I had the same problem and figured out that the grandient annotator only works with fill and not with strokes. I just expanded the strokes and voila..

I'm still having this issue...

Since updates my slider is missing in illustrator

Just discovering this limitation in Illustrator. It’s a problem. I hope somebody’s actually addressing it.

lol it's still happening even in latest version

Ive created a video of whats happening with the gradient annotator tool - ignore the first few frames with ordinary text, just used as control... Annotator tool does not appear on grouped objects. to big to upload...

Ive created a video of whats happening with the gradient annotator tool - ignore the first few frames with ordinary text, just used as control... Annotator tool does not appear on grouped objects.

the gradient annotator disappear when i group the object any solutions ?

Check that illustrator hasn't defaulted to stroke selection when you're trying to select your gradient! That's what was hiding the gradient annotator tool for me.

Yup, I've got this too.

Just updated to 24.1. This issue persists. I can see the annotator on individual objects but not the group of objects. I need to apply the gradient to the group.

Same problem.

My show gradient annotator is already showing as selected when I go to view menu.
Cannot get it to show up on a gradient fill on a group or compound path but it will show on individual shapes

select shape, go to view tab, select show gradient annotator, then hit "G". It took me forever to figure this out so I hope I save someone else some time.

Having the same problem and I've only just updated to 2020.
If I draw a rectangle and apply a gradient fill then the annotator will appear and I can adjust the gradient.
Any grouped or expanded strokes/objects don't show the annotator at all, although the gradient is still affected when you drag; there's no visibility to allow you to control it

Yes, this seems to affect group objects under one gradient. Had 3 shapes i wanted to segment off through soft borders but couldnt measure it because the slider wouldn't show. Ungrouped the shapes and found 3 sliders scrunched in their center.

So it seems to be a group problem. As soon as I ungrouped my objects it appeared!

It's December 7th, 2019 and I have the cc 2020 Version. Still an issue.

Same issue here. Cannot find the gradient annotator

delete illustrator preference file

C:\Users\"your_name\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 24 Settings\en_US\x64

file: Adobe Illustrator Cloud Prefs