Smart Guides when hovering over object and holding Cmd / Ctrl
In Photoshop, when you hover over an object and hold Cmd / Ctrl, there is a distance display. Please add this in Illustrator.
 Anonymous
    
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Anonymous
    
 shared this idea
      
    The latest Illustrator build (v29.2) now offers a way to see the distances between a selected object and an object hovered over / edges of an artboard.
- Click on the object you want to measure the distance from
- Press Opt/Alt and hover over the object that you want to measure distance to
- You can also hover over empty area to see the distance from the selected object and the artboard boundaries
Please try it and come back with the feedback.
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      We still need to be able to control the color of the text these use. 
 Please upvote this if you agree: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/49762298
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      Jason, just in case — can you provide a simple test file with a set of objects you typically have (enough for the team to test it)? 
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       Jason Edmunds
    
 commented Jason Edmunds
    
 commentedGreat progress but needs to work within groups and on keylines. Main usage for me is measuring clearance from individual artwork elements (normally grouped / masked), and the cutter guide keyline (has no fill, also can be grouped and sometimes masked). Currently only seems to work after outlining the cutter keyline and ungrouping / unmasking artwork. Ideally I'd click an individual artwork element within a group or mask (using the white cursor), then hover over a cutter line, to get a distance to the keyline itself (not the edge of it's stroke). 
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      Matthew Prina commented Thank you! Can't wait to see it in action. 
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       Marc
    
 commented Marc
    
 commentedI wonder daily why this isn't already in illustrator. This is a basic need! 
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      Rajendra Narayan Kundu commented When you press the alt key in Adobe Xd on Windows Pc, you can see the distance between two objects (by keeping one object selected and hovering the cursor to another one). It is a very useful and handy feature. Why it is not available in Illustrator? 
 Please, add this feature. It would be very useful for many users including me.
 Thanks and Regards.
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      Hans commented It's crazy how this doesn't exist in Illustrator! 
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       Leo
    
 commented Leo
    
 commentedI use illustrator for a lot of infographic and technical illustrations and let me just tell you, how frustrated I am that it's obviously a very useful feature, it's already in XD, and yet it's still not in Ai. 
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       Omar Guillermo
    
 commented Omar Guillermo
    
 commentedOne thing that comes to my mind is that this feature could be enabled when designing in pixel-perfect mode. This would be a life-saver for icon and UI designers. Also bump, because I really want to see this feature happen. 
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       Payal Biswas
    
 commented Payal Biswas
    
 commentedLike in Adobe XD, it would be great if we can check distance between elements clicking 'Alt'. Because checking distance by zooming in to the ruler and making it perfect is quite tiresome. Clicking 'Alt' as in XD makes it quite easier. 
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      Alvaro commented Yes please, we NEED this 
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       Aal Naveed
    
 commented Aal Naveed
    
 commentedThere is no dimension tool adobe Illustrator? 
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       Roxxie
    
 commented Roxxie
    
 commentedI am so used of having this feature in adobe XD that I really miss it in Illustrator. Would be great if you could add this. 
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       Maureen T'o
    
 commented Maureen T'o
    
 commentedHonestly, if we had this I would be 60% happier using Ai! Ai is quite powerful but for some reason lacks in the most basic simple shortcuts and UI elements that every other graphic design tool has - even Xd has caught up. I have such issues with the Layers panel (everything so tiny and unless you click on empty spaces, you don't know you can hide layers) with renaming and grouping (why do I have to hold Shift to select items, but need to click the blue dots to TRULY select the items on the artboard??? Why not be able to select layers by just holding Shift like every other graphic design tool does???). I use Ai because I have no choice other than to subscribe to Creative Cloud for the other stuff rather than pay for Sketch but end up paying more considering the CC subscription plus Sketch updates. The Ai UI really needs an update! 
 : , (((
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       Anonymous
    
 commented Anonymous
    
 commentedThis is one of the biggest reasons why Sketch is becoming more and more a replacement for Illustrator! It's been more then 2 Years now since this was requested. :(( 
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       Lazy Bear
    
 commented Lazy Bear
    
 commentedwhat a disgrace! in the 21st century, there are no simple things in illustrator! 
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       Omar Guillermo
    
 commented Omar Guillermo
    
 commentedHow to get this to the front page? It's kind of ridiculous that photoshop supports this and illustrator doesn't! 
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       Omar Guillermo
    
 commented Omar Guillermo
    
 commentedAffinity Designer has it. Sketch has it. ****, even Photoshop has it. Why is this taking so long Adobe? 
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       LindaB
    
 commented LindaB
    
 commentedI often use this feature in the sketch app and miss it a lot when working with Illustrator. Would be cool if you made it possible. 
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       Russ
    
 commented Russ
    
 commentedPerhaps selecting Smart Guides in your preferences will help with this? 
 
          