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Free Plain Rectangle Tool

Contributor ,
Sep 28, 2014 Sep 28, 2014

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AdobeĀ®, in its AI CC2014 version, has introduced a new tool called the Live Rectangle. This is a really great feature but has its huuuuge limitation: it doesnā€™t snap to grids, points and objects correctly on resize!

Since we donā€™t know whether adobe is going to fix this and since there is no option to replace the Live Rectangle with the classic one (plain) by default, Iā€™ve decided to write my own plugin (available for free for personal and commercial use) which imitates behavior of the ā€˜oldā€™ Rectangle Tool. It doesnā€™t replace the Live Rectangle ā€“ it works completely independent!

My Plain Rectangle Tool correctly snaps to grids/objects/points and correctly aligns to grid/points on resize. Of course it supports the SHIFT and ALT/OPTION keys, Snap to Grid and Smart Guides options. In other words it works almost 100% the same as the Rectangle Tool we know from CC (17.1), CS6 and earlier.

The installation package (zxp) adds ā€˜Plain Rectangle Toolā€™ icon into the Ai panel (of curse you can assign your custom keyboard shortcut to it as well)

PlainRectangleTool-Ai-Toolbar-Icon.png

Note: The Plain Rectangle can be easily converted into the Live one using Object > Shape > Convert to Rectangle

Grab your copy at http://63mutants.com/subc/products/PlainRectangleTool_m01/PlainRectangleTool_m01.php and share it with your friends.

Itā€™s completely free.


Regards,

Pawel Kuc

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Adobe Employee , Oct 07, 2014 Oct 07, 2014

Hello Everyone,

With the latest update 18.1 of Adobe Illustrator CC 2014, we have fixed the snapping issues with Live Shapes. Please upgrade to the new version of AI and let us know your findings.

Thanks,

Dhirendra

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Community Expert ,
Oct 07, 2014 Oct 07, 2014

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You need to delete the settings folders with the application off. When you restart, new ones will be written.

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 08, 2014 Oct 08, 2014

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OK I went through the process one more time and deleted the settings folder with the application off, and no change. I still have the exact same issue. I can switch back to using CC but that will cause some issues also as everyone else in the company is now on 2014. I'm the only one who inherited this issue.

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 07, 2014 Oct 07, 2014

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I have updated also and still having issues. When is the next planned fix?

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New Here ,
Oct 16, 2014 Oct 16, 2014

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Hi,

I have the latest version and there are no handles to transform a Rectangle or Rounded Rectangle shape. All other shapes have bounding box when selected...

Is this going to get fixed?

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New Here ,
Oct 16, 2014 Oct 16, 2014

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I'm having the same issue as everybody else..drawing a rectangle prevents me from resizing with the anchors.

However, the workaround is to select the Live Rectangle and go to Object > Shape > Expand Rectangle and that will "fix" it. You will lose the live rectangle options under Transform but if you're like me, who cares.

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Mentor ,
Oct 16, 2014 Oct 16, 2014

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I'm not sure why people are still using this extension, since the bug has been fixed for weeks.

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New Here ,
Oct 16, 2014 Oct 16, 2014

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I have all the latest updates and while the Live Rectangle snaps to guide and all that jazz, I still dont have anchor points unless I draw a rectangle with the pen tool or expand the live rectangle. I saw in an earlier post you're on Mavericks. I'm on 10.8.5, I wonder if that's it?

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New Here ,
Oct 17, 2014 Oct 17, 2014

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jspacco,

I'm having this exact same issue and I just noticed it today.  If I use the Rectangle Tool to create a box, I don't get the bounding box tools to resize it.  When I click on it, it selects the box's control points like I've clicked it with the Direct Selection tool. 
If I create a box using perfectly snapped edges with the pen tool, the bounding box shows up around the edges as expected.

I'm using the most recent version of CC 2014 on OSx 10.7.5, so it doesn't seem to be just a Mavericks issue. 

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Adobe Employee ,
Oct 22, 2014 Oct 22, 2014

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Hello Everyone,

The Live Shapes widgets not appearing on Rectangles and Rounded Rectangles is specific to 10.7 and 10.8 OS and the same appears fine on 10.9 or 10.10. For now the workaround is to Expand Live Shapes via "Object>Shape>Expand Rectangle" or if possible update OS to 10.9 or 10.10.

