@J Kaufman, this frame lets us choose a place where the artboards would land on canvas.
Sure, it doesn’t make sense to see this frame when we need to rearrange ALL artboards...
So this has been changed — in Beta for now, to make sure it’s a fine solution.
Now this frame will show up only if you have only SOME artboards selected. When all or just one artboards are selected, this option (now it’s a dedicated option in the Rearrange dialog) becomes unchecked.
Please try the solution and comment back.

It's not even the pixel grid that's the problem. When I choose Rearrange artboards, then tell it how many columns, the spacing, etc, it does NOT automatically rearrange them how I want. Instead, there first appears a dotted outline in the middle of nowhere (see attached), the size of the artboards, where the dotted lines move around with my mouse. Only if I RANDOMLY click somewhere do the artboards then rearrange. What's the point of the blank space and dotted lines?

I did a quick test of Beta 29.8.0.5 and it seems to behave correctly with pixel units. In cm/mm mode, I noticed some float rounding quirks in the artboard’s global position, probably just an expected side effect of mm-to-pixel conversion, but worth double-checking.

Unfortunately the 29.7 version does not always align the artboards to the pixelgrid. When after aligning the ruler origin is reset, the others do align too.

I don't know who these users are that Adobe claims are requesting these "feature" changes, but clearly Adobe isn't listening to the majority of people on what "features" they implement. This change, like others Adobe has made recently, has been HORRIBLE to my workflow. It's counterintuitive, it doesn't work properly, and has resulted in significant headaches for me. To me, rearrange all artboards means exactly that. Rearrange them. No further input from me, just rearrange them in the order I've specified.

The 29.7 version has the previous behaviour.

バージョン29.6からアートボードの再配置の仕様が変わって、再配置を実行後にカンバスのどこかをクリックしないと再配置されないようになってしまいました。
設定したガイドの位置がずれてしまい、とても困っています。
以前の仕様に戻して欲しいです。
切にお願いいたします。

現在の使用になったことに戸惑い探しに探してやっとここに辿り着きました。
そして、この状況が今は改善されることがないと解り愕然としています。
以前のように自動的に配置されるように戻して欲しいです。
ピクセルがずれてしんどいです。

I just installed the beta version and can confirm that the previous behavior is back and working fine, aligning correctly the artboards to the pixel grid. The toggle to manually align makes it work like the new (and faulty) behavior, that tends to make illustrator crash.

I personally have adjusted to the new behavior and found a simple solution to make it pixel perfect again, for that, you have to activate the rulers and drag from the top left corner to make the top left corner of the first artboard "0,0" values, that makes all the other artboards pixel perfect too. Selecting only a few artboards before rearranging lets me align only those, and that is very useful, but it is imperative to have it align with the pixel grid, because if you align only some of the artboards that solution becomes useless, the new ones dont align to the grid, and making that "hack" makes pixel perfect the last ones but breaks the others. It baffles me that pixel perfect aligning is not the default behavior.

I like having these 2 options, sometimes the old behavior doesn't let me make a certain layout of artboards saying there's not enough space even when there's plenty, with this new behavior that is gone, however, the lack of pixel perfect aligning and the tendency to crash Illustrator makes the new behavior not as reliable as the old one.

I find the new addition of the "+" buttons to generate new artboards (similar to photoshop's behavior) really useful!

Thanks @Marta! Fingers crossed :)

I have tried the Beta Version and can confirm that this feature works the way it used to. At least the way I used to use it :-D

@SM In the Creative Cloud Desktop you can access the "Beta" at the upper navigation and there you can choose among a lot of Beta Versions of different Applications.

This is great news! Has anyone tried the new Beta 29.8.0.5 to check functionality? I'm not sure how to download Beta versions, so will have to look into it.

Why does Adobe feel they constantly have to make what works better? That is why your programs have been so prolific and stand the test of time.

This is an awful feature. "Upgrade" ... this significantly impacts the workflow. So your team messed up badly. Change the feature back, or start giving the options to stay in legacy modes.

With the update to 29.6.1. the rearrange function is not working anymore. First this new and unnecessary positioning thing (why?) and then my artboards are not moving to the same order of the artboards panel like it used to. This messes with my workflow BIG TIME :((

Is there something I'm missing? Some preference setting I'm not aware of?

The new Rerange function is weird. With the new arrangement, the drawing areas cannot be placed correctly on the pixel grid. This used to work completely automatically and by manual positioning.

Why rework a functioning function and then destroy it? Boredom Adobe?

The AI generation hints are also annoying. If you could deactivate it would be great

Thanks Egor, yes please merge it. I don't know why I didn't find it during my search for "rearrange artboards".

Mark, this is a recent addition, based on this request, 'Rearrange only Selected artboards' — http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/32653399
However, the fact that users are now forced to position the layout each time (instead of only when necessary), and the lack of respect to snapping, made this entry happen, 'Allow legacy behavior for "Rearrange Artboards"' — http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/50053986
I think your report can be safely merged into that one. Would you agree?

MacOS v15.5, Adobe Illustrator v29.6.1.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Create a document with several artboards
2. Choose the normal select tool (step probably no necessary, but emphasises the issue)
3. Choose Rearrange Artboards from the Artboards panel flyout menu
4. Set up the rearranging and click OK

Expected result:
Artboards are rearranged and app is left in the normal editing state.

Actual result:
App goes into some kind of "editing artboards" state similar to manually using the Artboard tool.

Absolutely disastrous feature. Removing automatic rearrange now forces adjusting every single artboard manually. Worst of the latest „upgrades“.

Please make the 'click to place' optional - this has really messed with my workflow, especially with storyboarding where certain common assets remain fixed and it's useful to be able to reorder artboards without moving those locked items.
I can see the benefit for manually placing selected artboards but it should be optional - with the current version it's almost impossible to get things exactly on-pixel as well. Thanks.