Can't select objects in different layers or arboards?

[nitro912gr]

Hello, for some reason designer after 1,7 is a bit picky about selection of objects.

Usually I could select with a marquee everything, no matter if it was in a different artboard, different layer or whatever.

From 1,8 I could not. If I have 2 artboards and objects in both of them the marquee will randomly select only from the one artboard, or if I have 2 layers in 1 artboard sometimes it select everything as intented and sometimes it just ignore the objects in one of the 2 layers.

Anyway idea what is going on? Is it a bug or something?

[BarKeegan]

That sounds pretty annoying, would have though you’d get a Serif response by now

[nitro912gr]

20 hours ago, BarKeegan said:

That sounds pretty annoying, would have though you’d get a Serif response by now

But seems like I'm the only one who have it? This is troubling me even more, if it is a local problem the possibility to get help is getting reduced a lot.

[dominik]

On 6/30/2020 at 7:23 PM, nitro912gr said:

From 1,8 I could not. If I have 2 artboards and objects in both of them the marquee will randomly select only from the one artboard, or if I have 2 layers in 1 artboard sometimes it select everything as intented and sometimes it just ignore the objects in one of the 2 layers.

Anyway idea what is going on? Is it a bug or something?

Hi @nitro912gr,

I may be completely wrong. Do you by any chance have 'Transform Objects Seperately' active?

 

This is one of the occasions where marqueeing around multiple objects visually only selects one of them. You see this option with the Move-Tool only.

d.

[nitro912gr]

hello thanks but it is not.

[fde101]

On 6/30/2020 at 1:23 PM, nitro912gr said:

If I have 2 artboards and objects in both of them the marquee will randomly select only from the one artboard, or if I have 2 layers in 1 artboard sometimes it select everything as intented and sometimes it just ignore the objects in one of the 2 layers.

I'm seeing the same behavior you are describing.

I rarely use artboards or organize my projects into layers in the manner you seem to be and if I did it would generally be for purposes of separating parts of it so limiting the selection to those parts would seem appropriate to me, so it had never really occurred to me to be bothered by this...  but that is how it is behaving.

Now that I am playing with it though, if I shift+click on objects that are in different artboards or layers it will select them together, but if I shift+click or command+click them in the layers panel it will not.  That bothers me a bit more than the behavior of the marquee.

[nitro912gr]

I'm really considering turning back to a previous version but I can't recall when it started.

I use a lot of artboards and layers, for example to make labels of the same product line but with different ingredients, and most of the time need an artboard for each and 3 layers for the cutter, one for the cut marks, one for th7e cut shape and one for the graphics. So I really need to select everything from time to time in one artboard or at neighboring ones.

 

Edit: I can confirm this doesn't happen in 1.8.2, I just downgraded to that version, I guess I will stay there till it is fixed.

Edited July 7, 2020 by nitro912gr
confirmed

[SPaceBar]

Hi @nitro912gr Sorry for the delay in replying to you.

What version were you seeing this behaviour in? I realise you have downgraded now but perhaps you or @fde101 could upload a video of this happening so I can see this in action. If not, can you upload a file where you know it happens and provide me with some steps on how to recreate it?

[nitro912gr]

1 hour ago, SPaceBar said:

Hi @nitro912gr Sorry for the delay in replying to you.

What version were you seeing this behaviour in? I realise you have downgraded now but perhaps you or @fde101 could upload a video of this happening so I can see this in action. If not, can you upload a file where you know it happens and provide me with some steps on how to recreate it?

Hello I had the very last for windows, 1.8.3 I think? Anyway I moved down to 1.8.2 now and just recreated it in it.

It seems I was mistaken it wasn't a 1.8.3 problem. I'm in doubt now if it was even different and I'm mistaken.

This happen when I am in layer 1 and have at least one object there selected and try to select everything with marquee but the marquee only select objects in that layer. Same with the artboard. If I have something selected in artboard 1 and try to select more things with the marquee from neighboring artboards it only select objects in the selected artoboard. Maybe this is how it is and just now noticed?

Here is a gif. It is labels, there is one layer with the graphics and one with the stroke where the machine cut. First I start with no selected object, the marquee select everything just fine. Now if I select one object from the graphic layer and try with marquee again, it only select the objects in the layer the selected object is (same with artboards).

 

[fde101]

I see the same happening on 1.8.3 on the Mac.

Not sure if it is correct behavior or not, as I indicated earlier it doesn't really bother me either way.

Also not sure how I ended up on a Windows bug thread as I don't normally stray into this part of the forum, but in any case this apparently is not OS-specific.

[SPaceBar]

Thanks for the video @nitro912gr 

This behaviour was changed in 1.8 and is now expected behaviour.

