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iHeartDaDobe
Participating Frequently
August 27, 2018
Answered

Hand tool switches to select tool

  • August 27, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 10978 views

I am perusing a document with Acrobat Pro 2017, and want to use the Hand Tool only (not the Select Tool).  When I right-click on a page, the Hand Tool option clearly shows as the selected tool.  When I actually try to click and drag, however, it switches to a Select tool.  Exactly what I don't want.

I tried looking in the Preferences for a switch that might be responsible for this.  The only one that sounds relevant is "Make Hand tool select text & images".  However, that is unchecked.

What else would cause this?  It doesn't normally behave like this, in my experience.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer try67

Yes, that preference is what makes the Hand tool change into the selection tool when clicking and dragging. Unticking it works fine for me (using a different version of Acrobat, though).

Make sure you have the Touch Mode option set to Never.

If that doesn't work try updating the application, or run a Repair Installation from the Help menu.

Also, what's your operating system?

2 replies

C
Code24601236aonr
Participating Frequently
February 1, 2023

The issue for me is that even when the Hand Tool icon is selected in the floating toolbar, as I'm navigating around the .pdf, it changes from Hand to Select tool, and it is in Select mode more often.

First, my Preferences for General are below, I didn't change anything below this area: 



My Preferences for Accessibility are below and the only thing I checked was the "Always display the keyboard selection cursor:

And REGEDIT is:

 

These are for reference and gathered from various previous posts.   After I set these properties, the Hand Tool did come up as the default, so that's progress. 

As for the Hand tool changing to the Selection tool, I'm adding some screenshots in an attachment to this post that show the cursor changing from Hand to Select in the same .pdf.  I used Windows 10 app Steps Recorder to capture the screenshots with the cursor.  If you use it, be sure to actually click on the screen for it to record.

What I noticed is that the .pdf has to be displaying larger than the actual screen for the Hand tool to stay consistenly on the screen.  

If the .pdf is fully visible from every corner, the Hand tool is squirrely and shifts from Hand to Select (see attached ,pdf document of screenshots).

The last shot in the attached document shows that even though the Hand tool is clearly selected on the floating toolbar, when I "grab" the text, it automatically turns it blue because it's selecting it.  Note that the .pdf is fitting the screen in full.

This may not be the only answer, however, for today, it's working for me.  Let me know if it works for you!

 

 

try67
Community Expert
try67Community ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
August 28, 2018

Yes, that preference is what makes the Hand tool change into the selection tool when clicking and dragging. Unticking it works fine for me (using a different version of Acrobat, though).

Make sure you have the Touch Mode option set to Never.

If that doesn't work try updating the application, or run a Repair Installation from the Help menu.

Also, what's your operating system?

    I
    iHeartDaDobeAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    August 28, 2018

    Thanks, try67!  I tried enabling "Make Hand tool select text & images", then disabling it.  From that point forward, the hand tool stayed the hand tool rather than switching to a text tool.  Why it misbehaved before enablement and disablement, I don't suppose it matters.

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