Reflect Tool Question

[wuzzywuzzy]

One thing I dislike about working in Photoshop or Illustrator is when my preferences change after updates are installed. The other thing is when "upgrades" are made that change the way using tools has worked in the past. I've tried to refect a shape (under object select transform, then select reflect, then reflect vertical) and instead of it flipping like it used to do, it doesn't seem to do anything. Now, while I've never understood why reflect vertical flipped objects horizontally and reflect horizontal flipped objects vertically, I got used to it. Now I don't know how to get objects to flip at all. I'm sure this is due to some "improvement", but I liked things the way they were. What am I missing that will enable me to flip objects horizontally or vertically? (Incidentally, the object won't rotate either. I'm wondering if there's some new step I have to take regarding the axis or something.)

[wuzzywuzzy]

I forgot to mention I am using Illustrator 2020.

[Jacob Bugge]

wuzziwuzzi,

"Now, while I've never understood why reflect vertical flipped objects horizontally and reflect horizontal flipped objects vertically, I got used to it"

The (then) team decided to name it after the axis that the objects are flipped over, as in the edge(s) of a page that you grasp/that stays in place.

There are some other choices to get used to, especially the ones you get when you click rather than what you have.

So there are a few things to just get used to.

Concerning the flipping failure, I presume it is (not) happening in any (new) document, and I believe it may be (part of) a general corruption, which may be mild or severe.

That is what the list is for (especially starting in the mild end of solutions).

THE LIST

If things that should work simply refuse to (all possibilities exhausted including the A) - C) below (and carefully making sure you are performing (all) the needed things)), you may try (the relevant part(s) of) the list 1) - 8 ) below.

Sometimes, (certain) things may fail or stop working for no apparent reason. When the (other) possible reasons/cures fail to work, it may be some kind of (temporay or permanent) corruption, or even some inconvenient preference setting(s), which may be cured with something on the following list set up in an attempt to provide a catchall solution for otherwise unsolvable cases. It starts with a few easy and harmless suggestions 1) - 3) for milder cases, and goes on with three alternative ways 4) - 6) of resetting preferences to the defaults (easily but irreversibly and more laboriously but more thoroughly and also reversibly), then follows a list 7) of various other possibilities, and it ends with a full reinstallation 8 ). If no other suggestions work, or if no other suggestions appear, you may start on the list and decide how far to go and/or which may be relevant.

The following is a general list of things you may try when

A) The issue is not in a specific file,

B) You have a printer correctly installed, connected, and turned on if it is physical printer (you may use Adobe PDF/Acrobat Distiller as the default printer with no need to have a printer turned on, obviously you will need to specify when you actually need to print on paper), and

C) It is not caused by issues with opening a file from external media.

D) It is not caused by other applications (you may close down/disable everything else running, including browsers and antivirus, then try again). There are quite a few usual suspects that may disturb and confuse Illy (job description Adobe Illustrator) so she moves in mysterious ways (even more than usual, some would say).

You may have tried/done some of them already; 1) and 2) and 3) are the easy ones for temporary strangenesses, and 4) and 5) and 6) are specifically aimed at possibly corrupt/inconvenient preferences); 7) is a list in itself, and 8 ) is the last resort.

If possible/applicable, you should save current artwork first, of course.

1) Close down Illy and open again;

2) Restart the computer (you may do that up to at least 5 times);

3) Log out of your Adobe account and log back in;

4) Close down Illy and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (easy but irreversible);

5) Move the folder (follow the link with that name) with Illy closed (more tedious but also more thorough and reversible), for CS3 - CC you may find the folder here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/preference-file-location-illustrator.html

6) Follow the instructions here: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/setting-preferences.html

7) For some rare and strange cases, look through and try out the relevant among the Other options (follow the link with that name, Item 7) is a list of usual suspects among other applications that may disturb and confuse Illy, Item 15) applies to CC, CS6, and maybe CS5);

Even more seriously (this may be serious because you may need to restore plugins and whatnot afterwards if you have customized things), you may:

8 ) A) Uninstall (ticking the box to delete the preferences if applicable), B) run the Cleaner Tool (if you have CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6/CC), and C) reinstall. You may try without step B), but sometimes it is needed, because otherwise things may linger.

As it appears from this thread, it may be worth repeating this if it fails to help the first time:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2283530

To uninstall:

https://www.adobe.com/search.html#q=uninstall%20illustrator&sort=relevancy&start=1

Cleaner Tool:

http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

Maybe this makes it more clear.

Imagine playing cards that get manually flipped or reflected in a mirror.

[wuzzywuzzy]

I love the visual, but no it didn't help me understand reflect horizontal/vertical. My brain just won't allow me to get it. However, I'm happy to say that reflect horizontal/vertical is back to working. Regardless of what reflect horizontal (or reflect vertical) means or what direction/orientation the object "reflects", the point of my original post was that after an update nothing was reflecting. Now objects are reflecting like they used to. I didn't make any changes, it just started to work properly again. Thanks for the responses.

[Jacob Bugge]

wuzzywuzzy,

"I didn't make any changes,"

On the contrary I believe you have eventually made the crucial change(s) by going sufficiently (many times) through one or more of the three first suggestions on THE LIST, all of which tend to form part of your normal use of your computer/applications:

1) Close down Illy and open again;

2) Restart the computer (you may do that up to at least 5 times);

3) Log out of your Adobe account and log back in;

[Kurt Gold]

That's a very good hand, Ton.

[Ashutosh_Mishra]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your experience. I agree with helpful suggestions above & glad to hear your app is now working as expected.

We'd appreciate if you can share a small video of your workflow if you get similar issue again so that we can understand your issue better & assist you accordingly.

Regards,

Ashutosh