Another example smart guides being inconsistent and/or broken, when aligning objects is when using the selection tool to scale objects into alignment as opposed to moving objects into alignment. This issue in my case, is aligning objects that are used as clipping masks.

In my video, I have smart guides on as I try to align a shapes' edge to the bottom of another. The edges do not line up if I SCALE one objects' edge to another object, despite having a pink alignment indication. But when MOVING the object to align the edges , it aligns correctly. WTH is wrong here. Shouldn't you get the same results? On close inspection, using the selection tool to scale and align one object to another, the smart guides seem to want to align one objects' middle line to the other objects' outer line, causing a misalignment. But if I release the clipping mask contents, the alignment works normally.

This problem further shows that smart guides is having problems, in particular, aligning the edges of clipping mask objects.

@O Nate, do you have this option checked in Preferences?

Hey Egor, Thanks for responding quickly.

Before when I was using Smart Guides and setting up the document, the numbers would show where the guide was in the document.

- yes, I have smart guides on :)
I want to see where the guide is on the ruler w/o having to zoom in to see the incremental numbers. Previously, i was able to see those numbers running beside the guide.

Cheers
O. Nate

The lines themselves show up and snap to place.
The running numbers no longer show up.
Illustrator 2025

I agree! 2025 Adobe, and we're still having "Smart Guide" issues!!!! We don't need "New" features, we need the ones you have to work right, and if something doesn't work because of a setting, some instructions about those settings to help us understand how to fix them!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, someone at Adobe please dig up a copy of Illustrator 2017 and see how Smart Guides worked in that version. It's been broken (and fixed in new broken ways) ever since!

It'd be nice to have them work correctly again in less than 8 years.

I confirm, I have the same problem with this. If I want to pull the smart guide to a point it often lands next to it. It is not being attracted by it.

Not really. Smart Guides require much deeper refinement than just fixing this one problem, and nobody in the team is at for now, I think... Should check.

So far I can advise to ditch using smart guides for artboards, and make rectangles instead, followed by Object > Artboards Convert to Artboards command (I have in on Ctrl+F5). Actually, it’s been my proffered way for creating these since day one of having multiple artboards... I know, a workaround, but an efficient one).

Any luck on this? One year since my last comment, smart guides are still broken. Video attached.

Seriously, this is classic Adobe poor form that goes unfixed for years.

How are we going on this? Are we 'smartifying' the smart guides yet?

Here's mine.

Yep

Here is one more video. Just trying to clone some rectangles and let them snap to each other... When you zoom in, you can see there is a gap between them. Such an easy task and it just does not work properly. Most of the time, doing stuff like this, I have to zoom in, to get the snapping result that I want and to double check, if everything is in place...

I agree with all the statements below.
The way smart guides snap to objects beyond the view or to a random (for us) picked point is maddening.
The video shows the exact reason I prefer creating new artboards with a set of custom made scripts and hotkeys.
Thank you all for pushing this. I very much hope to force some good changes, when smart guides problem is put on the table.

The video shows the general problem very well, thanks for sharing it! Just want to add, that the problem is not limited to artboards neither to pixels as a measurement unit.
...and also snapping to (ruler)guides shows similar inaccuracies.

Here you go Egor. Here's an almost blank Illustrator document showing guides fail epically.

If you take note, you'll see that the first artboard is 1080x1080px and is perfeclty placed to the pixel.

Even though Illustrator tells me the new artboard I'm creating is snapped to the top and bottom of the other artboard, it's a completely different size and isn't aligned to either top or bottom.

This is a compounding issue due to the bug that adds extra pixels when exporting, so things quickly become a mess at no fault to the user.

You can also see in the video that nothing I could have done would make the artboard snap. It basically refuses to snap.

@ anonym

What you wrote sums it up well. What I can add to it: I often have to zoom in, to get something alligned properly. For example, when alligning an object to a guide it often does not show, that it snaps. After zooming in and trying again, it works. And as you already wrote: Illustrator often snaps to some random object and not to the nearest or logical one... I just can continue to advice Adobe developers, to get a copy of Freehand from the attic and have a look at it’s snapping beahaviour. It had great visual and acoustic feedback and you always could rely 100% that your object is in place. In Illustrator I double check (Zoom in) every time...

Hi Egor,

I believe I know what the issue is, and I have a file that I can show you.
However, as I work professionally I can't share the file here. It's private and I don't have rights to share.

In summary however, I believe the issue is as follows:

- The 'reach' of snapping in Illustrator is too broad. I believe smart guides often try to snap to anchors on other artboards.

- The indicator to show that you're snapping to the artboard is not clear enough. It should be a different colour to show that you're snapping to the artboard edge instead of an anchor or other object that you can't see. Currently every snap indicator is pink

- In fact, this would also come in handy when aligning to the artboard center or aligning artboards with each other. Often I see a centre pink smart guide line and think 'oh great I'm aligning to centre', but actually illustrator has picked some random anchor point on some complex shape to snap to.

- Perhaps snapping should be separated out (have a separate Snap to Artboard function)
OR
- Prioritise snapping to the artboard edge when within 5 pixels or so.

What I've found is that often when Illustrator is telling me that my object is placed against the edge, it's actually snapping to some other random object.

You have to understand the communities frustrations. It's not always easy to capture this stuff, and we often can't share files due to sensitivity.

If you still have this issue, please provide a document that behaves like this for you and a video demonstrating the issue.
'It's been better in older days' is not enough to replicate the problem, and there are a lot of ways to use Illustrator.
Please, help to track it down.

+1. AI smart guides are the worst. Unline InDesigns which are amazing.
If they think they've fixed the issue, I think they need to rethink how smart guides are handled in Illustrator. I'm on version 26 and it still SUCKS.