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elementofblank
Participant
July 27, 2009
Answered

Illustrator gets stuck on hand tool

  • July 27, 2009
  • 17 replies
  • 143906 views

I'm having this problem with my Adobe Illustrator CS3 where I'll be using the pen tool, and out of nowhere (usually after I've undone a couple of things it seems), the program will get stuck on the hand tool, and won't switch to any other tool. Time seems to be the only remedy because the problem will persist even if I try to work on another file, or restart the program. It also carries over to Photoshop, which I don't recall ever giving me this problem. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Correct answer Ayush29966864hyux

None of the solutions mentioned applied to me. Spacebar wasnt it. I restarted my computer and it fixed the problem. 

17 replies

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DToth
Participant
July 14, 2014

I've found that having google chrome or safari open can cause random glitches in Adobe programmes. Quit any search engine you may be using and see if the glitch goes away, if not, quit the adobe programme that you are using and restart. It should now be back to normal when booted back up.

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    marchaumann
    Participant
    October 24, 2013

    One hack I've found that seems to work consistently is to frantically tap on the space bar a bunch of times while simultaneously clicking and drag with the mouse. Somehow this jiggering gets it unstuck after a second or two.

    M
    mlionking007
    Participant
    December 12, 2010

    hi all,


    I had the same problem, but i found some wierd solution (Believe me it works...)


    I do photoshop tutorials from Youtube. I use Mozilla most of the time and when i open PS CS4 i get struck with hand tool.

    But when i use IE for youtube lessons, i dont get such crapy problems.


    When i got struck with hand tool, i closed Mozilla and hit spacebar in PS CS4... hand tool dissapears.....

    And it works lot of time and now i stopped using mozilla to open Youtube for my photography tutorials.

    Any other suggestions please reply back.........

    Regards

    M
    MLenzke
    Participant
    August 19, 2009

    After viewing a Flash file that switches to fullscreen the hand tool seems locked in. Just click the spacebar to clear the problem.

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      whisselBahre
      Participant
      August 19, 2009

      Thanks!  That works.

        S
        stretched
        Participant
        August 1, 2009

        Don't think it is a spacebar problem. Look at http://www.davidbisset.com/2007/12/15/photoshop-stuck-on-hand-toolicon/ for shared concern with many people. I have been encountering this on just about all tool-related programs -Illustrator CS4, Painter 11, Photoshop CS2. Every time the problem clears in a few minutes. I have XP Pro, 3 GB of RAM, Duo Core 2.40GHz - no memory issues. I suspect the problem is software related in how it is using computer resources - possible conflict with some Microsoft performance addition.

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          Wade_Zimmerman1
          Inspiring
          August 1, 2009

          That might or mght not be an issue you are having but i have to say taking the approach orf selective choosintgg the answers will not solve your problem if Scott is correct then all the time you spend looking for your perfect software solution will be very costly.

          Why don't you first check it out instead of dismissing what might be a problem with a $30 solution.

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          whisselBahre
          Participant
          August 5, 2009

          I'm having the same issue, also in Photoshop CS4 extended. 

          1)  I just re-Ghosted to a pristine Ghost image to rule-out OS/software issues on my end.  I'll post how that goes once I reinstall the Adobe. 

          2)  Diagnostics report no memory or other hardware errors.  Also, I've done a Symantec disk check, and no disk errors are reported. 

          3)  Also, while the keyboard notion is a good thought, I'm thinking that we can't all have keyboard issues.  My keyboard is almost new and every key works beautifully.  Here is a filtered forum listing of others having the same issue.  As you can see, this is very widespread.

          http://forums.adobe.com/search.jspa?q=hand+tool&resultTypes=MESSAGE&resultTypes=COMMUNITY&peopleEnabled=true&dateRange=all&communityID=&username=&numResults=15&rankBy=9

            PrepressPro1
            PrepressPro1
            Legend
            July 28, 2009

            If you have another keyboard laying around you could try hooking it up to see if you get the hand tool or if this resolves the issue.

            _scott__
            _scott__
            Legend
            July 27, 2009

            Your space bar is stuck on the keyboard. It may be time for a new keyboard.

              L
              LuckyCharms
              Participant
              October 2, 2015

              It's not the spacebar. I wish it were that easy. I'm having the same problem in Illustrator and InDesign. It started after the Windows 10 update, but I don't know if its the Windows update or the recent Adobe update.

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                luis adriánb9512419
                Participant
                June 1, 2021

                Exactly the same problem... it's very annoying sometimes I get very angry... Still no solutions, 2 months already having this situation 😞 

                 

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