Smart Guides in 27.8.1 not working correctly

[Emac_trademark]

I have Smart Guides enabled with a tolerance of 2pts, snap to point & snap to glyph are on and all the alignment settings are on in preferences.  Same settings I've had for years, nothing has changed.  But this version, 27.8.1 seems to have disabled some functionality on smart guides.

The smart guides appear and function correctly when I'm moving / altering invidual points, making shapes from existing lines and things of this nature.  BUT...when I grab any side of a bounding box of an EXISTING shape and try to resize it to another shape in hopes of snapping the ends together for alignment, like a rectangle with another rectangle, I can not get the smart guides to work no matter what "snap to..." combo I have on or off, tried them all.

I attached a screen record and a couple of screen shots to show what I mean.

I feel like this is a bug as it was working just fine in 27.5, which is what I recently updated from.  Any suggestions?

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Emac_trademark,

Sorry for the delayed response. We understand that having Smart Guides not working properly when working in Illustrator can be a frustrating experience. I tried replicating this behavior on my end but could not do so. Would you mind checking if Illustrator also behaves this way with other files? If yes, kindly try to manually reset Illustrator's preferences and let us know if it helps:

For macOS

• Close all Adobe applications.

• Go to the following locations

• ~/Library/Caches

• ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe

• ~/Library/Preferences

• Rename Adobe Illustrator, com.adobe.illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 27 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old, com.adobe.illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator 27 Settings.old

• Launch Illustrator from the Creative Cloud.

Note: Location starting with this "~" sign indicates the User Library, which is hidden. So, you need to copy & paste the exact path in spotlight search or from Finder Menu > Go > Go to Folder > Paste the location in the dialog box like this:

For Windows

- Close all Adobe applications.

- Go to Location C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe

- Rename Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 27 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator - 27 Settings.old

- Relaunch Illustrator from Creative Cloud

Disclaimer: Please note that renaming preferences folders will remove all the custom settings, and Illustrator will launch with default settings. You can also save a backup of the folders in case you want to. The location is mentioned above.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Emac_trademark]

This problem happens in all Illustrator files I work on.  Did you watch the screen video I made?  It was a new file making basic shapes.  Please try zooming in to different levels of view while trying to replicate this problem.

I'm not resetting all my preferences, this is ALWAYS the Adobe copy and paste response when you all can't replicate the problem, this solution has NEVER ONCE worked for any problem I've had in the past.  What is the point of resetting preferences if I'm just going to put them all back in anyway?

More than likely, as usual, I will have to wait until Adobe releases another version that will either by chance or by silent design fix this problem.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Emac_trademark,

Thanks for sharing the details. Would you mind trying to only turn on the "Snap to Point" option and switching to CPU view and checking if it helps?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Mike_Gondek]

Yes you have the correct settings thanks for sharing. Looks like your smart guides got turned off after a few seconds in as if CTRL U was hit. I do not think that is the case and something is corrupting this in either your prefs or OS,

The preferences can become corrupted so you should do this if you want to resolve the issue, and this is quicker than doing a cleaner to properly uninstall and then installing again. If you reset your prefs the most important setting to turn back on is scale strokes & effects. Those of us who produce artwork that goes to final print know the importance of this. 

PREFS  RESET WIN (thorough)

Quit Illustrator

Press Win+R -> appdata -> Roaming -> Adobe -> rename folder "Adobe Illustrator XX Settings"  to anything else like "Adobe Illustrator XX Settings_old"

[Emac_trademark]

It still doesn't make any sense to me how it could be my preferences.  Over the many years I've been using Illustrator, I've had many "glitch / functional" problems and am always told to reset the preferences and it has NEVER worked once.  But if I wait long enough for another version (or 2 or 3) to come out, the problem I was having mysteriously goes away while I am still using the SAME preferences.  Of which I have quite a few, which is why I never want to reset them because it would take me a very long time to remember all of them and reapply them manually.

It's not like I'm writing code in the program, I'm just customizing the provided preferences in areas that I can.  The only third party plug in I have added is CAD and the only extension is EAN 13 Barcode Generator.  Can you please tell me how Illustrators preferences become corrupt anyway?

I attached my system info.

[Monika Gause]

---

@Emac_trademark  schrieb:

Can you please tell me how Illustrators preferences become corrupt anyway?

---

That is simple. Preferences are read every time Illustrator starts and they are written every time you close the app. They belong to the most used files on your computer.

On top of that: settings get added when there is a new version and so on, and so on.

Searching for issues is like stabbing in the dark. You never know where they are caused. Resetting the preferences is the first step. Resetting them is done to rule out that corrupt preferences are causing your issue. That's why Mike suggested to rename the folder. You can even undo that!!! If you don't want to even do that little bit, then it won't make any sense trying to fix your issue. 

