Does Illustrator keep track of the last selected element?

[Flowgun]

Well, I've been using Illustrator long enough to know that the answer is probably no. There are probably ways to write a script that keeps track of elements in a variable, but that's not the answer. that's why I'm also flagging it as a Feature request.

It just accured to me that in software like blender, there's a difference between selected elements and "Active Element", which is the last-selected element. That allows operations to happen clearly between selected elements and the active element: e.g: booleans (pathfinder), style and material transfer...
Currently, Illustrator sorts such operations by what's on top and what's at the bottom, which is not as intuitive. if I want to subtract shapes (A) from another shape B, it would be easier to select the shapes (A), then select the shape B last, and execute an operation. That's a lot more intuitive than having to sort shape B correctly, select all the elements, then choose the right operation (minus front/minus back...). 

If Illustrator keeps track of the last-selected element, then I guess writing scripts that do such things would be relatively possible.

[Kurt Gold]

You can select your objects and then click on the object you want to define as the reference object.

Is that what you are looking for?

[Flowgun]

yes 🤗

[Kurt Gold · Accepted solution]

Illustrator has the capability to set a key object when aligning and distributing objects.

Unfortunately, there is no equivalent for Pathfinder operations currently.

[Flowgun]

I think that when it comes to aligning and distributing, it just finds the position of the ones closest to the wanted side, rather than a reference object depending on what was selected last, no?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

How it aligns or distributes depends on the option selection in the lower-right section of the panel.

Choices are artboard, the selection "group", and the key object.

[Flowgun]

cool. I usually use hotkeys to align and distribute so I often forget about such options 😅