Can't get handles on anchor point

[roncurington]

First I would like to apologize if I have this in the wrong forum. The page for asking this question insist I choose a community but the only option it offered that was anything remotely illustrator was this one "Illustrator Draw". If there is a better forum maybe someone could post a link

I'm working with the pencil tool and after tweaking the path a few times, I've used the convert tool "shift - c"which first added two handles. I then grabbed on of the handles with the direct selection tool (a). The first thing it did was to lose the other handle. I then tried to go beck to the convert tool and then it lost both handles and now I can't get either handle back.

No doubt there is some nuance I'm missing but I've run out of ideas.Can someone please tell me how to make his work

[Sue Garibaldi]

Hi Ron.

I've moved your post to Illustrator

Sue.

[Bill Silbert]

When you use the (Convert) anchor point tool it can be confusing because some of its use is done by clicking or dragging on the anchor point and some of its use is done by dragging on the handles that project off of the curved anchor points. If you click on a smooth anchor point with the anchor point tool it will become a straight point. If you click and drag on a straight point with the anchor point tool then it will become a smooth point with handles projected from it that will move together when one of those handles are dragged by the direct selection tool. If you drag on one of the handles with the anchor point tool then the two handles will now become independent of one another and you can manipulate a curve on one side of the anchor point without affecting the other side (when you do so the other anchor point will not appear, but you can reactivate it by clicking on the anchor point with the direct selection tool). If you drag one of the handles with the anchor point tool on top of the original anchor point then you will create a combination point with a curve on one side (controlled with the direct selection tool) and the end of a straight line segment on the other (which, of course, has no handles).

To directly answer your question click on the anchor point with the direct selection tool to get the handles back. If you don't get them back it may be because you have accidentally transformed it back to a straight point. If that is the case then click and drag with the anchor point tool to make it a smooth point again.

[Jacob Bugge]

Ron,

You may start over, or Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z is your friend.

[Myra Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Here's some info on working with paths with some images that might help you visualize working with bezier curves How to edit and reshape paths in Illustrator . The Convert an anchor point section might be especially helpful for you.