missing transform handles in AI

[rebeccam54939807]

the handles that allow me to transform (rotate, scale, etc) an object have disappeared. please help!!!!

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

View > Show bounding box

[sharedTEAMS]

Hi Monika, I'm having the same issue and my bounding box is set to shown.

A basic shape -- like a circle or rectangle -- still shows its bounding box, but as soon as I select anything else, it's gone. Below is a shape I drew with the pen tool. It's selected and no transformation handles are shown.

Edit: This has only been an issue beginning with the latest update. I didn't notice it yesterday on a PC, but am experiencing it now on a Mac.

[Monika Gause]

You have the select tool active? Not direct select or group select?

[sharedTEAMS]

Yep, just clicked on a shape once with the Selection Tool.

[Monika Gause]

Can you try and View > Preview on CPU?

[sharedTEAMS]

Tried it. No change.

[Monika Gause]

Please show a screenshot that includes your complete application frame, the open layers panel and of course the object selected.

[sharedTEAMS]

This definitely appears to be a bug because the behavior is inconstant. This shows which shapes correctly show the bounding box and which do not.

So you can see that Show Bounding Box is turned on.

[Monika Gause]

Can you select something and take a screenshot?

Also: try and create a new user account on the computer (Admin privileges) and launch Illustrator from it. Does it work?

[sharedTEAMS]

I have to hit the command button in order to take a screenshot, which makes the handles disappear anyway as part of Illustrator's normal functionality, so that wouldn't show the problem.

I have to restart the computer to create a new user with admin privileges right now, which I cannot do at the moment. Will that help you diagnose the problem or is that a potential workaround for me?

[Monika Gause]

That is to check if the problem is hidden somewhere in your current user folder.

The user folder has a couple of preferences and those might get corrupt.

[sharedTEAMS]

Gotcha. There's a file transfer I don't want to interrupt but I'll try that when it's done.

[Monika Gause]

Sure.

Also: in case you restart the computer only every 2 months or so then this might be an issue as well. Shutting down in the evening cannot be taken for granted anymore.

So the problem might also be solved with just a restart.

[sharedTEAMS]

No luck on either count -- restarting or using a different profile

[M.Caridad]

Thanks!!!

[CoriKesler]

THANK YOU

[Omar.Fathy]

In some cases it happens with me but I close everything and save my file and open illustrator again and every thing be good
it is  bug but happens in the large files only

[james_r80]

Have been stuck for like an hour trying to figure this out, thanks!

[muhammada72132190]

thanks

[redmode]

Thanks, that was it! Simples.

[Bayu98C6]

You're a life safer, Monika. Thank you. An Ai hobbyist here, so I don't know a lot about ai.

[lebermac]

You may have accidentally hit CTRL-H (Cmd-H) to hide your anchor points?
Although I don;t know why it would only work on a few shapes and not work on others. (Odd...)

[atlibertyart]

Haha that one worked for me. And again it's this situation where only one shortcut solves it all. Thanks a lot.

[kajsa0D45]

The bounding boxes were there but not the anchor points- a bit like working in the dark, interesting but a bit frustrating=). This solved it - THANK YOU!