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Known Participant
October 23, 2023
Question

Sticky selection tool in illustrator 27.9

  • October 23, 2023
  • 10 replies
  • 11493 views

Me and my team are all experiencing this same issue. Happened to all of us after a recent update. Anyone else?

10 replies

New Participant
July 30, 2024

I have been dealing with this issue and I do not use the "Magnet" application. After lots of trials to identify what is causing it I find out that the application "Display Pilot 2" for my BenQ Monitor is the issue. I acquired the monitor a few months back and since been experiencing the isse without realizing it was caused by the application. Now when I turn the application off the sticky issue stops immediately. 

Hope this helps some of you. 

New Participant
August 1, 2024

Thank you very much!!!! I hadn't noticed that this was what was causing the problem, you have saved me hours of frustration looking for the answer.

Participating Frequently
April 26, 2024

Same. I and others are seeing this behavior in Illustrator and Indesign, MacOS 12.7.4, MacBook Pro.
It occurs in both 27.9 and 28.4. Very frustrating bug. Both selection and group selection tool (Illustrator) have this affliction, whereas:
1) CLICK on an object to select it
2) Let up on the mouse
3) Move your mouse
Result: The object is attached to the selection tool without edges shown. Click the mouse anywhere and the selection tool lets go of the object. In short, the selection tool acts like a magnet to whatever object is initially selected. Now welcome to the world of numerous undos. Thankfully, Photoshop is behaving normally.

In addition, attempting to select several objects (Shift+Click) becomes a complete aggravation, since before you are able to select all the objects, the bug will happen. You'll have to stop, undo, and begin all over again.

Monika Gause
Adobe Expert
April 26, 2024

@RickerReeder  schrieb:

Same. I and others are seeing this behavior in Illustrator and Indesign, MacOS 12.7.4, MacBook Pro.


 

Do you have the Magnet app or Rectangle installed?

Participating Frequently
May 7, 2024

Neither Magnet nor Rectangle are installed.

jedi_twitch
New Participant
March 11, 2024

This has been happening to me using Illustrator 28.3
MBP M1 2021
Latest Sonoma

A lot of people have been suggesting to turn off Magnet, or use the "Ignore in Illustrator" option in the Magnet pull down. Seems like this works for many, but not me. Another sugestion was to turn off Benq's Display Pilot 2. That did the trick for me. Display Pilot 2 has a feature called "Screen Partition" or somehting like that. It is similar to what Magnet does. Even with that Partition feature off I was still having problems unitl I quit Display Pilot 2 altogether. Now I can use Magnet again, even without ignoring Illustrator, and the .ai seleciton tool does not stick anymore. 

New Participant
July 9, 2025

Hey,

 

I was struggling with this issue for a while as well and didn't have any of the culprits mentioned here and on other forums (Magnet, Copilot, etc.) For me the issue was with a keyboard cleaning app called "OneMenu." It is an app I use to disable my keyboard to clean it occasionally. Disable this app and 'voila', no more sticky selection cursor! Hope this helps.

Inspiring
February 6, 2024

@cathyk22 @@ckallas22 I found what has been causing this problem on my computer for all these months. It's an issue with software called Proofpoint. If you have a folder in /Library called PEA, that's likely your issue too. 
I just now found this discussed in another discussion here describing the same issue. 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/lag-when-clicking-and-dragging-objects-in-illustrator-and-indesign-here-s-what-i-ve-tried/m-p/14341641/page/2

Participating Frequently
February 7, 2024

@DavidRulz I also have Proofpoint running on my system! Working with my IT department to see if we can get a workaround. Thanks for your help. I'll let you know if it works for us. Have a fabulous day 🙂

 

Inspiring
February 7, 2024

If you have admin privileges, I was able to simply rename the PEA folder and the issue was resolved within seconds. No need to even restart Illustrator. In my case, the folder reappears every day or so, but renaming it or moving it to another folder has worked as a short-term solution.

Inspiring
December 15, 2023

@cathyk22 Has anyone on your team resolved this issue? I am still having the issue along with coworkers. Others were able to resolve the issue by disabling Display Pilot 2, sadly it's not something any of us have, nor can I find any equivalent to it on our machines.