This issue has been reported to Adobe Illustrator Engineers and they are investigating the issue.

Regards,

Dhirendra

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Adobe Employee ,
Dec 11, 2014 Dec 11, 2014

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Hello Folks,

Issue due to which Live Shapes widgets were not visible on Live Rectangles on 10.7 and 10.8 has been fixed in 18.1.1 update of Illustrator.

Please update your Ai 18.1.0 setups to 18.1.1. To know more about what we have delivered in this release, please take a look at: http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/whats-new.html

Regards,

Dhirendra

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 16, 2014 Oct 16, 2014

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No, it is not fixed, not for me at least and, as far as I can tell from this thread neither for a bunch of people.

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New Here ,
Jan 30, 2015 Jan 30, 2015

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Updating soft and Deleting preferences won't solve the problem. When do you plan to solve this issue?
Videos with this issue aligntopixelgrid2.mp4 (on Mac) and s9FmznMqfD.mp4 (on Win)
PS It is very strange that a company like Adobe so long to solve such a  big problem!

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 29, 2015 Jul 29, 2015

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Hi Artem,

The problem you have mentioned here has been noted at our end and Engg. will review this request. To give you a background here, this was done to avoid breaking the live shapes in Ai. So, as soon as you create rounded corners in a plain rectangle, then align to pixel grid option breaks the live rectangle. So, as a workaround here, you can first create your rectangle shapes and then plan to use option "Align to Pixel Grid" at the end.

Please let me know if it helps.

Thanks!

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 08, 2014 Oct 08, 2014

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Deleting preferences won't solve the problem (well at least it didn't solved for me) and besides you should be careful and backup your preferences or else you will loss your customized workspaces, shortcuts, etc.

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Mentor ,
Oct 15, 2014 Oct 15, 2014

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> you should be careful and backup your preferences or else you will loss your customized workspaces, shortcuts, etc.

You won't lose them; they just won't be selected by default. Workspaces and shortcuts reside in separate files.

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 15, 2014 Oct 15, 2014

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Well, in my experience I lost them, luckily I always keep a backup

I really not sure what or when I did it, since each new version of Adobe product saves preferences in a different location (at least in spanish ES version) so can't really tell what version number was back then.

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New Here ,
Oct 15, 2014 Oct 15, 2014

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I'm on CC 2014, I have installed the version 18 of Illustrator and PS 2014.2.0 and still have this bug. 

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 28, 2014 Nov 28, 2014

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Hi.

I've tried to install this free tool (I'm using the updated Illustrator CC2014 on a 10.8.5 osx machine) but it's opened by the "extention manager CS6" that doesn't recognize it as a valid installation. I've got CS6, CC and CC2014 programs installed, and I don't find an extention manager for CC2014. How can I install the plain rectangle tool? Thanks a lot.

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Community Expert ,
Nov 28, 2014 Nov 28, 2014

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You need the extension manager for CC.

Download it from the Adobe website or use the Creative Cloud app.

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 28, 2014 Nov 28, 2014

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Thanks a lot Monika.

I didn't think to watch in the not installed apps... ^_^"

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Community Expert ,
Oct 28, 2015 Oct 28, 2015

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Have a look in your CC desktop app under Previous versions to install the Extension Manager CC

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New Here ,
Feb 19, 2015 Feb 19, 2015

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I have 18.1.1 but unfortunately this issue is still not fixed. Any news on a an update?

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Contributor ,
Jun 22, 2015 Jun 22, 2015

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Update - my Plain Rectangle Tool has been updated to work with the latest #CC2015 release. And again - Itā€™s completely free.

Thanks,

Pawel Kuc

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Advocate ,
Aug 05, 2015 Aug 05, 2015

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thank pxc, i'm gonna try it. i absolutely hate the live rectangle. i have to expand every time i want a simple square which is 99.99 percent of the time i draw a square. i don't understand why we had to loose the simple rectangle tool

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Engaged ,
Oct 27, 2015 Oct 27, 2015

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Hello, Pavel.

Dragging with Space bar being pressed while creating Plain rectangle is still required.

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