Direct Selection tool selects anchors below objects
Direct Selection tool wrongly selects points hidden underneath filled objects in front of them, when the cursor clicks into a highlighted point.
It seems that only Windows it behaves as expected when 'Highlight anchors on mouse over' in Preferences > Selection & Anchor Display is enabled. Macs still select stuff underneath.
Originally discussed here at forums: https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/i-m-having-this-issue-with-every-file-now-in-illustrator-object-selecting/m-p/15254043
Take a look at the GIF attached for a quick demonstration.
Bundled together with this report, it renders selection in Ai pretty broken :(
Problem selecting anchor point that is below
http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/49702187
Happens in both builds 29.4 and the latest Beta build 29.6.25
AdminEgor Chistyakov
(Admin, Adobe Illustrator)
shared this idea
This is fixed in Illustrator 2025 v29.5
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monokano
commented
Illustrator 2025 (29.5.0)
This bug has been fixed. That was a prompt response. -
Henoch Kloosterboer
commented
I've recently upgraded from 24.0.3 to Version 29.4 – also upgraded OS to Ventura 13.7.5 on iMac 2017 4K Retina, 21.5 inch, 3.6 GHz Quad-Code Intel Core i7 with Radeon Pro 560 4 GB.
Very often I place images in clip masks (Cmd+7) and then adjust the cropping nodes after putting the image inside. On this new version, if I use 'a' (Direct Selection tool) to select a corner node, it only acts as a 'v' selection tool to move the clip mask with image inside, or like an 'a' direct select but only moving the image within the clip mask (depending on if the node is a corner or centre etc. – only if the edge of the image intersects with the edge the node is on.
If the image has been enlarged within the clip mask, then I can 'a' direct select and move any of its clip mask nodes.
The simplest way to prove this problem is to insert any image, then press 'Cmd+7'. In previous versions of AI you could then use 'a' direct select to grab any corner node and move it in any direction. Now in this bug, clicking a 'a' direct selection on a corner now moves the whole image/clip mask together. Very frustrating.
Is this happening to other people?
You can see how the tool works in AI 2020 and AI 2025 in the video below.
Preferences/settings are the same on both versions.
Please fix this! :-D
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Ton commented
It does not highlight when unchecked, but you can still click and select below. (Mac)
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When I test this, disabling this option makes it work fine... but I’m on Windows 10. Perhaps it differs across operating systems?
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Even when 'Highlight anchors on mouse over' is disabled in Preferences, you can still click to select objects below.