How to scale interactively in 2022?

[melbendi]

I can't for the life of me find the Free Transform tool, or get any bounding box handles for selected objects.  I thought I usually get a bounding box with handles just by selecting the objects, but it's not happening.  Thanks!

[Doug A Roberts · Accepted solution]

View > Show Bounding Box (Shift + Ctrl + B)?

Can you access the free transform tool by pressing 'E'?

[Mike_Gondek · Accepted solution]

Window >> Workspace >> Essentials Classic

Free Transform will appear here

[melbendi]

Thank you both!  I knew it had to be somewhere...  Adobe should put it back in the tool palette by default since it's so often needed. "E" is very convenient, though, now that I know. Both great answers but since I can't pick two, seems fair to pick the first one.

[Doug A Roberts]

I can't be 100% sure of the accuracy of this since I haven't reinstalled in a long time, but I believe when you initially set Illustrator up it asks if you are a new user. If you tell it you are, it opens with the 'Basic' toolbar, which has a small selection of available tools.

You can switch to the Advanced toolbar (or make your own) under Window > Toolbars.