• If you have an object selected in an Artboard - then the Marquee tool will only select the contents of that Artboard.
• With no object selected you can select anything from any Artboard.
• If you disable 'Edit All Layers' (the paper stack icon - under your Layers Panel) - it will ALWAYS restrict your Marquee selection to the selected Artboard / object inside the Artboard.

Hehe that made me laugh that you strayed here @fde101 must have missed the warning signs and strayed from the path.

[nitro912gr]

1 hour ago, SPaceBar said:

Thanks for the video @nitro912gr 

This behaviour was changed in 1.8 and is now expected behaviour.

• If you have an object selected in an Artboard - then the Marquee tool will only select the contents of that Artboard.
• With no object selected you can select anything from any Artboard.
• If you disable 'Edit All Layers' (the paper stack icon - under your Layers Panel) - it will ALWAYS restrict your Marquee selection to the selected Artboard / object inside the Artboard.
  
  Hehe that made me laugh that you strayed here @fde101 must have missed the warning signs and strayed from the path.

thanks for you reply but isn't this behavior canceling that button of edit all layers then? I mean what is the point to have this selected only to have it canceled because I have one object selected?

At least now I know what version will do the trick for me, I have to check the logs to see what I will miss from the current versions.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, nitro912gr said:

At least now I know what version will do the trick for me, I have to check the logs to see what I will miss from the current versions.

If you're saying (as I think you are) that you'll just stay on 1.7, you'll eventually end up missing a lot of new function and bug fixes.

Wouldn't it be better to stay current, but simply click outside an artboard, to deselect any selected object, before drawing your marquee selection?

[nitro912gr]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

If you're saying (as I think you are) that you'll just stay on 1.7, you'll eventually end up missing a lot of new function and bug fixes.

Wouldn't it be better to stay current, but simply click outside an artboard, to deselect any selected object, before drawing your marquee selection?

Well it is just a maybe, I have to check what those functions are and if I care about them. But maybe I will end up like you say, and just live with it.

[SPaceBar]

Hey @nitro912gr Is it ok to ask what cutter you are using? I am just curious as I saw you have the cut line there. I usually make my design in Affinity Designer and create my cutlines in my cutting software. I might be making more work for myself that way as layout in the cutting software is nowhere near as accurate as Affinity Designer.

Also, I think @walt.farrell is right. New functions and bug fixes are definitely worth changing old habits for. 👍

[nitro912gr]

3 minutes ago, SPaceBar said:

Hey @nitro912gr Is it ok to ask what cutter you are using? I am just curious as I saw you have the cut line there. I usually make my design in Affinity Designer and create my cutlines in my cutting software. I might be making more work for myself that way as layout in the cutting software is nowhere near as accurate as Affinity Designer.

Also, I think @walt.farrell is right. New functions and bug fixes is definitely worth changing old habits for. 👍

I use a summacut d60fxse, I make a 3 layers document in affinity (or illustrator previously and I guess could work in corel too). One layer is for the  cutting marks for the cutter laser eye to read (for my cutter must be included in everything, printed and in the cut file), one layer for the graphics and one layer for the cutting lines.

I usually work with 3 layers in affinity and then save a PDF from this with the marks and the graphics and a separate one with the cutting lines and the marks (again maybe your cutter have no use for the marks layer), I print the graphics PDF and feed the other PDF to the winplot software of the cutter which read PDF so it show one file with the marks and the cutting lines.

Now this is specific to this optical registration mark cutter and the likes of it. I mean it read where it must cut from that marks that are included in both files. So when I send the file to the cutter it tell me to place the "eye" above the printed first mark, then it go on and read the positions of the other marks and make the association with the marks in the cutting lines PDF.

Not sure if this is going to work with your cutter software too, but even in a roland GX 24 that I used in the past I never made a single line in the cutter's software (which is terrible) always worked in illustrator or corel and imported the files (or sent directly with the appropriate plug in for the cutter).

 

If you need more details or there is something above you don't understand, feel free to ask anything.

[SPaceBar]

Thanks for the info, I think I need a cutter with a less limiting workflow now. I updated my cutter software on the weekend as I bought the latest ages ago but sadly it doesn't really support PDF. When I import one it just adds the boxes to my stickers but not the designs. 

When I select Print & Cut and then Print it adds the crop marks for my project. I think I could definitely have a go at adding the cut lines and boxes as a second layer and saving as a SVG and importing it that way and this at least would save me having to work in SCAL for ages.

[nitro912gr]

the cutting software will not load the graphics, only the vector lines.

This is why I make 2 files, one for print, one for cut.

