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Known Participant
October 2, 2026
Answered

Unable to move selected object

I have been trying to move and drag selections and found no solution on here. When I use the select tool to move my object, it simply drags a rectangle out and then de-selects. I didn't click on a negative space. As you can see my layer was selected. The layer is unlocked.

I updated to Illustrator 2026 in hopes of resolving this, but the issue continues. When I try to edit preferences, that option in the drop-down is gone. There's only "My settings > Import / Export Settings" in 2nd image. What is going on here?

I’ve looked through dozens of other posts under the terms “select,” “move,” and “drag” and found nothing. No one seemed to have exactly this issue where I’m able to click, but it just brings up a selection rectangle and de-selects.

Kurt Gold
Kurt GoldCorrect answer
Community Expert
October 5, 2026


Dave,

you will see the exact same behaviour if you turn on Object Selection by Path Only in the application preferences. That's why I suggested to turn this option off.

In conjunction with raster images the name of the option is a bit misleading. It could be renamed as something like Object Selection by Edge Only.

20 replies

Kurt Gold
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 3, 2026


Blairn,

unlike in the Windows version of Illustrator, in the Mac version the application preferences are not located in the Edit menu. They are located in the Illustrator menu.

Open the preferences dialog, go to the Selection & Anchor Display section and deselect the option called Object Selection by Path Only.

Then try again to select and move your objects.

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Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 2, 2026

It appears as if you have a TIFF file that you opened directly. It looks selected and you will probably move the entire thing, white background and all. 

Create a new document and PLACE the TIFF file and see if it behaves better.

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David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
Known Participant
October 2, 2026

It’s a transparent file so no white background. I tried placing it in a new file and the same thing happens, unfortunately. 

 

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Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 3, 2026

Can you upload the image?

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David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
Known Participant
October 2, 2026

Also, this object was pasted in, not created in Illustrator.

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Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 2, 2026

Hello @blairn1572401

Thanks for reaching out. Can you expand the Layers panel to show the individual paths? It seems like the graphic might have been pasted as a raster image.


Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

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Known Participant
October 2, 2026

It was copied and pasted from Photoshop so it makes sense it’d be raster. Here’s the layer window showing it’s a tif file. 

Am I not able to drag and drop raster images?

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