Hello, I also encountered this really bad issue as soon as I started working after the update. This is really problematic for my daily activity, being a core feature of the tool. Hope this will be solved as soon as possible. Thank you

This is a fresh known bug that is hopefully going to be fixed to. This is related to 'Align To' mode autosets to 'Key object' now and a key object is chosen when not needed.

When I try to evenly distribute objects, the objects now center themselves. This is the case for horizontal and vertical distribute.
The tool no longer distributes

When I try to evenly distribute objects, the objects now center themselves. This is the case for horizontal and vertical distribute.
The tool no longer distributes

I am running Illustrator 2020, and constantly update whenever there is a new version available via the Creative Cloud Desktop App. currently running version 24.2

The Align Selection tool keeps resetting to Align Artboards after one or two selections and alignments. (any time the icon switches to a document from the points selection alignment)

This impacts the workflow and causes a great deal of frustration.

This is unreal. Literally one of the first operations I made under the update and immediately ran into this bug. Adobe, please perform better QA before releasing updates. You're killing our productivity.

This may seen small to some Illustrator people, however to keep align to selection setting as a default is a huge time saver in my workday. I use that function repetitiously, it is very frustrating that this is not working.

Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.6 • iMac (21.5-inch)
Illustrator 24.2

あまりにも酷いバグです！仕事に支障があります。
できるだけ早く修正お願いします

A very frustrating bug, it would be great if this was fixed asap as it's an integral part of my (and I'm sure many others) workflow.

1. Mac OS 10.15.5 (MacBook Pro 2017 15 inch)
2. Illustrator v24.3

Even after the alignment bug fix in the new v24.3, there seems to be persisting alignment tool bug.

When you want to align multiple objects (whether align top, bottom, right, or left), the objects often move to a fixed direction regardless of the direction you chose.

For example, when you have two objects chosen, and you wanted to align to left, the item you were trying to use as a reference now moves to the right instead.

[Solution]
At least on my computer with the current v24.3 Illustrator, the following steps let me align the objects properly.

1. Select the object that you would like to use as an alignment reference and "Bring to front".
2. Select all the objects you want to align together with the reference object, and use the align tool to choose the direction.

I hope this helps.

1. Mac OS 10.15.5 using Illustrator 24.2.
2. I drew 5 boxes and wanted to create equal vertical spacing between them.
3. I was expecting to see them shift to equal spacing between by going to the Align Tool and "Vertical Distribute Center".
4. The objects shift on top of each other and appear to be aligning as "Vertical Align Center".
5. Please fix!! I use this feature all of the time.

An extremely annoying bug indeed! I have been restarting my system for the past couple of hours & scourging places where I can get this solved, but this is more messed up then I could've imagined. Hope this bug gets removed soon!

also, aligning anchors to selection switches to "align to artboard", making a series of align operations quite tidious

Same issue. Absolutely insane bug. Hope it gets fixed soon.

Every time I select 2 or more objects, the distribution automatically shifts to key object making the last selected object as the key object.

This is driving me insane as well. As with a lot of other AI users, my workflow means I have a default setting for the align tool. Having it overridden every time is driving me INSANE. Please fix!

@Barry Stock Roll back to the previous version until they fix this bug.

It's been confusing for me so far too, I keep automatically trying to double-click when I actually want a key object and I have to keep re-selecting align to artboard which is usually my default. Not sure why they fixed what isn't broken, or if it's some kind of bug, but it's annoying.

Its affecting my workflow as well. It is much more fluid to have 'align to selection/canvas' as the default / click an object twice to select a key object. I am also getting error messages when i try to use the direct selection tool. I can't remember what they say but it has something to do with the key object.

It is affecting my workflow! It's inconsistently doing this too! Sometimes when I click on the highlighted blue, it goes back to 'align with selection' and sometimes it doesn't and then won't align at all because there is technically no key object. This is the part of my workflow that is causing friction.