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vladk5779022
Known Participant
May 28, 2018
Answered

Making Hand Tool the Default Choice

  • May 28, 2018
  • 21 replies
  • 168553 views

In Adobe Acrobat Professional, after I select the Selection Tool and close the document, the next document which I open has the Selection Tool selected. (The program remembers the last choice.) What needs to be changed in the settings so that documents may always open with the Hand (Pan) tool selected?

    Correct answer abdulhakim_2436

    This didn't work for me. Instead, this worked (copied from another post): Changing Touch Mode from AUTO-DETECT to ALWAYS seems to have worked for me.  Now all files are opening with hand tool already selected.

    21 replies

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    JR Boulay
    JR Boulay
    Community Expert
    August 20, 2022

    "I also changed the data of bShowKeyboardSelectionCursor to 0 and it worked!"

    Dota2Pro Please can you elaborate?

    It don't understand how to do this.

    Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
    McCready1982
    McCready1982
    Known Participant
    August 25, 2022

    Open regedit and go to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\Selection.

    Right-click bShowKeyboardSelectionCursor > Modify > set value to 0.

    Rikoski
    Rikoski
    New Participant
    August 26, 2022

    This worked! thanks a ton

      M
      masud.pce
      New Participant
      May 7, 2022

      Hand tool and selection tool is related to touch mode settings.

       

      When the program detects that the user is using a touch screen then it selects hand tool. so that your hand can be used as usual way. But when it detects that , there is no touch input/display connected then it selects selection tool (cursor) for using with mouse.

       

      So you need to set touch mode option to >Always. Thus the program will always presume that the user is in touch mode. And give you the hand tool as default.

      To make hand tool default ,
      Go to : Edit > Preferences > General >Touch Mode > Always

      hart8210
      hart8210
      New Participant
      May 26, 2022

      Thank you!  This is a few months late, but I swear I didn't even have this issue last week.  I open many different pdf files all day every day and prefer the Hand tool as default.  This week every pdf opened defaulted to Select tool;  I never noticed this behavior before.  Am I crazy or could something have changed without my doing so?  But yes, the touch screen "always on" tip worked, for now.  Thanks!

        Maslamah
        Maslamah
        New Participant
        August 12, 2022

        Same problem here, I use program quite frequently but today when I opened it it was on select tool. I remember I solved it a few months ago by following noemirPS's comment after searching the whole internet,

        but I'm back to square one now. 

        C
        CLAUDIA23297562j8p9
        New Participant
        February 23, 2022

        I tried all of the options here and none worked, except for going to the: - Click the hand tool while viewing a document, then Edit < Preferences < General < Touch Mode: Select from the dropdown menu "Always". Click ok, then Close the pdf reader then open it, it'll bring the hand tool as your default.

          JR Boulay
          JR Boulay
          Community Expert
          February 13, 2022

          Thank you for this nice workaround.

           

          Please Adobe fix this bug!!!

          Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
            N
            noemirPS
            Participating Frequently
            February 8, 2022

            Interestingly enough - afters hours of searching for a solution this is what worked for me:

            • I opened a PDF, right-clicked to select the Hand Tool
            • In Edit>Preferences>Accessibility>CHECK "Always display the keyboard selection cursor">Click OK (this was unchecked by default)
            • In Edit>Preferences>General - Change Touch Mode to Always (This was Auto-detect by default)

             

            So, essentially I did the reverse of everything I found online and it worked.  I have closed and opened multiple PDF's and the Hand Tool is always the default.  Hope this helps!

              E
              Erica23119311qz3h
              New Participant
              February 11, 2022

              Yes!!! This worked!  Nothing else on this page worked but this did and it makes absolutely no sense!  🙂 thank you!

                S
                Sherif Saadawy
                New Participant
                January 9, 2022

                I found that if I Right-click my mouse and literally click "Hand Tool", then exit Adobe and reopen it, it now starts with my Hand Tool.  It was that simple and difficult to find at the same time. 

                  JR Boulay
                  JR Boulay
                  Community Expert
                  January 9, 2022

                  It works fine with Acrobat Pro but not with Acrobat Reader.

                  In any case you are a genius !!!    (unlike some programmers )

                   

                  Edit: It only worked once for a few hours.

                   

                  Please Adobe fix this bug!!!

