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I've been using Illustrator CS6 for months and previous versions for years. I don't consider myself a novice by any stretch, but this is driving me NUTS.

Up until probably 3 weeks ago, I've been able to very easily switch the active artboard in Illustrator without needing to switch to the artboard tool. Just start working in a new artboard, and it's switched. I can export for web without an extra step, easy! Now I need to take the time to first of all save over the wrong image when I save for web because I fall into careless habit-scripts, then back up, change tools, select the artboard tool, select the right artboard, and then save for web again (twice, usually, to re-save the first one I saved over).

I know it's only a few clicks, only a few seconds, but a) it adds up when I'm dealing with icon sets of 30+, and b) it's just really vexing to have to suddenly and without warning need to change my workflow. I've been trying to just deal with the change since google searches have turned up nothing useful, and I don't even know what I did in the first place to cause the change (I wouldn't put it past myself to fat-finger a shortcut without realizing it)

Someone please tell me there is an as-yet unfound option to simply click on/off or shortcut or SOMETHING to let me easily swap between active artboards again.

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  • Switching artboards by working on a different artboard works for me in CS6 (16.0.3 on Win 7 64-bit). Do you have any extraneous or overlapping artboards? Perhaps an artboard that contains all of your other artboards? If you create a brand new file, and make a few artboards there, does switching by selecting art in different artboards work properly in the new file?
    – apex
    Aug 6, 2014 at 20:01
  • None of these have worked for me. I'm on Adobe CC 2015, and been using it for years. Always selected an artboard by just clicking on it. suddenly now clicking on it doesn't work and I have to select an artboard from the panel. Very frustrating. Do let me know if anyone has a solution!
    – user45307
    Sep 20, 2015 at 14:02

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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Double-click the artboard you want in the Artboard Panel

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I had the same weird problem in CS5. I think it's a bug. How I solved it: in the very footer of Illustrator, next to the zoom dropdpown and artboard Navigation, there's a "Selction" dropdown - you can specify to see there different information - from your artboard name to Date & Time. Click on it to change to any selection and then it suddenly starts working, even if you chane back the seelction again... weird

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I set up my workspace so that my artboard panel is below my layers panel (and not a tab "under" the layers panel) so I can switch really easily between artboards. A single click changes focus to the artboard.

My workspace right now

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This happened to me too. Usually you can just click in an artboard to make it active, but for some reason it stopped working. What worked for me was to restart Illustrator (does restarting work for everything?). Hope this helps.

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  • Hi Seth, welcome to GDSE and thanks for your answer. If you have any questions, please see the help center or ping one of us in the Graphic Design Chat once your reputation is sufficient (20). Keep contributing and enjoy the site!
    – Vincent
    Jul 3, 2015 at 8:36

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