New lock feature makes it difficult to select anything below the locked object

[PaulPrusha]

Hi. I'm a huge fan of using the keyboard shortcuts to lock an object, lock all other objects except the selected object, and unlock all. With the new locking feature, if you lock an object (Cmd-2 on mac), and then want to select an object below that locked object, you can't. You get a grey outline with a lock symbol, because it only allows you to select the locked object. Driving me crazy. I've reverted to the previous version of Illustrator (2020). Is there any way to turn off this new 'feature' in 2021? I can't stand it. It's like it was built for children.

[michelew83603738 · Accepted solution]

If you don't like this feature, you can go to Preferences>Selection & Anchor Display> Select & Unlock Objects on Canvas and turn it off. No need to revert to 2020.

[PrepressPro1 · Accepted solution]

I have adapted the keyboard shortcut of Command 3 to hide objects rather then lock them if I want to drill down and select objects lower in the stacking order. Only pitfall to this technique is when I get a file from another person who has hidden a bunch of stuff and you hit the show all and all this extemporaneous art shows up on your artboard. I also keep the keyboard move increment in preferences set to 1" and can arrow objects out of the way and arrow them back into place.