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Participant
July 24, 2026
Answered

Critical Bug: Objects inside Symbol shift out of place when moved with Selection Tool (Cannot Undo)

  • July 24, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 47 views

Hi everyone,
I am experiencing a critical bug with the Symbol feature in Illustrator and wanted to report it.
My Workflow: I am designing packaging cards that share the exact same layout but have slightly different content. To do this efficiently, I use Symbols that contain multiple objects.
The Issue: After placing a Symbol on the artboard, when I move it using the Selection Tool (the black arrow)
, the positional relationship of the multiple objects inside that Symbol completely breaks. The objects shift to unintended positions, destroying the layout. Additionally, this layout corruption cannot be undone using the Undo command (Cmd+Z / Ctrl+Z).
Temporary Workarounds I Found:
Replacing the Symbol: Select a different symbol temporarily, and then switch back to the original symbol. This restores the correct layout.
Avoiding Symbols entirely: Stop using the Symbol feature and expand everything, which defeats the purpose of my workflow.
Finding and correcting these broken layouts manually by eye is extremely difficult and time-consuming. I hope Adobe acknowledges this critical bug and releases a fix soon.
Is anyone else experiencing this issue?
My Environment:
Illustrator Version: [30.6]
OS: [macOS Tahoe]

    Correct answer Ton Frederiks

    @TAKU FUJIWARA ​@Kurt Gold As Kurt mentioned, it looks very much like the same problem.

    I checked the file from that post and found that the problem disappears when the Symbol Options are changed to Static Symbol.

    4 replies

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    July 24, 2026

    @TAKU FUJIWARA ​@Kurt Gold As Kurt mentioned, it looks very much like the same problem.

    I checked the file from that post and found that the problem disappears when the Symbol Options are changed to Static Symbol.

    Participant
    July 24, 2026

    Thank you for the suggestion!

    I haven't tried changing the Symbol Options to "Static Symbol" yet, but I will definitely give it a try.

    It is already nighttime here, so I will test it out tomorrow.

    Have a wonderful day!

    Kurt Gold
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 24, 2026

     

    It may be related to the issue described here:

     

    Participant
    July 24, 2026

    Thank you so much for sharing this link!

    Yes, this is exactly the same critical issue I am experiencing. I am relieved to see in that thread that the Adobe Community Managers have already successfully reproduced the bug with a sample file, and that Adobe has officially logged the bug for investigation.

    I will subscribe to that thread and wait for the engineering team to release a fix. Thank you again for your valuable help!

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 24, 2026

    @TAKU FUJIWARA I tried reproducing the prob lem by comparing a new placed symbol with an existing one that was moved, but cannot see any changes.

    Same Illustrator version, different OS (Sequoia).

    If it does not happen in new files, you may try to copy the content in a new file. 

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 24, 2026

    @TAKU FUJIWARA Does it happen with a specific document or a specific symbol or does it happen all the time? Can you share an example symbol with that behaviour? I cannot replicate this behaviour.

    Participant
    July 24, 2026

    Hello, thank you for your help.

    Are you able to open the attached "symbol_error.ai" file? I’ve also attached a movie showing what happens when I run this.

    For testing, I created a symbol made of simple shapes in a separate file, but the error didn't occur.

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 24, 2026

    Thanks, I cannot immediately reproduce it, but will have a better look later today.