Participant

Question

Not able to use the tilde key to move patterns inside an object without moving the main object

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
April 24, 2026
4 replies
104 views

I have used Illustrator for a long time and always used a shortcut that is no longer working and I cannot for the life of me figure it out and its driving me bonkers. I use AI for fashion flats, I fill my technical drawings using live paint and if I have a pattern fill I would always use the ~ key to move patterns or “rotate”+ “~” key. I am unable to do this without moving my entire object. Ex: if I have a rib knit fill for a sleeve and need to rotate it so the fill follows the direction of the sleeve - I’ve always used “r” to rotate & then “~” key and it would rotate only the pattern fill. This however does not work and its rotating my entire object (sleeve). Does anyone know why this might be? I have done a deep dive online and tried everything with no luck. Any help with this would be hugely appreciated!

Harshika Verma

Community Manager

Hi @Kimberly36561056qo66,

Hope you’re doing well!

We would like to follow up on your issue. Were you able to resolve it? Please feel free to update the discussion with the solution that worked for you.

Also, let us know if you still need further assistance.

We would be happy to help.

Thanks,

Harshika

Kimberly36561056qo66Author

Participant

Hi Harshika,

No I still haven't been able to get this to work unfortunately. Any help would be awesome.

Thanks,

Harshika Verma

Community Manager

Thank you for getting back, @Kimberly36561056qo66. Did you try the suggestions shared in this post by our experts & employee?

Please share the details of your operating system & the version of Illustrator installed on your machine.

We will try our best to investigate the issue further.

Thanks,

Harshika

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @Kimberly36561056qo66

I’m sorry to hear about your experience. I hope Monika and Ares’s suggestions helped resolve the problem. If not, please try running Illustrator under a different administrator account (Windows / macOS) and after rebooting your computer in Safe Mode (Windows / macOS) and check if it helps.

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav

Ares Hovhannesyan

Community Expert

It also works for me for latest version. Try to reset preferences.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

Which language is your Illustrator, system and keyboard?

Kimberly36561056qo66Author

Participant

Hi Monika:

Illustrator language: English USA

System: United States

Keyboard: English United States

Monika Gause

Community Expert

That should work. I have first thought it might not work inside of live paint, but I tried it out in version 30.3 and it should work as well. Are you using the selection tool?

As always: can you try and reboot the system?

Has anything changed since you last did it? New plugin, new mouse?

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