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Option to keep Pen/Path tool active during zoom adjustments

Forum|Forum|22 days ago
September 1, 2026
6 replies
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Please add a preferences toggle that keeps the active path/drawing tool engaged when a user switches to the zoom tool or uses zoom commands. Constantly losing the active anchor point during view changes slows down my drawing workflow.

Again, I just want to be able to zoom and have the path still active instead of having to click on the most recent anchor point to reactivate it. Also, make the hit box bigger for users with a wacom stylus. Thank you!

Correct answer Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Don’t switch to the actual tools, use these shortcuts and you will never disconnect from your path...

After selecting to the Pen tool:

Switch to the Direct Selection tool: hold down the Command (Mac) or Control (Win) key;

Switch to the Anchor Point tool (to change anchor type): hold down the Option or Alt key;

To zoom in/out: hold down the Command-spacebar or Control spacebar and move mouse left/right;

To draw straight line: hold down the Shift key.

Press the Esc key to stop open path and start new one.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

@Greg_Ingestion I agree with @Dave Creamer of IDEAS , use shortcuts.

A small detail on Mac, the default for Spotlight is Cmd Spacebar, unless you changed that, you can use Spacebar Cmd.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Thanks Ton. I forgot about that. I disable the Spotlight shortcut as soon as I get a new Mac.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

Conrad_C

Community Expert

I like having a Spotlight shortcut, but to get it out of the way of zoom shortcuts I reassigned Spotlight to one of the function keys. Which I like even more because then it’s just a single-key shortcut.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Correct answer

Community Expert

Don’t switch to the actual tools, use these shortcuts and you will never disconnect from your path...

After selecting to the Pen tool:

Switch to the Direct Selection tool: hold down the Command (Mac) or Control (Win) key;

Switch to the Anchor Point tool (to change anchor type): hold down the Option or Alt key;

To zoom in/out: hold down the Command-spacebar or Control spacebar and move mouse left/right;

To draw straight line: hold down the Shift key.

Press the Esc key to stop open path and start new one.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

B

Bobby Henderson

Community Expert

These keyboard shortcuts for toggling zoom in/out and hand-panning the view while the Pen tool is active have long been one of my favorite features about Illustrator (and Photoshop). Just with my left hand I can use key combinations to modify a path and its anchor points while I'm drawing it using the Pen tool AND I can toggle zoom and hand-pan functions to adjust my view of the work. I never have to let go of the mouse or pen while pressing those key combinations or go jumping back and forth to a tool bar.

Freehand was the only rival vector graphics application that offered most of the same keyboard shortcuts and that app doesn't exist anymore. Affinity Designer only partially offers similar keyboard shortcuts; it's just set up different and a little frustrating if you're used to the Illustrator/Photoshop shortcuts for the Pen tool and zooming/hand-panning the view. CorelDRAW is great for certain technical drawing tasks, but its Bezier tool just stinks compared to Illustrator's Pen Tool. CorelDRAW doesn't have anything like GPU-accelerated animated zoom in Illustrator or the animated zoom in Affinity Designer for that matter. You can do zooming/hand-panning with a mouse scroll wheel. But the behavior is herky-jerky and not smooth at all. Those options aren't available if you're using a pen/stylus and graphics tablet.

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