CC2018 Marquee Selection - how to simply select objects and not move them

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
September 16, 2018
4 replies
1026 views

Hi all, I'm a newbie to Illustrator and having troubles learning the marquee selection tool. I am following some instructions in the Ai Classroom in a Book which seem to suggest that I can highlight objects by dragging over them using the selection tool. What is happening though is that as soon as I click and drag over the objects I wish to select, the entire group of objects is moving. I don't want to move the whole thing, I simply want to highlight certain objects within the group. Is this possible? I imagine I am doing something wrong, but I've followed the instructions to the letter and can't seem to make it work.

Thank you

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Correct answer jane-e

What page are you on in the Classroom in a Book? It it Lesson 2, the Lesson with the snowman? Or Lesson 4 with the software icon?

What else is getting selected? What is moving?

Start outside of what you want to select. Then drag to partially touch objects. If you start by clicking on an object, you will move that object as you are reporting.

If it’s the snowman lesson and if you are trying to marquee select the face and the blue box moves, it’s because you missed the instruction to lock the blue box first. If that’s not it, that please give specifics.

R

rach.d.99Author

Participant

Thanks for your help everyone, got it sorted

jane-e

Correct answer

Community Expert

What page are you on in the Classroom in a Book? It it Lesson 2, the Lesson with the snowman? Or Lesson 4 with the software icon?

What else is getting selected? What is moving?

Start outside of what you want to select. Then drag to partially touch objects. If you start by clicking on an object, you will move that object as you are reporting.

If it’s the snowman lesson and if you are trying to marquee select the face and the blue box moves, it’s because you missed the instruction to lock the blue box first. If that’s not it, that please give specifics.

Bill Silbert

Community Expert

The behavior you describe happens like this when you are in the Preview mode. Any visible object that you drag over will get selected when using a marquis. However, if you switch to Artwork mode (toggle Command (Mac)/Control (PC)-Y to go back and forth between modes) only the lines that you are marquising will get selected. The only exception to that is if there is a center point of an object that you don't want to select within the area of the marquis.

NEW EDIT: By "Artwork" mode I actually mean "Outline" mode. Sorry for the typo/mind fart.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

You need to click on some empty place in the document, then hold and drag.

If you want to select only certain objects in a group, use either the group selection tool, the direct selection tool or the lasso tool. They all work differently, please read: How to make selections in Illustrator

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