Cannot Manually Enter Numbers in Illustrator on Mac Sequoia 15.2

[Dr. Wecil]

I recently shifted from a PC to a Mac Mini Pro M4, Sequoia 15.2. My Adobe Creative Suite Illustrator is 29.1. I was hoping that switching to a Mac would provide better responsiveness than my older PC. But many of the shortcuts that worked on my PC do not work on this Mac. I also cannot mannually enter values for things like angles, dimensions, etc. None of the answers from the 2023 posts that reported this same problem worked at all. Do I just need to find alternative programs to run on this Mac? So far, very disappointing switch.

[Ton Frederiks]

Check if other apps are interfering with your keyboard. 

[Dr. Wecil]

Did that. Quit all apps, removed one from auto launch on start-up, updated my OS, turned off all accessibility, went through the shortcuts menu and turned off the up and down arrows for Mission Control, Application Windows on the keyboard. I am using an Apple Magic Keyboard and Mouse, and two monitors. Some of the numbers started working after restart, but the up/down arrows that change the number of sides of a polygon when drawing don't work at all. I am totally blown away that Illustrator worked SO MUCH BETTER on a PC than this Mac, and I only changed because my PC GPU was getting old and Adobe programs were slowing down. What else can I do? Go back to older programs? All of my Adobe programs are 2025 and now I'm wondering if every one of them is going to have these bizarre conflicts. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Ton Frederiks]

I am on Sonoma OS, and that works fine for me. Utilities like Magnet or apps that come with an external monitor have been known to interfere.

You could try to start your Mac in safe mode. If it works fine than you know there is some external app interfering.

https://support.apple.com/en-sg/guide/mac-help/mh21245/mac

[Dr. Wecil]

I followed your suggestion on safe mode. No difference in performance. But here's the thing: I think Illustrator "shortcuts" work quite differently on a PC vs a Mac. Out of frustration I started pressing different keys with the up/down arrows. Shift + an up/down arrow will change the number of sides--much more slowly than on a PC, but still it (sort of) works. I'll just have to keep trying some different key combinations to make this program work. Thanks for your help. I very much appreciate your prompt replies.

[Ton Frederiks]

Thanks, it may be usefull to go into the Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts and export them as text to see the difference between Mac/Win.