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Illustrator gets stuck on hand tool

New Here ,
Jul 26, 2009 Jul 26, 2009

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I'm having this problem with my Adobe Illustrator CS3 where I'll be using the pen tool, and out of nowhere (usually after I've undone a couple of things it seems), the program will get stuck on the hand tool, and won't switch to any other tool. Time seems to be the only remedy because the problem will persist even if I try to work on another file, or restart the program. It also carries over to Photoshop, which I don't recall ever giving me this problem. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

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Performance , Tools

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correct answers 3 Correct answers

New Here , Jul 13, 2014 Jul 13, 2014

I've found that having google chrome or safari open can cause random glitches in Adobe programmes. Quit any search engine you may be using and see if the glitch goes away, if not, quit the adobe programme that you are using and restart. It should now be back to normal when booted back up.

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New Here , Sep 01, 2020 Sep 01, 2020

Thank you. It was the space bar on my keyboard. That worked for me. 

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Community Beginner , Jul 17, 2023 Jul 17, 2023

None of the solutions mentioned applied to me. Spacebar wasnt it. I restarted my computer and it fixed the problem. 

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Adobe
Community Beginner ,
Oct 24, 2013 Oct 24, 2013

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One hack I've found that seems to work consistently is to frantically tap on the space bar a bunch of times while simultaneously clicking and drag with the mouse. Somehow this jiggering gets it unstuck after a second or two.

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New Here ,
Jul 13, 2014 Jul 13, 2014

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I've found that having google chrome or safari open can cause random glitches in Adobe programmes. Quit any search engine you may be using and see if the glitch goes away, if not, quit the adobe programme that you are using and restart. It should now be back to normal when booted back up.

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New Here ,
Jul 24, 2015 Jul 24, 2015

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I find it gets stuck there after using the keyboard short cut to zoom in or out. Using the same short cut again frees it back to the pointer.

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 02, 2015 Oct 02, 2015

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I've been having this problem for years.  One quick, but annoying, workaround I've found is to open up your browser, search for 'hand tool' (or anything really) and then switch back to Illustrator.  I read a long time ago the error had something to do with program memory being used in a certain way. Switching to another program and doing something in it clears whatever stuck memory Illustrator had that caused the error.

This is a problem that's been going on for years and years, hopefully (eventually) it'll get fix, but at this point I have my doubts.

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New Here ,
Aug 28, 2021 Aug 28, 2021

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Fastforward to 2021. The issue still persists. I've been having the same problem for a decade across different versions and machines!

 

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New Here ,
Feb 25, 2020 Feb 25, 2020

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For me, having Microsoft Excel open at the same time as Illustrator caused the hand tool problem. I closed Excel, and all was well. Immediately. 

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New Here ,
Sep 09, 2021 Sep 09, 2021

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Bizarre - just shut down chrome and it reverted to selection tool... 

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 17, 2023 Jul 17, 2023

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None of the solutions mentioned applied to me. Spacebar wasnt it. I restarted my computer and it fixed the problem. 

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 02, 2023 Oct 02, 2023

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This happens "SO OFTEN" for me and it is a pain having to restart when I am in the middle of something.

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 02, 2023 Oct 02, 2023

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Sometimes I just let the computer sit or go to another program and after some time come back to illustrator and it decides to work

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New Here ,
Dec 04, 2023 Dec 04, 2023

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ANSWER #1 : All you need to do is hold down "shift" and "spacebar" and the problem resolves itself!
Very glitchy!!!

I have a BRAND NEW MacBook along with a New Magic mouse & a New Keyboard (just took out of the box today - Dec 4, 2023.)
Very strange - but NOTHING else worked - I have tried closing & reopening the program, restarting,deleting prefderences... NOTHING --- shift + space = worked!

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New Here ,
Dec 13, 2023 Dec 13, 2023

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It's terrible, it happens to me 10-15 times during the working day and every time I have to reboot (nothing else solves the problem). Any problems with the keyboard and mouse don't apply to my case (I have a new macbook and mouse), I don't have any problems with them in other programs, only in illustrator. If it is possible to reach Adobe by signing any petition, I am ready to do so, as long as they see this problem and solve it as soon as possible.

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Community Expert ,
Dec 13, 2023 Dec 13, 2023

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@look_around  schrieb:

 If it is possible to reach Adobe by signing any petition, 


 

Just post on Uservoice.

 

If they can reproduce something, then they can fix it. If they have nothing to reproduce and do not know of a problem, then they can't fix it. This is a public forum. 95% of people aren't even staff.

 

Uservoice: https://illustrator.uservoice.com 

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