From what you say I guess you have some plotter that print and cut? I don't own one (I print on a laser printer and then cut) but I think I have see a friend of mine that he first print and then give the printer/cutter the order to cut. That is, it roll back the printed paper and start again. Not sure if it can happen at the same time, but workflow wise seem like it will slow down the printer a lot. Print, stop, cut, print, stop, cut, etc. Just the time to switch from print to cut tools it will add up a lot.

 

 

[SPaceBar]

Ahh ok, I understand now. I'm going to test this out to see if I can get it to work out for me. This would be easier for the accuracy of double sided things.

I have a dual head plotter, it doesn't print itself it just has a Print & Cut option where you are telling it that it's not just a cutting job - it also has to line-up with what you have printed. I send it to print first on one of my printers and then I can cut. 

[nitro912gr]

2 minutes ago, SPaceBar said:

Ahh ok, I understand now. I'm going to test this out to see if I can get it to work out for me. This would be easier for the accuracy of double sided things.

I have a dual head plotter, it doesn't print itself it just has a Print & Cut option where you are telling it that it's not just a cutting job - it also has to line-up with what you have printed. I send it to print first on one of my printers and then I can cut. 

then probably it just need some point of reference that you need to have in both files. Like in my case that I have 4 small boxes on the corners of the file that should be printed with the graphics and also be included in the cut lines file. So the program associate those marks in the cut file, with the mark the cutter see with the laser sensor and then it knows where the cut must be done on paper.

Better check the manual on that.

There are a lot of possible things that the machine want before it work right. It took me almost a year of trial and error with reading the manual before I get it work.

For example in my case I added the cutting marks myself but the machine refused to read them, then noticed in the manual that they have to be 2mm or no deal. Or I had to leave some specific space at the end of the printed paper (as inserted in the cutter) so it can freely move it to the paper feed sensor.

[BlueDonut]

<h1>How to fix "cannot select objects no in an artboard" and "cannot select object in an artboard without clicking on the artboard first".</h1>

How to fix "cannot select objects no in an artboard" and "cannot select object in an artboard without clicking on the artboard first".

Posting this here as this is related and a massive pain in the mouse! If you are using artboards and drag objects off of the artboard on the pasteboard you can normally select them again and re-use them. However, you may find that a document will not allow you to select those items. This is because of the edit layer button on the bottom of the layers panel. If you have an artboard without that enabled, items dragged of it will not be selectable. So select an artboard and then turn it on and hey-presto you can select items in other artboards not selected and items on the pasteboard.

Oh this kept the heads scratching for hours. So to reiterate. If you have edit all layers off, make sure that you select an artboard and then enable it in the layers window. This is a document specific feature.

 

[nitro912gr]

21 minutes ago, BlueDonut said:

<h1>How to fix "cannot select objects no in an artboard" and "cannot select object in an artboard without clicking on the artboard first".</h1>

How to fix "cannot select objects no in an artboard" and "cannot select object in an artboard without clicking on the artboard first".

Posting this here as this is related and a massive pain in the mouse! If you are using artboards and drag objects off of the artboard on the pasteboard you can normally select them again and re-use them. However, you may find that a document will not allow you to select those items. This is because of the edit layer button on the bottom of the layers panel. If you have an artboard without that enabled, items dragged of it will not be selectable. So select an artboard and then turn it on and hey-presto you can select items in other artboards not selected and items on the pasteboard.

Oh this kept the heads scratching for hours. So to reiterate. If you have edit all layers off, make sure that you select an artboard and then enable it in the layers window. This is a document specific feature.

 

thanks but I don't seem to be able to reproduce the above problem that I described last year. It selects everything fine now!

Maybe it was this with the layer select and in some version turned it on for all by default and this fixed my specific problem? No idea.

[BlueDonut]

We've got the latest version and it was causing a problem. So your issue may have been caused by the edit all layers select button. In dark mode the selection on/off colour is not all the visible. Glad you're ok now. 🙂

[TonyO]

Old thread but I figured it out, and thought I'd share the solution incase of passerby's happening upon it. 

On the bottom left of the layers pallet is this stack of paper looking icon, that tooltips to "edit all layers" - if you turn this on it only lets you edit the layer you have selected, turn it off and all layers are fair game! 

[nitro912gr]

8 hours ago, TonyO said:

Old thread but I figured it out, and thought I'd share the solution incase of passerby's happening upon it. 

On the bottom left of the layers pallet is this stack of paper looking icon, that tooltips to "edit all layers" - if you turn this on it only lets you edit the layer you have selected, turn it off and all layers are fair game! 

isn't it the other way around? turn it on and edit all layers and keep it off and edit only the one you are at?