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Align to Key Object not working in Illustrator 2020 (24.2)

Contributor ,
Jun 16, 2020 Jun 16, 2020

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Why change what has always worked so well?

Trying to vertically/horizontally align objects to separate them equally no longer works the way it has for the last 20 years, so, now what?  When I try to align object it is requiring a "key object", this is not helpful at all and please tell me there's a way to re-set this back to a legacy setting? 

 

{Renamed by MOD}

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Draw and design , Performance , Tools

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correct answers 6 Correct answers

Adobe Employee , Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

Hi Everyone,

 

We have fixed this bug in our latest release – v 24.2.1 which is available worldwide now. Thanks for your patience on this.

 

Please note that after upgrading you might still see that Align To sets itself to Align to Key Object. If you see this, please manually set the Align To to the required setting, and this reported bug will not happen again. You'll need to this one time only.

 

The reason Align To might get set to Key Object after update is because Ai remembers your last Alig

...

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Adobe Employee , Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

Hi all,

 

Sorry about the trouble this issue has caused. We've fixed this in the latest release. Please update Illustrator to v24.2.1 to get this fixed.

Here's a link with more details: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/40681714-align-to-key-object-automatic-selection-in-align-p

 

Regards,

Srishti

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Adobe Employee , Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

Hi there,

 

Sorry about the trouble this issue has caused. We've fixed the bug with Align tool in the latest release. Please update Illustrator to v24.2.1 to get this fixed.

Here's a link with more details: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/40681714-align-to-key-o...

 

Regards,

Srishti

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Adobe Employee , Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

Hi all,

 

Sorry about the trouble this issue has caused. We've fixed this in the latest release. Please update Illustrator to v24.2.1 to get this fixed.

Here's a link with more details: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/40681714-align-to-key-o...

 

Regards,

Srishti

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Adobe Employee , Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

Hi there,

 

Sorry about the trouble this issue has caused. We've fixed the bug with Align tool in the latest release. Please update Illustrator to v24.2.1 to get this fixed.

Here's a link with more details: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/40681714-align-to-key-o...

 

Regards,

Srishti

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Adobe Employee , Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

Hi there,

 

Sorry about this trouble. We've fixed the bug with Align tool in the latest release. Please update Illustrator to v24.2.1 to get this fixed.

Here's a link with more details: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/40681714-align-to-key-o...

 

Regards,

Srishti

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replies 177 Replies 177
New Here ,
Jun 26, 2020 Jun 26, 2020

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Hiya Folks, 

I recently updated to the new Illustrator update and have encountered an issue with the Horizontal and Vertical Distribute Center button and would like to know if there is any way to fix the issue.

When I want to distribute numerous shapes evenly I select them and hit the Distribute Centre button but instead of evenly distributing the shapes, they now all gather in the center is if I pressed the centre align button.

Has anyone else enountered this problem? Any advice as to how to remedy this?

Cheers

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Community Expert ,
Jun 26, 2020 Jun 26, 2020

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Align&Distribute has a bug and the engineers are already working on it.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 29, 2020 Jun 29, 2020

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Yes same...hundreds of objects I'm currently having work with on deadline...highly enjoyable. 

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 29, 2020 Jun 29, 2020

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Figured it out. They launched with "key object" as the default. Look at the button to left of the align buttons...change to "align to selection". Why they would launch with that is beyond me. I'm sure people use it...but not me.

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New Here ,
Jun 29, 2020 Jun 29, 2020

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Madam_Bomb -

 

THANK YOU for figuring this out!

 

This has been a pain in my side ever since I updated.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

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Hi all,

 

Sorry about the trouble this issue has caused. We've fixed this in the latest release. Please update Illustrator to v24.2.1 to get this fixed.

Here's a link with more details: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/40681714-align-to-key-o...

 

Regards,

Srishti

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New Here ,
Jun 26, 2020 Jun 26, 2020

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After updating Illustrator to version 24.2 (Latest version. June 2020).

'Align to key object' seems to be a basic option for aligning when I select multiple objects on my project.

 

Problem is, once the 'Align to Key object' is activated it stays on even though I had clicked once more on the 'key object' to remove the key object selection.

 

The only way to change is to go up to the panel and select on other options by clicking a drop-down menu.

 

Is there any way I can make the changes to the settings like the previous version?

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Community Expert ,
Jun 26, 2020 Jun 26, 2020

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Hi,

This is know bug and Adobe team is working on it. For more details you can read the following thread.

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/align-to-key-object-not-working-in-illustrator-2020-24-2/...

 

Best regards

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Adobe Employee ,
Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

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Hi there,

 

Sorry about the trouble this issue has caused. We've fixed this in the latest release. Please update Illustrator to v24.2.1 to get this fixed.

Here's a link with more details: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/40681714-align-to-key-o...

