Spacebar not working as quick hand tool on MAC – Adobe Illustrator

[fernandam88771201]

I have the latest Illustator and Photoshop version and in both of them the spacebar ain't working as quick hand tool on Mac.

[iconmacmagazin]

i solved this problem with remove MS Outlook and FontExplorer

[Monika Gause]

FontExplorer messes with modification keys? Oh, wow.

Thank you for the information.

[TommmR]

FWIW, I also use FontExplorer X Pro, and this has NEVER happened to me, even though I sometimes have FXP running in the background while working in Photoshop or Illustrator.

BUT I also regularly check System Preferences ➞ Keyboard ➞ Shortcuts ➞ Services to look whether some new app has hijacked some key cut again. I usually remove ALL such shortcuts that I do not use … so it may be possible that FXP had one there that I do not remember.

[M4rmite]

I just wanted to chime in by adding Bitwarden (a password manager) to the list of apps hijacking the spacebar shortcut. as soon as I quit the desktop standalone app the hand tool shortcut immediately returned to normal behaviour. Didn't even require a restart or anything.

[www.votos.nl]

Thanks man! Bitwarden was my problem too! I was about to throw the iMac out the window... Luckily i read this answer just before that happend.

[M4rmite]

glad it helped you

[craze_dis]

wish i would've clicked on the second page of this thread 🙂

same here

although i was able to resolve it with unlocking vault – it was due to an locked vault and bitwarden waiting for data entry

[SundayGladiator]

Password management apps? I don't have those on my Mac.

I went the enema route - hard restart on Mac laptop and all is better now.

[Lisa Lung]

Just happened to me. I closed a bunch of apps including zoom, Apple Mail, Messages, and maybe another that I'm not remembering. That seemed to fixed it. I didn't have Word or Excel open. So, it seems quitting other apps is the key (at least for some of us).

MacBook Pro 16" (2019)

Big Sur (11.2.3)

Adobe Photoshop CC 22.2.0

[LukeBoothe]

I don't understand the issue at all. However, it seems adobe gets itself confused with other open apps and that's why the hand tool quickcommand doesn't work. I solved it by quitting apps one by one until it started working again. 

[STAV]

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

I had exactly the same issue with the spacebar! I quit photoshop after I reset the preferences, I then closed all the apps and I restarted my iMac by holding down P, R, Option and Command, to refresh all the system. And all DONE!

[ToetOntwerp]

This does happen quit often. It is just a bug in Illustrator. Restart your computer and it works again. 

[Fatel]

I got a new computer (iMac 2020/BigSur) and mine wasn't working either after installing Creative Cloud and Photoshop 22.4.3 update; very frustrating. Spent two hours researching for a solution with no relevant solutions.  I rebooted the computer, and now it works (insert annoyed face here).  Camera Raw was also opening greyed out.  Now it works too.

[JanVerbeke]

Hi,

I had to enable the 'Use OpenCL' on my M1 Apple MBP. Nothing else worked for me.

[Fry Hammond5F96]

I didn't read the entire thread but when I quit Excel, the spacebar and spacebar + Command started working again. 

[UtahRugbyGuy]

This works:
(tried a few things based on other sites/threads).

Save your work, close all Adobe apps
(didn't work for just Illustrator. I had to close Photoshop and InDesign to make it work)

Option + Click-Finder (in Dock): Relaunch
(Takes just a few seconds)

Opened Illustrator again and problem was solved.

Some threads also said they had to restart computer and issue was fixed. Mine worked just doing the Relaunch Finder thing.

FYI: I'm still running an older CS 5.1 but from my understanding, it's the same issue with the apps running, any version, even CC.

One helper said this issue happens at random times from using the Command + H (hide) in any of the apps. I know this or something similar has happened to me in the past but I've been a designer using Adobe products since 1990 and it's very rare to me.

Hope this helps someone 🙂

[gjnelsondotcom]

Holy Microsoft Word Batman. I had this issue and quitting MS Word corrected it. WHY! Geesh.

[MisterExt]

Incase anyone else runs into this, sometimes Terminal can steal the spacebar command from Photoshop. I keep mine open for running utitlities and purging the RAM, but occasionally it messes with Photoshop. Quitting and relaunching Terminal fixes it.

You can also usually avoid Spotlight popping up if you hit the spacebar first and then hit command/ctrl.

As others have said, other apps tend to steal the command sometimes. It's annoying.

[Olivia22056673g7ej]

It happened to 4 people in our office, 

Turns out our Security system "WebRoot" was causing it, so we just had to tick "Pause Secure Keyboard Entry" from the top bar. Worked a treat.

[Leandro Lobo Muniz]

I've closed the MS Word and restarted my macbook and it worked. 

[adrian3401]

Same thing happened to me. Just shut down Word and the spacebar/handtool works again.

[Stu-Marlow]

For me it was the LastPass application; I quit that and the spacebar started performing correctly in Illustrator again.

[Jason22584786iwz4]

Internet Explorer was 'overiding' my hand dragging in both IND and ILLUS and new page drag in the indesign page panel. Quit Explorer and all working fine again. Open CS apps first on your machine. 

[Jason22584786iwz4]

Safari I meant...DOH

[deanh47387717]

I have been followin this thread for well over a year now.  And this still happens completely randomly and on multiple different computers.
The overall conscensus is that other applications are taking the priority away from Adobe in the use of the spacebar. I've heard Word, Outlook, Snagit, LastPass, Excel, Internet Explorer, Chrome and various other third party apps being blamed.
All these applications interupt the most commonly used keyboard shortcut for years.... 

Adobe's response "..........."
So in other words, Adobe is saying. "Its not u, its them."
Deal with it.