[Emac_trademark]

OK, so I did the renaming of these folders to _old:

Adobe Illustrator 27 Settings

Adobe Illustrator Library 27 Settings

AIRobin 27.8.1 Settings

The problem did seem to go away when I reopened illustrator and tried the smart guides.  I concede.

So...how do I find the corrupt file in the settings folders so I don't have to reset up my ENTIRE customization again?

[Monika Gause]

Most probably it's the preferences file itself that caused this. 

In order to find the culprit, the procedure is now the basic troubleshooting stuff.

You put back half of the contents of the _old folder into the one that Illustrator created new. Then try again. If Illustrator fails, then the corrupt files are among those and then you go down that rout: again: half of them and try again. until you have the culprit. Of course it could be multiple culprits. I would begin with testing the Illustrator Preferences file, because most probably it's the one.

What you could do as well: set up all your settings in the way you like them. Then close Illustrator, so that the lot gets saved. Then make a backup of that folder in a safe place. Should sh** hit the fan again, you can just replace the folder.

[Emac_trademark]

Process of elimination huh?  Seems tedious, but OK.

BTW, these glitches ONLY occur after installing new versions, which is why I always question why resetting the preferences is always the solution offered.  The only reason I keep upgrading each time is either because of supposed "stability" updates or feature updates that I would like to have.  And while stability trumps features everytime in my opinion, even those types of updates sometimes destabilize my app.

[Monika Gause]

This forum is 95% volunteers trying to help others. Complaining to us about the tools doesn't help a lot - neither us nor you. 

Unfortunately Illustrator likes to have its preferences reset when updating. That's just it.

If you want to complain about that, I would suggest you do it where the engineers read it: https://illustrator.uservoice.com 

[Emac_trademark]

I'm not complaining to you, I don't feel like I'm complaining at all, just stating my experiences with Adobe products.  This is a forum for help right?  The first person who responded was an Adobe employee who apparently didn't take the time to look at my attchments or carefully read my issue.

Whatever, basically back to where I started, probably just going to wait for another update that mysteriously fixes the problem.

[Bryce Farlow]

I had, and am still having, this same issue. 
I was told by Adobe support to keep using v26 til 28 came out... Well, here we are. Happens on 28, too.

Has anyone here had any results?

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Bryce Farlow,

Sorry to hear about your experience.

Would you mind trying to manually reset Illustrator's preferences and checking if it helps:

For macOS

• Close all Adobe applications.

• Go to the following locations

• ~/Library/Caches

• ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe

• ~/Library/Preferences

• Rename Adobe Illustrator, com.adobe.illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 28 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old, com.adobe.illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator 28 Settings.old

• Launch Illustrator from the Creative Cloud.

Note: Location starting with this "~" sign indicates the User Library, which is hidden. So, you need to copy & paste the exact path in spotlight search or from Finder Menu > Go > Go to Folder > Paste the location in the dialog box like this:

For Windows

- Close all Adobe applications.

- Go to Location C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe

- Rename Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 28 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator - 28 Settings.old

- Relaunch Illustrator from Creative Cloud

Disclaimer: Please note that renaming preferences folders will remove all the custom settings, and Illustrator will launch with default settings. You can also save a backup of the folders in case you want to. The location is mentioned above.

If the problem persists, kindly share more details, like the exact version of the OS, your workflow details, a sample file (https://adobe.ly/3RCrbku), and a screen recording of the problem (https://adobe.ly/481hnaz), so we can investigate this further?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Bryce Farlow]

I have done this. Many times. I've been on this issue for a while. 

[Bryce Farlow]

Here's the folder:
https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/2c57597d-7652-474c-43a8-64393d5a429b

[Bryce Farlow]

@Anubhav M Figured it out. It was that "Enchance pointer precision" was off. 
It'd be great if that was remedied in the future... I hate the way the mouse feels with that on. 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Bryce Farlow,

We're glad to hear that your issue has been resolved. To help other users with similar problems, would you mind marking the answer as correct? We appreciate your contribution to the community.

I will surely pass on your feedback to the product team for this. Let us know if you have any more questions or concerns. We're always here to help.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Bryce Farlow]

It's not resolved, though. Not til I can turn pointer precision back off
and have illustrator work the same.

[Emac_trademark]

 @Bryce Farlow,

When you say "Enchance pointer precision", I assume you refering to your machines (Windows?) mouse options and not an option in Illustrator settings?

If so, I've always had that on and I'm still getting this glitch.

[Bryce Farlow]

Correct. It started for me with v27.
I wish Adobe would remedy this.

[MetaDavis]

And stop wasting time on AI Generate. Make sure, instead that the fundamental elements of the software continue to work!

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. We understand your frustration. This is an old thread. Are you facing this issue? If yes, would you mind sharing a few more details. We're here to help!

Regards,

Srishti