Oversized Bounding Box when Copying from GraphPad

[allison_1679]

Hello,

When I copy a graph from GraphPad over to Illustrator, the error bars have HUGE bounding boxes (like twice the size of the overall graph).  I can't make them the proper size using Transform > Resize Bounding Box.  Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it?  It means that I end up having to group the entire graph as soon as I copy it, then I can't ever ungroup it near another graph when I'm building figures.  This causes problems.  

Thank you,

Allison

[Monika Gause]

Please save that file with the pasted graph as an AI file. Then change the file extension to .pdf and share it in this forum. Without seeing the actual file nobody will be able to help you.

[allison_1679]

I didn't share because it's proprietary data.  I can't exactly recreate it, but this fake example largely replicates the problem.  If you click on one of the error bars, it's the size of the whole graph area instead of only being the size of the bars.

[Monika Gause]

WHen copying/pasting, an invisible rectangle (no stroke, no fill) gets created. This happens automatically. You need to delete it.

[allison_1679]

It's so annoying when technology does something stupid just to mess with me!  Thank you so much @Monika Gause!!!! This has been an annoying problem that I've just been working around for ages now.  It's great to finally have the solution!

In case anyone else stumbles along on this thread with the same problem, I'll post a little more detailed explanation of the solution.  I had to go into the layers list to find the box in question.  I suggest toggling the hide icon (eye ball) before selecting and deleting.  Each set of error bars for a data set has its own grouping that includes the invisible rectangle in question.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

It might be easier to just go into Outline view and then select stuff you do not need with the direct selection tool.

Another thing you can do - if you are certain that you want to get rid off all invisible objects in the file: draw a rectangle and apply fill and stroke of none to it. Then Select > Same > Stroke and fill and delete.

[allison_1679]

Thanks for the additional options there!