Empty Paths Selecting

[StrongBeaver]

I've tried all of the Select > Same options and none of them select all the empty paths as seen in the screen capture ?

[Silkrooster]

Maybe I am misunderstanding you but ctrl-a or cmd-a is select all. Did you mean unclosed paths?

[Jacob Bugge]

StrongBeaver,

How about the Select>Object options?

[StrongBeaver]

There is no option for Select > Option ?

[Jacob Bugge]

StrongBeaver,

I was referring to the options for Select>Object, the bottom (3) bit under Select Objects by characteristic here:

How to make selections in Illustrator

[Mike_Gondek]

Did you try

1. Manually select one object
2. Highlight the most unique attribute in appearance
3. Select >> same >> appearance attribute

If you are abel to post a copy of the file will be happy to try

[StrongBeaver]

I've tried the suggestions by Mike but I can't select all the square outlines for which I have and I have alot which I must remove.

[Mike_Gondek]

What happened did anything else select, or maybe too many items became selected?

I also did not see or know of a  a select >> options. Maybe Jacob can elaborate.

[StrongBeaver]

Mike the problem was as you hinted at, too many items became selected.

[Monika Gause]

StrongBeaver schrieb:

Mike the problem was as you hinted at, too many items became selected.

What do the objects have in common that none of the other objects have?

Same number of points?

unfilled/unstroked?

open?

closed?

If there is no such attribute then it will be difficult to select them.

In case you will need to combine options, such as:

All elements with 4 anchor points that are closed and unfilled, then you will need a script.

[StrongBeaver]

All the elements do have 4 anchor points that are closed but by the appearance panel they're not unfilled, rather a fill of grey. 

[Mike_Gondek]

If the fill is a unique grey that you should be able to do this. I do not know of any method to discern the total amount of points or if the path is open or closed.

You can try the magic wand,

But guessing your issue is you have other shapes with the exact same fill color, since select by appearance did not work.

[Monika Gause]

Selection by amount of points is possible with scripting.

But as long as we don't see the file ...

[Mike_Gondek]

I have at times been able to solve these issues by instead selecting what you want to keep, hiding that, and then selecting all and deleting.

If you could  describe what is different about what you want to delete, or post a copy of the file with drop box (or similar) , we could best help you.

[StrongBeaver]

I could try the hide method but the 4 anchor point shapes are quite intermixed with the shapes for which I would hide so some difficulty would possible present its self, unfortunately but I'll try Otherwise I'll post the file or unless someone has a script or what have you

[Ray Yorkshire]

It looks a right mess

How about Select > All

And on the keyboard Delete

Then start again and organise it properly ?

[StrongBeaver]

It looks a mess but there is a reason for that I've tried all the suggestions. If someone should solve it then I was doing something wrong

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Your problem are the groups.

You will first need to ungroup everything until there are no more groups. You might want to organize it with layers instead.

Then select something unfilled/unstrokes and Select > Same > Appearance.

Then Delete

[StrongBeaver]

Right the Groups