Holding Spacebar for Hand tool plays timeline

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
December 8, 2025
2 replies
205 views

I've updated to the latest After Effects but noticed that when i press spacebar to use the hand tool to move around my comp the timeline plays, this is not how it should behave. Did Adobe in their infinite wisdom, change something?

Conrad_C

Community Expert

Which OS and version is it? I just tried the same thing in After Effects 25.6.0 on macOS 15.7.2, and holding down the spacebar works as the Hand tool normally, as expected.

Have you changed anything else recently like the OS or any software that modifies the keyboard? I’m just wondering if it’s a change to something like OS level keyboard settings.

One way to test that…if you hold down the spacebar in other applications that also use it as a Hand tool shortcut, such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, or Lightroom Classic, do you get the Hand tool, or something else? That would help tell you if it the issue is an application-specific problem or OS-wide.

N

nawaz1983Author

Participant

Thanks for the reply, Windows 10, this issue started to happen when i updated to the latest AE, now i've downgraded to 25.1 and its still happening, so how im thinking it could be something else thats interfering.

So i just tested this in illustrator and as you guessed, theres a issue there as well, its not working right, sometimes i get the hand tool and sometimes the current active tool is selected so like a dragging box appears.

very strange

nishu_kush

Legend

Yes, it might be caused by an app you recently installed or changes you made in the OS settings.

Tell us what works.

Thanks,
Nishu

nishu_kush

Legend

Thanks for reaching out, Nawaz.

Pressing and holding the Space bar will engage the Hand tool. If you press and release the Space bar, it'll play the Timeline.

Let me know how it goes.

Thanks,
Nishu

N

nawaz1983Author

Participant

Well its not behaving as it should, (fyi ive been using after effects for 20 years) if i press and hold the spacebar, the hand took works but when i release, the timeline plays. this has not happened before, only since the update,

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