holding down shift Does NOT keep lines straight, why?

[s.mccrory]

How do I keep lines straight? Used to be, holding down the "shift" key would keep lines straight, this no longer works, I'm going nuts trying to keep lines straight. Gah! If I drawa a strait line, neet to extend the line a tad, I drag out a point, the line goes wonky. I need it to be straight. Please help.

[Ton Frederiks]

Can you check your constrain angle in Preferences?

[s.mccrory]

zero degrees, the problem come to find out was with my preferences, deleted them and now everything is working correctly. Thank you.

[Anubhav M · Accepted solution]

Hello s.mccrory,

Sorry to hear about this experience. I hope the suggestions shared by Ton helped resolve the problem. If not, kindly try resetting Illustrator's preferences by following the steps shared in this article (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/troubleshoot-preference-issues.html) and sharing your observations.

Disclaimer: Please note that resetting preferences will remove all custom settings, and Illustrator will launch with the defaults. You may take a backup of these settings from the location mentioned in the article. 

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Anubhav

[s.mccrory]

Thank you Anubhav, I reset the preferences and now now contrain line segements is working with shift key.

[eric_5223]

Can Adobe work out the bugs in Illustrator that cause the constant corruptions of prefernce files? I'm getting very tired of having to do it so often (monthly, sometimes weekly). We should not have to be our own IT as often as we are as paid subscribers.

[Monika Gause]

Can Adobe work out the bugs in Illustrator that cause the constant corruptions of prefernce files? I'm getting very tired of having to do it so often (monthly, sometimes weekly). We should not have to be our own IT as often as we are as paid subscribers.

By @eric_5223

I don't remember the last time I had to reset the preferences.

[eric_5223]

Then pardon me for asking. Not trying to be rude, but why is that always the first suggestion to every problem in this forum. If i were to reset my preferences every time Illustrator started acting up, I would definitely be resetting weekly.

[Monika Gause]

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@eric_5223  schrieb:

Then pardon me for asking. Not trying to be rude, but why is that always the first suggestion to every problem in this forum. 

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Because everyone here wants to get things done quickly. This is a public forum with 95% of people not even being staff. But also the people asking for support want to get things done. And resetting the preferences is the easiest way to get a couple of things out of the way. 

Personally I also do not like it and also try to solve some things using other ways. But more often than not, in the end it's still the preferences. 

If you get the impression that Illustrator is acting up a lot, then something on your computer needs to be solved, because Illustrator in itself is not acting up a lot.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @eric_5223,

I am sorry to hear about your experience. Are you also having trouble with the lines not staying straight when holding down the shift key? If so, you could try running Illustrator after rebooting your computer to Safe Mode (Windows / macOS). This can help us determine if another program/plugin interferes with your keyboard shortcuts.

Additionally, if you're on Windows, the Sticky Keys prompt might be triggered when you hold down the Shift key. Try disabling them (https://adobe.ly/3ZCqr4g) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Mike_Gondek]

Are you continually keeping  the shift key depressed? Does this happen with both the pen tool and the line tool? What OS & do you have any third party OS or illustrator plug in software installed, even antivirus software once long ago conflicted with this. 

[s.mccrory]

Something with my preferences was messed up, I reset them and now it's working. Yes, I would let go of the mouse before releasing the shift key. Thank you.

[Monika Gause]

Can you please show screenshots and describe exactly what you are doing using which tool?

[barbara_a]

Are you keeping the Shift key down and releasing the mouse button before releasing the Shift key?

[s.mccrory]

yes, my preferences were wonky so that is why it was not working. Thank you.

[Jacob Bugge]

s,

In addition to what everyone has said, at first I also presumed that straight means horizontal (or vertical), because straight lines (or straight path segments) is easily made with the Pen Tool by just Clicking, and by ClickDragging with the Line Segment Tool.

In addition to or instead of holding Shift, you can also rely on Smart Guides to get horizontal/vertical/other directions.

Shift is about direction, not straightness.

But this has me in doubt:

"If I drawa a strait line, neet to extend the line a tad, I drag out a point, the line goes wonky."

If you drag out from the end Achor Point of a path with the Pen Tool you will merely create a Handle for a follwing path segment which can then be curved.

Are you using the Pencil Tool by any chance?

If you are, everything will be wonky.

[s.mccrory]

It was my preferences, something was messed up, deleted them and now everything is working. Thank you.