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cmcmorrow
Participating Frequently
February 5, 2013
Answered

Illustrator randomly selects unrelated objects

  • February 5, 2013
  • 55 replies
  • 78184 views

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.

    Correct answer BigMacca

    I have also just had this issue in what appears now to be an 8-year-old issue.

    (I'm no Illustrator expert btw).

    I solved it... through luck.

    In my case, the box was linked (somehow) to a 2-letter text box which I had moved to another layer and then hidden. Somehow this 'shadow' from the text box was left behind. I didn't see a clipping mask in the layers box. When I selected it (or more normally I selected 'off' a different object) this item was left behind.

    My suggestion is therefore: 

    Select EVERYTHING - make everything visible and unlocked.

    You may, like me, see that this phantom box is linked to a 'known' object. 

    Which I simply deleted.

    It has worked (for now!?).

    55 replies

    Show previous replies
    mrgrf
    mrgrf
    Participant
    June 5, 2015

    Hi cmcmorrow,

    I experienced the same issue today on Illustrator CC.

    Playing around with my objects I discovered that if one of the objects has a drop-shadow, when selecting this object the bounding box is much larger. If I remove the drop-shadow the bounding box behaves as expected.

    Cheers

    S
    scrambled_eggs
    Participant
    June 4, 2015

    I've experienced this same bug many, many times in both CS6 and CC. In every case, the bounding box of a selection preview extends out to include an item that is not currently selected. Using the 'deselect all' command does nothing, and every subsequent selection again expands to include the 'sticky' offending object. The best solution I've found is to make a large selection that includes the 'sticky' object, delete everthing, and then 'undo' the delete. This usually clears up the persistent selection. Super annoying.

    S
    SavannaCampbell
    Participant
    June 2, 2015

    I'm having the same problem with CC, I never had this issue with CS6, the only way i've been able to resolve the issue is completely closing out of the file and re-opening. Quite frustrating and its really wasting time and killing my workflow.

    S
    scrambled_eggs
    Participant
    June 4, 2015

    The best solution I've found is to make a large selection that includes the 'sticky' object, delete everthing, and then 'undo' the delete. This usually clears up the persistent selection. Super annoying.

    A
    andrewembassy
    Participant
    May 7, 2015

    Same issue, been having it for years. I can get it to reliably happen by:

    1. Creating a clipping mask around a linked or embedded image.
    2. Dragging a selection that includes the clipping mask
    3. Shift-dragging to unselect some items that includes the clipping mask.

    If the clipping mask is not deselected by shift-clicking on it directly then the embedded/linked item will remain 'ghost selected'. Shift-clicking on the embedded image won't deselect it, I have to click and drag the bounding box handles to resize the image, then cmd+z to undo it, which deselects it.

    I can't explain how ready I am to move on to a different program than Illustrator. This kind of bug (along with crashes, slow saving, etc.) makes my experience with the program marginal at best.

    C
    Coste16
    Participant
    February 6, 2015

    I get this issue a lot. I feel like its a memory leak thing in illustrator as it generally happens to me after I've been working for a while. The only way I fix it is by restarting illustrator. Otherwise it keeps happening and its quite annoying.

    P
    plisblegruv
    Participant
    December 18, 2014

    Just figured I'd chime in as well to add weight to this issue. Adobe hasn't responded for over a couple years which is a little disappointing. CC in Yosemite — happening more than ever. Someone on here mentioned rotating the object, which has worked for me. So has toggling the visibility of the layer but that's an inconsistent fix.

    M
    mynameiskjones
    Participant
    November 18, 2014

    This bug has frustrated me for years as well. My quick fix is to find whatever else it thinks is selected, double click into that, then exit back out. It pretty much always drops the ghost selection. HELP US ADOBE!

      C
      cmcmorrowAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      October 24, 2014

      Still experiencing this in Illustrator CC 2014, osx mavericks. Such an irritating bug.

      Adobe?

      tromboniator
      Community Expert
      tromboniatorCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 25, 2014

      I may have encountered this (CS3, CS5), but not often enough to call it a problem.Does the mystery object show as selected in the Layers Panel? With intended selection and bogus item selected, what happens when you shift-click on the intended object?

      A
      Allen Cobb
      Inspiring
      October 25, 2014

      Excellent question, tromboniator. Also, the new magnifying glass button in the layer panel ought to cycle through all selected objects. I'm not sure, though, if clipping masks might be able to get lost and not show up. Also, I never got a response to my suggestion to use View > Outline (Ctrl/Cmd+Y). We used to have problems with single control points lying around, but that's been eliminated in the last few major releases, as far as I can tell.

      Allen

      vihannes
      vihannes
      Participant
      October 10, 2014

      Same issue here and persistence for many AI versions. I'm glad I'm not the only one (so not going crazy or anything) but mind boggles that a clear bug is not solved.

      wetch
      wetch
      Participant
      July 3, 2014

      Yeah, I also have had the problem for a long while.

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