Select an object behind another object

[jay fresno]

I used to be able to hold down Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) and click on overlapping objects to select objects underneath. It is not working for me in Illustrator CC 2019. Has this changed in Illustrator CC 2019?

[jay fresno]

I discovered that Control clicking to select an object underneath seems to work if I click only on the edge of the object, even though I do NOT have Object Selection by Path Only turned on in Preferences. Control click to select objects behind is turned ON in preferences.

[tromboniator]

I am encountering no such change in Illustrator CC 2019 (Mac).

[jay fresno]

I'm on Windows 2007. The Control click to select behind feature is very buggy. I reset preferences and it's still buggy and completely useless.

[MyMystique]

No such issue on Windows 11.

[jay fresno]

I found that I was able to select objects underneath if I Control clicked the number of times that corresponds to how far down the object is in the stacking order. I am not able to see the selection bounding box until I release the mouse.

This is different from the way it used to work, and is no longer a useful technique.

Does anyone know if I'm doing something wrong?

[jay fresno]

I uninstalled and reinstalled Illustrator. Still buggy and inconsistent with this feature.

[tromboniator]

Unfortunate. Sorry not to have a solution to offer.

[jay fresno]

I appreciate that at least you responded. I'm glad that it's working on Mac OS.

[Barbara Ash]

Adobe will soon release 23.0.1 to fix some of the bugs in release 23. However, I noticed that this particular issue is not fixed.

[Barbara Ash · Accepted solution]

Illustrator is quite fussy when using this technique.

Looking into this further, it works best if you move the mouse a little between the first and second click. Also, you may need to release the mouse in order to see the bounding box displayed so that you can identify which object is actually selected.

[schroef]

Yeah it works like crap, never works right from the start. Always need to press CMD LBM a couple times before it really starts doing anything. 

[schroef]

By fuzzy you probably mean its buggy. The feature is nice, but why is the movement needed and not documented?

[AdobeJohnny]

Use the layers panel and select object you want to work on.

[PacoD]

@jay fresno 
Hello. FWIW—today is November 2nd, 2020. I am on the latest AiCC, v25.0—and the command to select and underlying (hidden) object does not work for me either.
I'm here 'cause I just found myself attempting to select an object (hidden) under another (visible) object, and none of the umpteen combinations of tools, keys, and/or commands I tried will work to only select the underlying (hidden) object.
Only option is to go on a hunt'n'search in the layers panel ... [insert eye-roll here] So anyway, that's that, and g'day.

[DimitriB82C]

This is unbelievable. Any other CAD, drawing or layout tool has the option to select or list underlying objects. Even Photoshop and InDesign does it. It feels like the Illustrator devs abandoned their projct a while ago.

I'm cleaning up some CAD drawing exports and things like these drive me crazy (there is no way to select that single anchor point behind that other path than browsing the layers list):

[Monika Gause]

This is unbelievable. Any other CAD, drawing or layout tool has the option to select or list underlying objects. Even Photoshop and InDesign does it. It feels like the Illustrator devs abandoned their projct a while ago.

I'm cleaning up some CAD drawing exports and things like these drive me crazy (there is no way to select that single anchor point behind that other path than browsing the layers list):

By @DimitriB82C

How about drawing a selection rectanlge around it and then deselecting what you don't want selected?

[schroef]

I find using the lock command faster when doing this kind of work. Fuzing around with that shortcut which is a bit buggy. Locking it and unlocking is faster