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Select an object behind another object

Enthusiast ,
Oct 29, 2018 Oct 29, 2018

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I used to be able to hold down Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) and click on overlapping objects to select objects underneath. It is not working for me in Illustrator CC 2019. Has this changed in Illustrator CC 2019?

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Oct 31, 2018 Oct 31, 2018

Illustrator is quite fussy when using this technique.

Looking into this further, it works best if you move the mouse a little between the first and second click. Also, you may need to release the mouse in order to see the bounding box displayed so that you can identify which object is actually selected.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 29, 2018 Oct 29, 2018

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I discovered that Control clicking to select an object underneath seems to work if I click only on the edge of the object, even though I do NOT have Object Selection by Path Only turned on in Preferences. Control click to select objects behind is turned ON in preferences.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 29, 2018 Oct 29, 2018

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I am encountering no such change in Illustrator CC 2019 (Mac).

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 29, 2018 Oct 29, 2018

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I'm on Windows 2007. The Control click to select behind feature is very buggy. I reset preferences and it's still buggy and completely useless.

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New Here ,
Mar 11, 2022 Mar 11, 2022

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No such issue on Windows 11.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 29, 2018 Oct 29, 2018

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I found that I was able to select objects underneath if I Control clicked the number of times that corresponds to how far down the object is in the stacking order. I am not able to see the selection bounding box until I release the mouse.

This is different from the way it used to work, and is no longer a useful technique.

Does anyone know if I'm doing something wrong?

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 29, 2018 Oct 29, 2018

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I uninstalled and reinstalled Illustrator. Still buggy and inconsistent with this feature.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 29, 2018 Oct 29, 2018

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Unfortunate. Sorry not to have a solution to offer.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 29, 2018 Oct 29, 2018

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I appreciate that at least you responded. I'm glad that it's working on Mac OS.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 29, 2018 Oct 29, 2018

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Adobe will soon release 23.0.1 to fix some of the bugs in release 23. However, I noticed that this particular issue is not fixed.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 31, 2018 Oct 31, 2018

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Illustrator is quite fussy when using this technique.

Looking into this further, it works best if you move the mouse a little between the first and second click. Also, you may need to release the mouse in order to see the bounding box displayed so that you can identify which object is actually selected.

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Advocate ,
Jan 31, 2020 Jan 31, 2020

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Yeah it works like crap, never works right from the start. Always need to press CMD LBM a couple times before it really starts doing anything. 

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Advocate ,
Jan 31, 2020 Jan 31, 2020

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By fuzzy you probably mean its buggy. The feature is nice, but why is the movement needed and not documented?

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New Here ,
Apr 29, 2020 Apr 29, 2020

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Use the layers panel and select object you want to work on.

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Contributor ,
Nov 02, 2020 Nov 02, 2020

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@jay fresno 
Hello. FWIW—today is November 2nd, 2020. I am on the latest AiCC, v25.0—and the command to select and underlying (hidden) object does not work for me either.
I'm here 'cause I just found myself attempting to select an object (hidden) under another (visible) object, and none of the umpteen combinations of tools, keys, and/or commands I tried will work to only select the underlying (hidden) object.
Only option is to go on a hunt'n'search in the layers panel ... [insert eye-roll here] So anyway, that's that, and g'day.

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Explorer ,
Sep 14, 2021 Sep 14, 2021

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This is unbelievable. Any other CAD, drawing or layout tool has the option to select or list underlying objects. Even Photoshop and InDesign does it. It feels like the Illustrator devs abandoned their projct a while ago.

I'm cleaning up some CAD drawing exports and things like these drive me crazy (there is no way to select that single anchor point behind that other path than browsing the layers list):
Screenshot 2021-09-14 105939.jpg

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Community Expert ,
Sep 14, 2021 Sep 14, 2021

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quote

This is unbelievable. Any other CAD, drawing or layout tool has the option to select or list underlying objects. Even Photoshop and InDesign does it. It feels like the Illustrator devs abandoned their projct a while ago.

I'm cleaning up some CAD drawing exports and things like these drive me crazy (there is no way to select that single anchor point behind that other path than browsing the layers list):
Screenshot 2021-09-14 105939.jpg


By @DimitriB82C

 

How about drawing a selection rectanlge around it and then deselecting what you don't want selected?

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Advocate ,
Sep 15, 2021 Sep 15, 2021

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I find using the lock command faster when doing this kind of work. Fuzing around with that shortcut which is a bit buggy. Locking it and unlocking is faster

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 15, 2023 Sep 15, 2023

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Just hold CTRL/CMD and click an exposed part of the layer. Works great. No more clicking a ton of times. (Illustrator Beta 28.1 2)

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Advocate ,
Sep 22, 2023 Sep 22, 2023

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That makes no sense to the question!

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 22, 2023 Sep 22, 2023

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I am sadly not surprised that this issue is still present in 27.9. The "Command+click" option automatically switches the cursor to a direct selection. Why can't Adobe fix it to function like inDesign that keeps the regular selection tool while holding command? It shouldn't come as a surprise that the object we are trying to select underneath could be a group (especially outlined text), so trying to select it with the direct selection tool is impossible.

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Community Expert ,
Sep 22, 2023 Sep 22, 2023

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It doesn't switch to Direct selection. It only shows a hollow selection cursor with a little triangle.

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Advocate ,
Sep 22, 2023 Sep 22, 2023

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Well i tried it again. The mouse cursor on OSX seems to freak out a bit. At a certain moment, i see an open white pointer with a smaller arrow pointing to the left. 

 

But its behavior is erratic. Sometimes it wont show and because of multiple clicking, it happens a lot that you move the most top object

Example erratic mouse behaviourExample erratic mouse behaviour

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Community Expert ,
Sep 22, 2023 Sep 22, 2023

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You have to slightly move the cursor for it to work.

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 22, 2023 Sep 22, 2023

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I do see how moving the cursor slightly works to get it to select below, but the same issue I brought up in my previous comment remains: It will select the object you directly click on, disregarding any grouping that object may have had (hence I used the direct selection terminology). The group that I am trying to select is completely separate from the group in front of it. 

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