                  Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
                    JR Boulay
                    JR Boulay
                    Community Expert
                    November 19, 2021

                    See this related topic:

                    https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/acrobat-pro-has-lost-tool-memory/td-p/12485038

                    Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
                    darrellc54457103
                    darrellc54457103
                    Participating Frequently
                    November 24, 2021

                    Same here. Adobe opens with cursor every time now. Have to right click on the PDF, select Hand tool. Save/no save, doesn't matter. When I reopen or try any other document, the cursed cursor is there and not the Hand. Anyone? I've check and unchecked the box, that's obviously not the solution. 

                    K
                    Kealon
                    New Participant
                    December 3, 2021

                    My experience is the same, so it appears the solution may be two-part depending on the starting conditions, as my check box was also unchecked.

                     

                    The complete solution that will likely apply to all scenarios is (borrowing from @AnandSri and others above) to:

                     

                    0) Check and Skip to Step 7) if and only if Edit>Preferences>General and "Make hand tool select text & images" is already in an unchecked state, otherwise proceed to step 1)

                    1) Open Adobe

                    2) Edit > Preferences

                    3) Accessibility

                    4) Uncheck "Always display the keyboard selection cursor"

                    5) Click "OK"

                    6) Close Adobe

                    7) Open/Re-open Adobe with a PDF document

                    😎 Right click on the page area of the open PDF, select "Hand Tool" to move check from "Select Tool."

                    9) Close Adobe

                    10) Re-open Adobe with a PDF document and optionally sigh with relief or otherwise emote 😉

                     

                     

                      J
                      Jay21824518pdqr
                      New Participant
                      November 18, 2021

                      I had the same issue with Acrobat 10, Windows 10.  My setting already have the "Always display the keyboard selection cursor" box unchecked.  That's obviously not the place.

                       

                      I found that if I Right-click my mouse and literally click "Hand Tool", then exit Adobe and reopen it, it now starts with my Hand Tool.  It was that simple and difficult to find at the same time. 

                       

                        G
                        Ghazawy
                        New Participant
                        August 17, 2022

                        This is the only way ... i have tried all the ways mentioned above but unfortunately not worked.

                         

                        Thanks Jay and thanks for all for thier approaches. 

                        B
                        Bara;
                        New Participant
                        March 25, 2021

                        In the latest version this is the only way it works for me (on windows 10) https://superuser.com/questions/364740/how-do-i-use-the-hand-tool-as-default-in-adobe-reader

                        E
                        exclusao02
                        New Participant
                        February 21, 2021

                        Tenho o Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (Continuous Release - Versão 2021.001.20138) instalado em dois notebooks. Um notebook com tela sensível a toque e outro notebook com tela normal.
                        No notebook com tela normal, o Acrobat inicia por padrão com a ferramenta Selecionar ativa, mesmo que eu o encerre com a ferramenta Mão ativa. No notebook com tela sensível ao toque, ele inicia por padrão com a ferramenta Mão ativa, mesmo que eu o encerre com a ferramenta Selecionar ativa.
                        Queria que no notebook com tela sensível ao toque o Acrobat inicasse com a ferramenta Selecionar ativa. Sofri durante dois anos.
                        No notebook com tela senível a toque, fui em "Preferências", na categoria "Geral", e desmarquei a caixa de seleção "Exibir teclado sensível ao toque quando o dispositivo estiver no modo para toque ou no modo tablet". Pronto.
                        Agora, se fecho o Acrobat com a ferramenta Mão ativa, abrirá futuramente em qualquer documento com a ferramenta Mão ativa. Se fecho o Acrobat com a ferramenta Selecionar ativa, abrirá futuramente em qualquer documento com a ferramenta Selecionar ativa.
                        Para que o Acrobat abra sempre com a ferramenta Selecionar ativa, indepentemente de nós fecharmos com a ferramenta Mão ou Selecionar ativa, fui em na categoria "Acessibilidade" e marquei a caixa de verificação "Sempre exibir o cursor de seleção do teclado".
                        Mas afinal achei esta última parte desnessária para mim.

                        E
                        ERTP
                        New Participant
                        January 22, 2022

                        Esqueça tudo isso aí.

                        No notebook com tela senível a toque, vá em "Preferências", na página"Geral",  e na lista suspensa "Modo de toque" escolha "Nunca". Pronto.
                        Favor desconsiderar tudo que eu escrevi acima.

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