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Is there any way in AI to past an object at a specific location in my artboard and not let it paste somewhere random?

For example, I would like to paste an object several times and not drag it and relocate it every time I paste.

Example: I am trying to paste the Chinese word on the front of every t-shirt. By Pasting, AI pastes the word in a location and I need to drag it to my desired placement location. I was wondering if there would be a way to put the cursor on the place where I want to paste the word so it pastes there directly.

enter image description here

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  • Are you trying to paste unique objects or the same object over and over?
    – AndrewH
    Commented Nov 21, 2022 at 16:28
  • use repeat transform Ctrl+D to do the copying? anyway the question is too wague how would illustrator know where to paste?
    – joojaa
    Commented Nov 21, 2022 at 16:44
  • I would like to paste an item several times but in different places. AI should allow to paste where my cursor is. That's how AI would know, because I am placing my cursor there.
    – samyb8
    Commented Nov 21, 2022 at 19:52
  • You would drag copy one a d keep hitting ctl d for the rest.
    – joojaa
    Commented Nov 22, 2022 at 6:34
  • Illustrator's normal paste behaviour isn't random, it pastes to the centre of the current view. There is no way to have it paste at the cursor location. Maybe try Alt+click+drag to make a copy instead, followed by Ctrl+D to repeat the duplicate.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Nov 22, 2022 at 10:15

2 Answers 2

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If they are separate artboards, you can....

  • Select the object on the first artboard.
  • Choose Edit > Cut (Yes, Cut to copy and remove it.)
  • Choose Edit > Paste on all Artboards

The copied object will be pasted in the same relative location on every individual artboard.

enter image description here

If you don't use Cut when copying, the object will be duplicated on the artboard you copied it from. By using Cut you eliminate the duplicate on the original artboard.


If you are not using separate artboards and all the artwork is on the same artboard, then no there's no real way to paste an object in different locations. There may be "tricks" - such as using a Transform Effect to duplicate and move an object - but in terms of pasting, you are kind of stuck with pasting and then moving at least once. Then possibly repeating the last transformation (Command/Ctrl-d).

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  • Thanks, I needed it in one same artboard, and I guess this is an element AI lacks as it could be very useful to avoid dragging.
    – samyb8
    Commented Nov 21, 2022 at 22:37
  • You can create separate artboards - one around each shirt - even if temporarily, then remove them when finalizing. Pasting at some cursor location wouldn't be precise in any way. And Illustrator only offers 3 methods of pasting in a location - standard paste is at center of screen. Paste in Front/Back/Place is at copied location, and paste on all artboards as described above.
    – Scott
    Commented Nov 21, 2022 at 22:39
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As far I understand, you can use "Past in place" option. If you have to paste an object at the same place on different art boards, I would suggest that you place it on one artboard where you want it to be and then copy it and then use "paste in Place" or "Paste in front (Ctrl +F)" on other artboards. As long as the size of Artboards is same it will paste on the same palce.

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    Yes, indeed. Paste in place is a good tool but when you want to paste an item multiple times in DIFFERENT places in the artboard, you are forced to always drag it to your desire position as AI seems to place the item randomly somewhere.
    – samyb8
    Commented Nov 21, 2022 at 19:51

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