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Eddie_R
Participant
January 11, 2021
Answered

Illustrator Shift/Constrain/Scale Not Working

  • January 11, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 3558 views
We upgraded from older versions of Illustrator (CS5/6) to 2021 here at work and previously I was able to take an object and with the Scale tool selected, hold down the Shift key and drag so the object scales proportionately. Now when I do that, it won't let me constrain/scale it. You can see the outline of the object begin to scale, but when it gets to like 10-20% it snaps back to it's orginal size although I continue to shift/drag. I can freely click and drag to resize it, but it doesn't scale proportionately. The strange thing is that it DOES work sometime. No rhyme or reason but 99% of the time it doesn't work. It also happens when I select an edge of a box with the Direct Selection tool to extend it out. I can't constrain it when I shift/drag.
 
But with the Selection arrow selected I can select/shift/drag a corner and it works, but I want to be able to use the other method I described using the Scale tool. I don't want to use the scale box because a lot of times I need to scale things proportionately freehand; not needing to designate any specific size. I checked my View options and all I have selected is Snap to Point, nothing else "snapped" to anything.
 
Anyone else experiencing anything similar? Solutions? I already deleted the plist preferences, unchecked the Enable Wacom tablet box, AND I even reinstalled Illustrator and it's still not working. Other co-workers here are not having this issue. We all have brand new iMacs with the same software so I can't imagine a software conflict (but if there are known conflicts that would cause this, please let me know). Must be something within my Illustrator settings but I checked everything that I thought might be the problem but to no avail. 
Correct answer Doug A Roberts

I don't remember in which version this changed, but at some point using smart guides alongside scaling became much more finnicky.

 

You might notice that proportional scaling works if you attempt to maintain an exact 45 degree angle with the cursor while you drag, and horizontal scaling if you move the cursor precisely horizontally.

 

To turn it off, go to Preferences > Smart Guides and turn off 'Transform Tools'. Of course, there may be situations where you want smart guides to work alongside transform tools, so this is a workaround rather than a solution.

1 reply

Doug A Roberts
Community Expert
Doug A RobertsCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
January 11, 2021

I don't remember in which version this changed, but at some point using smart guides alongside scaling became much more finnicky.

 

You might notice that proportional scaling works if you attempt to maintain an exact 45 degree angle with the cursor while you drag, and horizontal scaling if you move the cursor precisely horizontally.

 

To turn it off, go to Preferences > Smart Guides and turn off 'Transform Tools'. Of course, there may be situations where you want smart guides to work alongside transform tools, so this is a workaround rather than a solution.

    E
    Eddie_RAuthor
    Participant
    January 11, 2021

    Wow. It worked. I used to keep that selected in previous versions, but now I guess I have to deselect it.

     

    THANKS SO MUCH!!

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