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TheChexican
Participant
May 15, 2012
Answered

Spacebar Shortcut: Hand Tool Showing But Not Working

  • May 15, 2012
  • 34 replies
  • 123463 views

Runing the CS6 trial on a Windows 7 Laptop (x64). I was in Photoshop (64), and noticed that when I held down the spacebar to pan the open image, the hand icon would show but the tool will not work. No matter how many times I click and drag, the image stays still. If I select the MANUALLY select the hand tool it works, but the spacebar shortcut key is non-functional. This issue persists across both the 32 & 64 bit versions of Photoshop.

Ideas? Help?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer TheChexican

    Thanks for the assist, Dennis & Co.

    Now, it's embarassing confession time. I did more testing, and discovered the problem persisted across different Adobe Applications. So I started looking for causes of the problem with my system, and noticed that TouchFreeze, a utility to disable the laptop trackpad when typing to prevent the cursor from being jumped around the screen by the palm of your hand, was running (I only turn it on when I'm planning on doing prolonged typing). Lo and behold, as soon as I quit it, the spacebar hand tool shortcut started working again. I use a wireless USB & Mouse, so I'm not sure why the conflict occured. Guess on some small level, the two couldn't get along.

    I got worried when I saw lots of similar forum posts like paulburd's, dating back to earlier versions of CS. Hope he and other users manage to find other easy fixes - I feel like I got lucky.

    34 replies

    Show previous replies
    MikeV1234
    MikeV1234
    Participating Frequently
    April 27, 2014

    Windows 8

    Go to  Metro UI> Settings > PC and Devices > Trackpad > Touchpad - 

    • Deactivate the Touchpad Delay.

    Also:

    I used a different wireless mouse which worked fine. The issue is possibly related to Mouse/Touch problems.

      MikeV1234
      MikeV1234
      Participating Frequently
      April 27, 2014

      I had this same problem and after trying everything else nothing worked.

      UNTIL.............  I used a different wireless mouse. 

      Works perfect in all Adobe programs now.

      I was using a Sony with 8.1 and the wireless mouse it came with which worked fine until windows was reinstalled but now it's working with the Logitech wireless mouse I prefer anyway.

      Maybe play around in Control panel????

      J
      juana_cantiere
      Participant
      March 31, 2014

      I've solved the problem by closing every other program running. Imidiatly the Hand Tool worked again.. Then when i Reopen the programs is sitll working,

      Hope This Help!

      Trevor.Dennis
      Community Expert
      Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 31, 2014

      juana.cantiere wrote:

      I've solved the problem by closing every other program running. Imidiatly the Hand Tool worked again.. Then when i Reopen the programs is sitll working,

      Hope This Help!

      Juana, thanks for your feedback.  It will help other folk sort out similar problems, but can you tell us what operating system you are running? As you can imagine.  it makes a difference.

      A
      Anonymous
      March 24, 2014

      This issue drove me nuts and none of the suggestions in multiple threads helped (including shutting down all other applications, restarting and resetting preferences). I haven't managed to find a full solution to the problem but I did find a bit of a workaround which may help someone. I'm on Windows 8.1 BTW.  If I hold down the Alt key instead of the spacebar the hand icon "grabs" and allows me to drag the canvas around.

      Studio Vasel
      Studio Vasel
      Inspiring
      June 22, 2016

      This is also working for me on Win 10 (Asus Zenbook Pro) which I am just getting set up today.

      Thanks

      C
      CMYKreative
      Participant
      January 14, 2014

      After weeks of trying to sort this problem, we found the solution (in our case) was in the Dell Touchpad settings . . . turn off "TouchCheck" and all works fine.

        T
        tkonieczny
        Participant
        December 9, 2013

        Hello,

        When I was installed windows 8.1 a spacebar hand tool in Adobe's CC apps was blocked. I was tried everything which i seen on Adobe's forums but nothing was helped me to unblock that tool. I just can switch tool via "h" shortcout but it is quite annoying. I am looking for a professional advice from Adobe.

        Regards

        C
        CJFirth
        Participant
        November 27, 2013

        I had the same problem in Illustrator CC on OS X Mavericks. Closing Chome and Firefox didn't fix it, but quitting my upgraded install of Parallels Desktop 9 did. Just like that. I didn't even have to restart Illustrator. I'm not sure whether it was Parallels itself, the Windows 7 virtual machine, or the fact I had Windows open in Coherance mode, but there you go. Done.

          V
          vicheanakv40723990
          Participant
          September 19, 2016

          I uninstall Parallel and everything is working great! Those apps have conflict with each other.

          A
          Anonymous
          June 25, 2013

          I had the same problem and fixed it by restarting my computer. I suspect it is caused by a conflicting program.

          J
          JimmyGG
          Participating Frequently
          August 1, 2012

          I just installed Photoshop CS6 on a powerfull new computer (i7-3370K + 16GB) running Windows 7 x64. I have a Wacom Intuos 5 touch installed also. I am really ANGRY about the space bar pan feature which has been one of my favorite functions in CS5. In CS6 it works about half the time! Sometimes the hand tool never shows up when the spacebar is depressed.

          Sometimes the hand tool shows up but there is no panning!!!

          To continue what I want to do with a brush, I have to select the hand tool and use it to pan and then switch back to the brush!

          This really stinks!!!

          Jim

          A
          Anonymous
          June 7, 2012

          Hi everyone! I had a similiar problem in InDesign CS6 but I managed to solve the problem.

          InDesign CS6

          1) Edit -> Key Shortcuts

          2) Select "Tools" in Product Area drop down menu

          3) Select "Hand Tool"

          4) Click the empty field of "New Shortcut"

          5) Press spacebar and "Space" text automatically appears on this field.

          6) You will be prompted to save default copy, and click Ok

          7) You should be able to see the new entry "Default: Space" on the Current Shortcuts box.

          8) Click "Default: H" and then press "Remove" button.

          9) You are done. It should be working when you press spacebar and the screen moves.

          Hope this helps.

          Cheers,

          Andre

            K
            KeyStudio
            Participating Frequently
            June 7, 2012

            Andre, you're a life-saver! Thanks!

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