Spacebar switches to handtool

Still having the same issue on after effect 2024 and have tried the solutions given and still have the problem is there any you way to fix it?

I've been struggling tremendously with the same problem as you.

Pressing the spacebar does not play the preview, it switches to the hand tool, and pressing the spacebar twice will go back to the playbar.

Are you using a Bluetooth headset?
Or are you using Bluetooth earphones?

I've definitely confirmed that Bluetooth audio and After Effects are conflicting with each other.

This happened when the audio was not properly captured,
At first, it was a preview, but after leaving the seat for a while, the phenomenon was repeated.
It was the same even after rebooting the computer and clearing the accumulated cache.

In the end, I went back to wired earphones,
In the computer (window10) settings, you need to make sure that it is set to Sound and Audio > Sound Card, not Bluetooth Headset or Earphone.

I used an existing Bluetooth headset and used After Effects without any problems, but at some point I started having this problem.
I wasted a week and lost a lot.

It's a bug that even Adobe doesn't know about.
From what I saw, they didn't seem capable of solving it.

Same goes for reinstalling Windows. I've only reinstalled After Effects 5 times and downgraded countless times, but I had the same problem.

If you are in the same situation as me, I think it will help you to solve it.

As I am Korean, I am not good at English, so I got help from a translator.
Please forgive me if my words are poor.

It's actually perfectly normal since the space bar is double-loaded with the pan tool as well when holding it down, not just playback.  The only real question then becomes why it doesn't play any preview on a short tap at all as you seem to indicate, which is something we can't answer until you provide much more specific info like system info, actual comp and preview settings and so on.

Mylenium