Unity Issue Tracker - Cannot select UI GameObjects in the Scene view when gizmos are disabled

Won't Fix

Votes

2

Found in

2020.2.0a14

2021.1

2021.2

Issue ID

1305536

Regression

Yes

Cannot select UI GameObjects in the Scene view when gizmos are disabled

uGUI

Jan 12, 2021

Cannot select UI GameObjects in the Scene view when gizmos are disabled

How to reproduce:
1. Download and open the submitted project "UIGameObjectsBug.zip"
2. Disable Gizmos on the top-right of the Scene view
3. Press on the button in the Scene view

Expected result: Button GameObject is selected
Actual result: Button GameObject is not selected

Reproducible with: 2020.2.0a14, 2020.2.2f1, 2021.1.0b2, 2021.2.0a1
Not reproducible with: 2018.4.30f1, 2019.4.18f1, 2020.2.0a13

Notes:
Enabling gizmos prevents the issue.
The issue is reproducible with any UI GameObject.
The issue does not affect other GameObjects.

Resolution Note (2020.2.X):

UGUI elements are not normal renderers. You must have gizmos enabled to be interact with UGUI elements.

Comments (11)

JackStriker

Nov 24, 2021 09:06

This annoying bug is still not fix in 2021.2.2f1.
nomadic

Nov 04, 2021 17:15

"UGUI elements are not normal renderers." Who cares? Whether you've been using Unity for ten years or just starting this is really poor UX.
skizbot99

Sep 13, 2021 17:43

To Unity team: please re-open this bug or open a feature request to make UGUI elements selectable without Gizmos being turned on.

This is how it has worked in previous Unity versions and is a much better user experience, especially for artists and designers working in Unity (who need to be able to see "clean/unobscured" versions of the scene without Gizmo overlays).

Otherwise this is a huge step backwards in usability.
april_4_short

Jul 19, 2021 12:31

Absurd choice. Please reconsider. And fix.
Rib

Jun 24, 2021 00:46

Here's another recent thread that seems to show that there's confusion around this now: https://forum.unity.com/threads/cant-see-anchors-on-ui.435197/
Rib

Jun 23, 2021 23:33

For reference there is also a forum thread about this and maybe it's worth commenting there too since this issue has just been shut down as 'wont fix' and it's not possible to vote for a change of decision. I guess also that comments here now don't get seen by anyone but maybe it's possible to get someone's attention via the forums to reconsider this:

https://forum.unity.com/threads/cant-select-ui-elements-through-scene-without-enabled-gizmos.984792/
tkramer811

May 24, 2021 20:23

Please change it back, this "bugfix" really worsens things.
leonscreative

Apr 19, 2021 11:16

Only i work designing UI and this BUG is essencial for my daily work. If they can't fix it then i can't work in any of the new versions anymore
Rib

Mar 21, 2021 15:46

This was a frustrating regression to hit after updating from 2019.4 to 2020.3.

From a user's perspective I'm not it matters to us that "UGUI elements are not normal renderers", that's surely just a technical detail and doesn't seem like a clear explanation for why this bug is marked as "won't fix" - it almost sounds like it's been marked as "won't fix" just because it will be annoying to implement the fix :/
Xarbrough

Feb 17, 2021 18:44

But what kind of argument is this? It was working in 2019 and that was clearly the better behaviour for many users. I don't think Unity should change behaviour that was relied upon for multiple years and then simply change it by calling it a "bugfix". Even more general, gizmos are things users can toggle on and off to add additional information and sometimes selectable things to the scene. It never disabled any sort of selecting GameObjects before, so why shouldn't I select UI GameObjects with Gizmos disabled?