decrement the modulus of the random numbers. NSMutableArray makes a nice deck for this purpose since its count is automatically decremented each time a value is removed. E.g.:
// AppController.m
#import "AppController.h"
#define N_DECK 52
@implementation AppController
@synthesize cardArray; // @property (nonatomic, retain) NSMutableArray *cardArray;
- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification {
self.cardArray = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:N_DECK];
- (IBAction)newDeck:(id)sender {
[cardArray removeAllObjects];
for (int i = 0; i < N_DECK; i++) {
[cardArray addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:i+1]];
// NSLog(@"newDeck: cardArray=%@", cardArray);
- (IBAction)getCard:(id)sender {
// check the array
int count = [cardArray count];
assert(count <= N_DECK);
if (count < 1) {
NSLog(@"getCard: Empty deck");
return;
NSLog(@"getCard: count=%d", count);
// select a card from the array
int index = arc4random() % count;
NSNumber *selected = [cardArray objectAtIndex:index];
NSLog(@"getCard: index=%d selected=%@", index, selected);
// print the value of the selected card
int card = [selected intValue];
NSLog(@"getCard: card=%d", card);
// remove the selected card from the array
[cardArray removeObjectAtIndex:index];
// note selected NSNumber object has been released
// NSLog(@"getCard: cardArray=%@", cardArray);
@end
For extra credit you might want to wrap the above in a custom Deck class.
Hope that helps!
- Ray

When I select an object it lags for about 8 seconds.

When I select an object it lags for about 8 seconds. It doesnt happen when I click & drag to select, only a direct selection. Using a brand new iMac, and CC straight out of the box. Any help would be much appreciated!

SOLVED!!!!!!!!!
I googled again and found this: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2245329?start=0&tstart=0
It was a little feature called "Right Zoom" that was causing the issue. It maximises windows fully when you click on the green button (because Apple only maximises a window to the full width needed for that window, not to the whole screen).
I trashed it, and now Illustrator is working properly.
Thank you to everyone for all your help! (I did try all the suggestions above).
No computers were harmed in the making of this thread ;-)

Scripts: Select an object with a note, duplicating and applying swatch

I am trying to write a Javascript that can do the following:
1) Select an object whose note has <Object Name> (so its layers is also selected)
2) Duplicate the layer of that object
3) Rename the new layer to <Layer Name>
4) Apply a swatch to the object on the new layer (the object is only single colour)
5) Apply a new note to the object (over-writing the original note).
I also want to write a separate script that can do the following:
1) Select an Object whose note has <Object Name> (so its layer is selected as well)
2) Hide all other layers
3) Save a copy of the document with a specific name
I can do this as an Illustrator action. However, I need several different copies of the scripts where the Object Name, Layer Name, Swatch and File Name changes.
Re-recording the action to change the names is cumbersome.
I have looked at the Illustrator scripting reference, but cannot see any commands for select objects by their notes.
I was wondering if someone could give me some pointers on how to proceed (Or possibly, if feeling very generous, could write the script for me )

That's my error changing variables before posting… I can't edit that post now but this should fix it… Plus give you a very basic UI to enter a value…
#target illustrator
var n = prompt( 'Please enter your \'Note\' string…', 'muppet', 'Note finder' );
findNote( n );
function findNote( n ) {
          var doc = app.activeDocument;
          var allMyArt = doc.pageItems;
          var toSelect = Array();
          for ( var i = 0; i < allMyArt.length; i++ ) {
                    if ( allMyArt[i].note == n ) { toSelect.push( allMyArt[i] ) };
          doc.selection = toSelect;
Oh I didn't mean b4 n after running a duff script… What you do with actions so I can see what objects are duplicated where then coloured…

InDesign user studying Illustrator! (selection question)

Hi,
I'm trying to learn Illustrator (taking an online class in it). I've used it a bit for editing, but I've never worked primarily in it. I'm mostly an InDesign user, but I want to know Illustrator a lot better too.
I've got a question about selecting items on the artboard, and I'm struggling with how to word it, but here goes:
When selecting objects on the artboard, is there a method of selection equivalent to what happens when you repeatedly click in InDesign while holding down the Ctrl key? Repeatedly clicking in InDesign allows you to select the object below where you've clicked (if you have several overlapping objects) but is NOT the same as using the menu option for "Next Oject Below." I've always been confused by this difference, but I'll see if I can explain it: "Next Object Below" selects the next object in the stacking order regardless of where it is on the page. Whereas holding the Ctrl key and clicking repeatedly selects the next object directly below the point where you've clicked (and nowhere else on the page). Is there an equivalent to that type of selection in Illustrator?
Thanks, Phyllis