 

@Anshul_Saini has anyone looked into what could be causing this? I've updated to the latest version of MacOS Sonoma, and everything is up to date with Creative Cloud. Been dealing with this for around 2 months and it's absolutely miserable.

Monika Gause
Adobe Expert
December 15, 2023

Is it still happening when you boot into Safe Mode?

Inspiring
December 15, 2023

It doesn't happen in Safe mode. Still haven't been able to find a specific thing that is causing it though. A similar issue happens with InDesign, though not as disruptive, where the selection tool will nudge things a few pixels out of place when selecting an object.

Haven't found any issues outside of Adobe software.

Participating Frequently
November 22, 2023

@cathyk22 @DavidRulz @Anshul_Saini I found out where the problem was coming from for me. I disabled the "Display Pilot 2" of my new monitor (BenQ PD2725U) and my selection tool works normally (even the Indesign issue you refering to @DavidRulz). I hope it will help you.

Inspiring
November 22, 2023

I don't have Display Pilot 2, my monitor is an Asus ProArt. You're referring to disabling the software on your computer, or is there a setting in the preferences or perhaps the monitor's on-screen display? 
It give me hope since you found a fix.

Would love to figure out what sort of equivalent might exist on my computer/hardware

Participating Frequently
November 22, 2023

It's a software I guess not really a driver. I can use my monitor without it but it helps to change settings. I even didn't have to restart my computer to fix the issue, I just closed the software.

I had configured this software so that it opens when my computer starts up.

and an icon was present on the finder menu bar (I don't know this menu exact name but on the right where there is the time)

Participating Frequently
November 22, 2023

Hello @Anshul_Saini and @cathyk22,

I have the same issue on my new computer (Macbook pro M3) with Illustrator 28, 27.9 and 27.8.1 (video attached)

It's almost impossible to work.

Inspiring
November 22, 2023

Is yours also a company computer with security software/plugins installed on it?

Participating Frequently
November 22, 2023

No I have no security software or plugin installed

New Participant
November 13, 2023

I've experienced the same bug for many years. Slection stickts to one object, and it doesn't matter of you lock the layer with the stuck slected object, it still remains selected. You have to close the file and reopen it. I've had this issue through various machines over time. It's the one bug that never seems to be resolved. 

Inspiring
November 13, 2023

I know what you're referring to, but that's different. The bug you're referring to has an object that remains selected even after it's been deselected (often only appearing to be selected due to a visible bounding box)

 

This issue causes the any new selection to stick to the cursor as if you're clicking and dragging, but the mouse button is actually no longer pressed, so you have to click again to drop it.

Inspiring
November 10, 2023

@Anshul_Saini Has there been any progress on this? It continues to cause major productivity issues for Illustrator users.

cathyk22Author
Known Participant
November 10, 2023

@DavidRulz and @Anshul_Saini I am also still experiencing these problems, as well as everyone on my team. Is there any additional information?

Anshul_Saini
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 24, 2023

Hello @cathyk22,

 

I'm sorry to hear that you and your team are experiencing this issue with the Sticky Selection Tool in Illustrator. To provide you with more effective assistance, I'll need a bit more information:

  • Could you explain in more detail what the problem is? What's happening with the Sticky Selection Tool?

  • Would you mind updating to v28.0 and see if that helps, or revert to v27.8.1 and share your observation with us?

  • Are you and your team members all on the same operating system, or are there different systems involved (e.g., Windows and macOS)?

  • Have you tried any troubleshooting steps, such as restarting Illustrator or your computer?

 

By sharing these details, we can better understand the issue and work towards a solution. Your input is crucial in resolving this matter, and I'm here to help you.

 

Best regards,

Anshul Saini

udowooten
New Participant
October 24, 2023

Hi, I'm on Mac OS Monterey 12.3 with Illustrator 27.9.  We use plug-ins that aren't available in v28.0 yet... so we'll have to stay on 27.9.  Yes, we're all rebooted a bunch of times.  The issue come when you select an object.  There's a lag and it doesn't move for a second or so.  Then it's "sticky" and won't drop until you click somewhere.  Then you have to CMD+Z to get it to return to its original location and select it again.  Thanks!