Participant

Question

pen tool guide missing

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
September 14, 2020
6 replies
3379 views

when i use the pen tool i can't see the guide i've tried every thing but i couldn't fix it

Performance

Participant

I know this post is 5 years old, but it came up today when I was searching the same issue. I believe the problem is the guide line on pen tool not showing up. But what has actually happened it the guide line defaults to a random color based on the layer properties. Sometimes it will randomly be black (atleast in my case), which can be hard to see if working on a black surface. The fix is to click on you layer in the layers panels, and change the color to one you can see over the top of your workspace. For instance, the attached image is set to Cyan, which is readble over dark backrounds.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi @garyg44095275 :

In this case, two of your products already have a rubber band feature for the pen tool, so why wouldn't InDesign?

This is a user-to-user forum—users helping other users locate features and explain how to use a specific application. Personally, I am a career trainer delivering classes on InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop and other Adobe apps. I volunteer on the forum to answer "how to" questions in my spare time. I don't work for Adobe and have no control over how they solicit feedback. 😊

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Ah. Thank you for clarifying, @garyg44095275 .

In Photoshop, with the Pen tool selected, in the Options bar click the gear icon and enable the Rubber Band option to preview the path as you move your cursor in the image area. In Illustrator, use Preferences > Selection and Anchor Display > Uncheck the Enable Rubber Band for Pen Tool and/or Curvature Tool.

The rubber band feature does not exist in InDesign, but others have requested it. To vote for including it in a future version of InDesign, click here: https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601021-adobe-indesign-feature-requests/suggestions/33211822-add-rubber-band-for-pen-tool.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

G

garyg44095275

Participant

Thanks Barb, but voting for new features is a pretty juvenile approach to adding them. If enough people bring something to your attention, it should be considered and implemented. In this case, two of your products already have a rubber band feature for the pen tool, so why wouldn't InDesign? Only makes sense.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi Rere:

We can't see the images. Be sure to reply in your browser (not email) and use the Insert Photos button on the toolbar.

In the meantime, be sure that you set a stroke color and weight prior to adding the path.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

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garyg44095275

Participant

He's talking about the pen tool path preview, or rubberband. I'm having the same issue. It was working and now suddenly it is not. I can not find anywhere in the InDesign prefernces that controls the pen tool path preview, I am using InDesign v.15.1.2.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi Rere:

In InDesign, guides are the non-printing visual aids that help with alignment. We have margin guides, column guides and ruler guides and their visibilty is fully independent from the Pen tool (or any other tool).

I will guess that you mean path. Deselect all, set the stroke color and weight, and then try again.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

R

RfjAuthor

Participant

Hello Barb
Thank you for your answer but it didn’t help i still can’t see the path ( or the line that guide me to how the line would look )

This is what i get [Image.jpeg] [Image.jpeg]

-Rere
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Bill Silbert

Community Expert

Could you clarify what you're talking about? Do you mean that you don't see anything as you draw a path with the pen tool or do you mean that you have created a guide to draw along but cannot see it onscreen? If you mean that you can't see a guide then try View>Grids & Guides>Show Guides. Also make sure that you are actually using the pen tool rather than the add or delete point tools which look just like the pen tool except they have a + or a - next to them. All three tools are bundeled together on the Tool Bar and it's possible to be using the wrong one.

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