No, it's not your machine; I get the same behavior as you, Phyllis.
The thing is: The desired behavior is dependent upon the location of a
mouse click, not the position of a selected object.
An Action can reference the current selection. But I doubt very seriously that the Action feature goes and gets the
most recent mouse click coordinates (even if Illustrator stores them somewhere) in order to know
where to select something if and when an Action that invokes the select next above/below command is run.
Personally, I suspect it's just another sloppy bug that the cursor menu items in question can be recorded at all. It was probably overlooked that the
names of the two
different functions are identical. When you record the one from the cursor submenu, it tries to run the function that resides in the Select menu.
At any rate, the behavior is as I stated: useless. Even if recording it as an Action worked, it would be nowhere near the clearly better funtionality of other programs (one of which Adobe owns). The difference is that cycling through the stack
under the cursor should not be invoked by a
keyboard shortcut per se, but by a keyboard
modifier that alters the behavior of a click that occurs while the key is held down.
See Freehand for an example of this simple feature done right.
JET

Prompt user to select multiple objects within an action

Hi there,
In illustrator, is it possible to select multiple objects within an action or prompt the user to do so when needed ?
I know about the note trick but I am not quite happy with this one. I would like another solution if there is any.
Thanks !!

In order for a macro (Action) or script to select something, it has to have access to some criteria by which to target the object(s). Actions are much more limited in this regard than scripts, but there are some "hooks" you can employ.
For example, Actions will record the assignment of a Note in the Attributes palette. So if your Action at least starts with the object(s) of interest selected, you can take that opportunity to record the entry of a string in the Note field. Thereafter, if the object(s) become deselected, the Action (or another Action) can re-select them by means of the Select Object(s)... step. When manipulation of the target object(s) is done, you can record changing its note to nothing, to prevet its being seleced by the same Select Object(s)... step later.
JET

Selection of object problem

Hello. I am pretty new to Illustrator and I am frankly pretty easily frustrated. I've only used Photoshop in the past.
Here is my problem. I've made a logo in Photoshop but "strokes" sucks, and I want a sharpened edge. Therefore I want to do "Offset Path"
But I can't select the option, and furthermore select my object the way I see it done in tutorials.
Here's a photo of what I mean, that I can't get a proper selection around the logo itself.
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y307/OfficerNice/fuckinglogo_zpsta2e2mpy.png

don,
Offset Path only works with vector paths.
You may Image Trace the logo, having Ignore White ticked, and then expand the Image Trace. After that you can use Offset Path.
The question is whether you will get the clean and crisp appearance that way.
You may consider redrawing with the Pen Tool on top of the locked raster image.

Illustrator CS6 - Selection Tool drag lag?

Does anyone else experience lag when dragging the Selection Tool around (for instance, when dragging to select multiple objects on the screen) in Illustrator CS6? When I drag the Selection Tool, Illustrator takes a second to show the dotted line. It doesn't prevent me from working, but it is pretty annoying.
The weird part is, it only seems to happen when I create a new document using a "Video and Film" profile (any of the sizes). When I create a new document using a "Print" profile or "Web" profile (again, any size), the Selection Tool acts fine— there's no lag.
I'm on an iMac 3.4ghz 32gb ram, so I don't think it could be the computer itself.
Any help would be appreciated!
Derek

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the tip! I tested out creating a new document with no preset profile, and it worked— no Selection Tool lag. I guess the problem I was encountering was only specifically with the "Video and Film" profile, so I'll just avoid using that. From now on, I'll stick to creating a custom profile when making a new document!
Thanks,
Derek

Delete multiple Layers by selecting multiple object?

Hi Designers,
I'm going to connect my AI file to After effect.
So I had to create lots of layers in order to edit them seperatly in After effects.
But it seems like my amount of layers are too large because AE always crashes (not responding -> Force quit)
So I wanna break some stuff down in multiple AI files, but I don't wanna go and select every layer and delete it.
That would take too much time.
Is there a way to select the multiple objects in Illustrator and delete that but also its layer its in?
Thank you!

MisterStylow wrote:
Delete multiple Layers by selecting multiple object?
So I wanna break some stuff down in multiple AI files, but I don't wanna go and select every layer and delete it. That would take too much time.
[Q:] Is there a way to select the multiple objects in Illustrator and delete that but also its layer its in?
You could do that via a script, here is a quick example:
// Purpose: Select multiple objects and delete them along with their layer
// Note: However, it does not differentiate sublayer structures
// Just select your desired items, then run this script snippet,
// to remove the selected items along with the layer they are on.
var doc = app.activeDocument;
for (var i = doc.layers.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
    var layerID = doc.layers[i];
    if (layerID.hasSelectedArtwork == true) {
        layerID.remove();
Hope it proves useful to your efforts and workflow. Keep us posted.

Illustrator randomly selects unrelated objects

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for