Inspiring

Answered

Hand Tool and Space Bar (Hand tool stuck; space not working) Monterey and Creative Cloud InDesign

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
December 18, 2021
4 replies
3939 views

(I've placed this post under InDesign since it's the app I use most often, but it also happens in Illustrator)

• At random times (sometimes when I first launch InDesign CC or Illustrator CC and other times after I've been working in the app for a short while) two things occur:

• The cursor changes to the hand tool and/or I'm unable to type a space in any Adobe app. So, except for moving the document around with the hand tool, I'm completely unable to do anything. I can't use any of the tools to make image frames, text boxes, etc. AND I can't select any objects, nothing!

• The only way I can get use of any tools is to restart my iMac (a brand new Mac, so could be an OS issue (12.0.1.) Then, if I'm lucky I can use the tools for awhile, otherwise, I'm retsarting again and hoping for the best.

• I even went so far as to buy a new keyboard, but that hasn't made any difference.

As you can imagine, it's frustrating having to keep stopping midway through every project and restarting. ANY help would be very much appreciated.

Correct answer Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Sorry I wasn't clear--did you turn off Enable Full Keyboard Access?

K

kevinw33311427

Participant

This issue seems to happen in Adobe CC products, definitely Indesign and Illustrator for me. I found the Hand Tool was getting stuck on when using short cut for zoom, 'command + spacebar' (in that order). To get your Pointer back, just reverse the keystroke, 'spacebar + command'. Hope that helps someone, I spent a long time trying to figure it out, and reading lots of possible solutions...

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Did you adjust the Full Keyboard Access?

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

H

heathirm

Participant

I've been struggling with the same issues. Just did an OS update - did not help.

What's happening: Hand tool is taking over no matter which tool I select in the tools panel. Blue boxes are surrounding content on my screen when I'm in an IND file. Space bar is not working (even when I'm typing in a search window in IND.)

I had uninstalled IND before I saw the note to "uncheck" Full Keyboard Access, so not sure which step fixed the issue. My files seem to be opening and working normally, now. Thx for the tip, Dave @ IDEAS!

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Check your System Preferences > Accessibility > Keyboard settings and see if Enable Full Keyboard Access is turned on.

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

S

soonerchem

Participant

I checked this and my keyboard is fully accessible. When I hit the space bar in InDesign my progress is stopped with this dialogue box. If I "save" the document closes.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Correct answer

Community Expert

Sorry I wasn't clear--did you turn off Enable Full Keyboard Access?

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

Joel Cherney

Community Expert

It's been so long since I was a frequent macOS user that I don't even remember what they are called, but I have observed over the years that these kinds of keyboard input problems can more often than not be resolved by quitting out of those always-running apps at the top right of the menu bar. If InDesign is the only thing running, do you still have these issues? I once had a very hard time with stray spaces inserted into my InDesign documents until I figured out that leaving my banking app open, of all things, was interefering with InDesign's access to the keyboard.

P

pkazmercykAuthor

Inspiring

Hi Joel. Thanks for the idea. I will give it a try and let you know if it works.

Paul

Joel Cherney

Community Expert

The heavy-handed version of that troubleshooting method in macOS (that I only remember after having slept on it) would be to make a brand-new user and try InDesign when logged in as that user. That way, you can isolate your install of InDesign from every single user-level customization one can make, including apps that run in the background at startup, custom keyboard shortcuts in other apps, and so on.

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