Please upvote the bad UX for annotator in this narrow feature request:
"Gradient tool on desktop similar to the iPad version!"
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/46159303

@Rasmus, a great GIF, it really shows why it matters.

First of all, the method I assumed might work for you, won’t do that :( Your circles overlap, and it means a shared fill for a group would cover strokes or go below hollow circles with overlapping strokes.

I tried to replicate it, and could not achieve the effect when the gradient is applied to the circles that are caught within the 'rectangle' you drag out with the tool. If it is consistent to you, I encourage you to share this file, here (if you are allowed to and want to do that) or privately using sharewithai@adobe.com (in this case please mention the URL for this report, https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/36623800)

As for the tons of separate annotators... yeah, it's garbage. Perhaps Illustrator should display these only when objects are NOT grouped? A grouping might really mark an intention to edit shared fills at once.

It raises questions...
If some fills have the same gradients do not match their annotators’ positions with the majority? or match positions, but do not match the colors?
It suppose it then should falls back to the current way when positions or colors mismatch.

What do you think about that?

Hi @Egor, here you have a video of what I'm experiencing. As you can see, I have already grouped the objects and when I use the gradient tool to make one gradient across all objects, it only includes objects below the starting point of the gradient line (even though it is a radial gradient). I don't want to create a compound path of the objects since I need to add a stroke to each object. I don't want to start the gradient further up since I need it to start at that specific point. Furthermore, with the multiple annotators it become very difficult to adjust the gradient line once it has been drawn and you have no idea of which annotator belongs a certain object.

Please tell me how I can get around this problem since the current implementation doesn't meet my need of having one gradient across multiple objects that are grouped. Also, I'm not sure about the solution you are describing using the Appearance panel - Can you link to some documentation/tutorial on how do this?

Thanks for the quick answer

@Rasmus, actually having multiple annotators at once after applying a gradient to multiple objects at once (even if they are grouped) is the result of another user request!

If you want to have a shared fill across multiple objects, you should group them, apply a fill for the group using Appearance panel, and modify it as you wish.

If you want to leave them ungrouped... well, why?

Gradient tool doesn't work when applying the same gradient across multiple objects. If you try to adjust the gradient it will simply just create more handles and there is no way to delete these extra handles. Extremely frustrating!

The color handles and gradient positioning handles should be further from one another. Also no need of rotation on one end and moving the whole gradient on another. Both handles should move their own side independently along both axes. We can already move the whole gradient by grabbing it by the center line.

Another ai gradient wtf:

If the gradient tool is taken and the color controller is selected, it is not possible to apply another gradient from the swatches.

Gradients in other apps. Corel — the best.

Gradient in Illustrator (complete f**k-up)

The gradient tool is sooooooo painful.

I just upgraded to Illustrator 23.0.4. The gradient slider does not show when creating an angle or adjusting. there is actually total malfunction of the tool itself. At this point I don't have use of the gradient and I'm in the middle of a job for a client. who is going to pay me for my time while I'm trying to work.