Fix Illustrator Drag-Zoom Not Working (Box Appears Instead)

Ever had this annoying issue in Adobe Illustrator where drag-zoom (Ctrl + Space + Drag) doesn’t work properly? Instead of zooming left or right, it just draws a box — and when you release the click, it only zooms into that box. Even restarting the document doesn’t fix it.

🔍 Here’s what’s happening:

Your document is currently using CPU Preview mode. This disables the smooth GPU-powered drag-zoom feature.

✅ How to Fix It:

Just switch your document back to GPU Preview:

Go to the top menu:
View > GPU Preview
Or use the shortcut:

Windows: Ctrl + E
Mac: Cmd + E

Once you switch back to GPU Preview, the drag-to-zoom works normally again — no more box!

Note: When you create a new document, Illustrator defaults to GPU Preview (if your system supports it), which is why it seems to work fine there.

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Fix Illustrator Drag-Zoom Not Working (Box Appears Instead)