Selection tool won't grab lines
Selection tool won't grab and move lines without extreme effort. Simple click and move isn't working in solid and hollow pointers. I have to drag a selection across the line or lasso the line to highlight it but then it still won't let me do a simple click-drag. It's like the line is locked down but nothing is locked. I'm running MacOS Sierra 10.12.6 and Illustrator 23.0. I've tried multiple settings of selection tolerance in preferences and it hasn't made any difference. I can move the selected line with cursor keys but can't move it with selection arrows. This didn't occur yesterday in the older Illustrator. This is obviously having a big impact on productivity today!!

Hi,
Thanks for the information provided to the Illustrator team.
We have tried to address this issue in our beta build of 24.1.2 .
Please visit adobe.ly/1o2SDsg and get the latest build for version 24.1.2 Build 1.
For this issue we have also increased maximum selection tolerance value to 20 px.
Please do let us know if this issue is resolved for you or not.
With Best Regards,
Ankit Goyal
Illustrator Team
31 comments
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Kristy commented
Still isn't fixed - this is so annoying. We want old illustrator back - new versions suck
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Jeff Sanders commented
Almost December 2020... and it is still an issue. So frustrating.
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laura commented
I just updated to the latest verstion (25) and this is STILL an issue... I click on a stroked line and unless I click EXACTLY on the tiny tiny center line of the stroke, I can't click it. This is nearly impossible!
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Anonymous commented
I'm still having this issue in 24.3
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Anonymous commented
This issue is still not resolved. Even zoomed in to the max I am unable to select a path. This is creating a huge problem using this software. Those of us who use paths heavily are completely shut down by this bug. Adjustment to the 20px tolerance makes no difference. Please advise when this might be addressed.
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Mireille commented
STILL NOT FIXED - INFURIATING!! I have to lock everything else so I can drag my selection tool over the line.
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JG commented
You guys still haven't fixed this issue????!!!
I was having issues too and had to look it up just to see if I'm going crazy over here as I've been using Illustrator for over 20yrs now. SMH, come guys, let's get this corrected!
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Allen Mueller commented
Still. Not. Fixed.
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Chris Phillips commented
Thanks for the link Ankit. I've tested on both Mac (Mojave) and PC (Windows 10 latest build) and it's still not working as intended unfortunately.
The selection arrow cursor will change to the cursor with dot to indicate that it is within selection range and one of two things will happen: if Smart Guides are OFF the cursor will just draw a box selection marquee instead; if Smart Guides are ON the cursor will grab the path/object as intended. This is the same across both Mac and PC. WIth Smart Guides off you still need to be basically on the 1px of the path to select it.
Using Smart Guides with everything turned OFF except for Object Highlighting is a current work around to this problem, but is not ideal as if you want to use the handy alignment functionality (which is too intrusive for general illustration work) then you have to keep digging back into the preferences to turn it on and off again. This is a separate suggestion really, but with that in mind, I'd love if the Smart Guides preference was in a dockable palette so we could just toggle the functionality of them as needed. Even with these issues aside, it seems kind of odd to have them buring in preferences?
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Max Hancock commented
Here is a video of me trying to select a line using 24.1.2 with a selection tolerance of 20.
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Max Hancock commented
I installed 24.1.2 beta. I set the tolerance to 20. I'm still having this problem. I have to select exactly the line exactly 1 or 2 pixels in order to select and drag it. So, it's not fixed.
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Max Hancock commented
Using 24.1. and it is still very hard to select a line using a Retina display and Wacom. There is no pixel tolerance at all. You need to select exactly 1 pixel to the line to select or drag it. This is especially hard to do on lines larger than 1 point.
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Anonymous commented
When creating a symbol, it has to be static otherwise it won't move with the selection tool.
Hope this helps. -
Anonymous commented
Ankit: I sent you a video and info of my settings, version and OS. I encourage others to do also because I think it's a broader issue that is NOT affected by preference settings.
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AbdurHere commented
Have the same issue, have to go to outline mode to select any vector. This is a HUGE blow to performance. it happened midway working through a project, i dont even thin illustrator updated, it just started happening.
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Matt commented
I'm experiencing the same issue. I'm spending at least 4 times as long trying to select a path. Checked all of the Preference settings. Still searching for a solution. Nothing in this thread appears to provide a solution.
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Peach commented
This "can't accurately click select objects" issue is a huge productivity hit. Our engineering team is reviewing our options.
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Tim commented
Anonymous... There was one difference. At home I had selected "Highlight anchors on mouse over". Switched it here at work and now I can grab vectors. Or maybe it's a fluke or it helped to reset something? I dont know.
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Tim commented
Anonymous....... I believe they are identical. Will check home tonight. But here is screen grab from work. I tried messing with most of this but no difference. I can grab lines but it's difficult. Much harder to do now. Slowing me down.
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Anonymous commented
This bug has kept me on Illustrator 2018. I upgraded OSs and graphics card this weekend and decided to upgrade to Illustrator 24.0.1 because certainly they've fixed this bug by now! But, NO, same problem. No matter what I set the Selection/Tolerance to, I still can't select about 70% of the lines--even at 8 px maximum selection tolerance. Only way to grab them is by dragging across them, which won't work with most drawings. Occurs in both views and with both direct selection tools. Makes for a very LONG day. TIM: Can you do screen grabs of your "Selection and Anchor Display preferences" at home and at work and see if something is set differently between the two machines?