Illustrator randomly selects unrelated objects

[cmcmorrow]

About once  a day, when I click on an object with the direct selection tool, the bounding box will be way larger than it should, implying another object on another artboard is included in the selection.

This happens when the object I am selecting is NOT grouped with anything else. Moreover, is seems buggy because the mystery object doesnt have its "edges" visible the way it would if it were legitimately selected.

I can deselect all, but then anything I click on, the selection's bounding box is expanded to include the mystery object. The only way I have found to deal with it is to drag a corner of the bounding box, then undo, and then click off again. Then Voila! I am able to select my object (or any other) without the mystery selection happening.

I use clipping masks a lot, as well as many artboards, and have wondered if it's related to this, as the mystery objects are sometimes masked images, and often on another artboard. However, the mystery objects are not always masked.

Anyone else having this weird problem??

I had it with CS5, and hoped it would go away with CS6, but it has not.

[G_Man]

Correct. It has existed on ALL versions of Iluustrator I have used for the last 10 years or so. This is not a new problem.

[alexl76137686]

Been dealing with since forever myself and had discovered the whole drag the corner bounding box then undo and click on the workspace not long after it arose. But not until today did I bother seeing if it was a general thing - which of course it is. The question is, how on God's green earth can this still be a thing well over a decade since it started happening. It blows my mind that a bug like this can still be present in 2025. It's less a glitch and more of a feature now.

[Doug A Roberts]

Can you consistently reproduce it in a new document?

If not, that's why it's still a bug.

[G_Man]

It cannot be consistently reproduced.

It's a random occurrence, solved only by quitting Illustrator.

That's why it's still a bug. 

[Doug A Roberts]

Are you replying to me? That's exactly what I said.

[G_Man]

Hi. No not specifically. Just addding my own experience of this bug. 

[Eliyah Gevalt]

so it's magic? really


--

Eliyah Feldman
Graphic Design and Art

[G_Man]

What are you suggesting exactly?

That a few users that can be bothered to spend time highlight this issue are imagining it?

[Pixelord]

Im beggining to think that is a problem when are nested guides or embeded
objects whithin a group

[adept_panther4581]

I agree. For me, it happens randomly after exiting isolation mode for a group containing text, and/or when I UNDO after editing text within a group.

When it happens, I SELECT ALL, then DESELECT ALL, which fixes it for me temporarily.

It's been happening for so many years, across multiple Macs and OSs, that this "workaround" has essentially become part of my Illustrator workflow.