 

Regards,

Srishti

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New Here ,
Jun 26, 2020 Jun 26, 2020

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Anyone have issues with the alignment tools in the newest version of Adobe Illustrator (2020)? The alignment tools seem to be all screwed up. 'Align left' will go right, right goes left and the new one is that 'distribute' crams everything end to end. Is there a setting that makes everything the opposite that was before the update?

 

Thanks!

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Community Expert ,
Jun 27, 2020 Jun 27, 2020

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It's a bug and the engineers are working on it already.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

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Hi there,

 

Sorry about the trouble this issue has caused. We've fixed this in the latest release. Please update Illustrator to v24.2.1 to get this fixed.

Here's a link with more details: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/40681714-align-to-key-o...

 

Regards,

Srishti

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Contributor ,
Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

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The latest update to Illustrator v24.2.1 has resolved this issue, the alignment is back to normal as far as I can tell from my end.  I did have to reboot my computer to see the update in Adobe Creative Cloud desktop, after installing the alignment tool is working fine. 

 

Thank you! 

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 30, 2020 Jun 30, 2020

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Thank you for the update. However the problem is only partly fixed. Selecting multiple objects still frequently selects one object as a key object reguardless if I follow the outlined in the link you posted. I know you all are working on this, and thank you for that, but the problem is still there.

It's not all the time, but now it is more random. I've tried to narrow down what exactly causes it but have been unable to do so. I think it mostly happens either when I'm selecting many different aligning types in quick succession, or if I am doing other things in Ai and then come back to the alignment tool.

For clarity, I have closed the program, downloaded the update, and am now seeing the bug still after re-opening the program.

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 01, 2020 Jul 01, 2020

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IT DOESN'T WORK! Upgraded at 24.2.1, if I select two or more objects, there are one of them selected as a key yet. THIS IS NOT GOOD AFTER YEARS OF WORKING WITH THE SAME METHOD!

 

Each update, a DISASTER!

 

PD

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Community Expert ,
Jul 01, 2020 Jul 01, 2020

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Quoting from the link posted above:

 

We have fixed this bug in our latest release – v 24.2.1 which is available worldwide now. Thanks for your patience on this.

Please note that after upgrading you might still see that Align To sets itself to Align to Key Object. If you see this, please manually set the Align To to the required setting, and this reported bug will not happen again. You’ll need to this one time only.

The reason Align To might get set to Key Object after update is because Ai remembers your last Align To on subsequent launches as well. So, if your last Align To was Key Object before quitting/upgrading, after first multi-selection, it will set itself to Key Object. After you manually change it one-time, it will work fine.

You can update to the latest release using Creative Cloud desktop App: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/creative-cloud-updates.html

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 01, 2020 Jul 01, 2020

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.

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New Here ,
Jul 15, 2020 Jul 15, 2020

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FIX IT! my god im going insaine having to click this crap everytime.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 15, 2020 Jul 15, 2020

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I'm not seeing a problem after updating to 24.2.1. What version are you using?

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New Here ,
Jul 16, 2020 Jul 16, 2020

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This isn't actually fixed. I am running the latest release v24.2.1. I never use Align to key object and reset it to selection per your instructions and it worked great! But a few days later, I restarted Illustrator and align defaulted back to key object.

I really hope you guys will continue to work on this. thx

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 27, 2020 Jul 27, 2020

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Reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaallyyyy anoyyiiiiiing!

 

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Adobe Employee ,
Sep 01, 2020 Sep 01, 2020

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Hi all,

 

We have recently released an update for Illustrator 2020 (v 24.3) which contains some stability fixes. If you are not already on v24.3, then we recommend you to update to latest version and share your observations with us. 

 

Regards!

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New Here ,
Sep 24, 2020 Sep 24, 2020

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Ok, Its been 24 days since you've posted about the stability fixes and yet this align issue is still a problem. I'm on 24.3 and I cannot get that Align to Artboard (why is that even a thing?) to return to the previous default of Align to selection. I've tried in both the Align window and in the tool bar. I've quit, restarted, changed the pref back to Selection, but as soon as I open a file, it defaults back and will NOT change when selected.

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Community Expert ,
Sep 24, 2020 Sep 24, 2020

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One change I have noticed between v23 and v24.3 is that when I have a single object selected, the align option is always Align to Artboard. This makes sense as you can't align a single object to selection. But as soon as I select multiple objects, it changes to my previously-used setting of Align to Selection (as it should after the 24.3 fix).

 

If you're seeing something different, there may be a further problem that requires contacting support (assuming you have already reset preferences and reinstalled).

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Explorer ,
Sep 29, 2020 Sep 29, 2020

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Aligning objects and the alignment tools in general are probably Adobe Illustrator's most anemic features. The lack of being able to intuitively select an object, then select another object, click align vertically or horizontally and have that object align to it (key object) fails across the board. Also, why is there still no feature to take two objects and center them on their axis via [X/Y] with the click of a single icon (+ button). This is so counterintuitive, it isn't even funny... yet I've been ignored by the Adobe tech team (pre-release team) for the last decade.

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