Esc Key Not Working

[kasiak68913773]

I use the Esc Key to deselect in Illustrator but it suddenly stopped working. Help!

heres what I did so far:

-checked if it worked everywhere else, yup

-restarted the program

-updated the app

-checked keyboard shortcuts and "deselect" is set as standard Cnrl+shft+A, cannot change it to the esc key though

I'm using a Mac!

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

Hi kasiak68913773

Escape is not a shortcut for Deselect in Illustrator.

Escape is a shortcut for several things, such as exiting Isolation mode when you double-click and switching to the Selection tool when you have an insertion point with the Type tool. Do those work?

And there are several ways to deselect. Let us know if you want those as well!

[adamb47200684]

This does not answer the question posted. Esc has always allowed me to exit the "Type Tool" and it just stopped working.

[Ton Frederiks]

What version of Illustrator, what System?

Works for me to switch to the Selection tool and exit type.

[adamb47200684]

24.0.1 — I did find a solution, listed above.

[adamb47200684]

This is not solved.

[adamb47200684]

I found a solution that seems pretty unrelated but worked:

• Go into Illustrator > Preferences > General:
• Change “Keyboard Increment” to 1, press "OK" (Take note of, or copy, the number you have here so you can put it back in later)
• Close Illustrator and reopen
• Change “Keyboard Increment” back to default (0.013889 in) and press "OK"

[defaultu8shsa6qg7u8]

thank you for posting this solution. I've been working in illustrator for a decade and this has been driving me crazy.

[adamb47200684]

You're welcome! I know I felt pretty crazy myself. These seemingly small occurrences can really throw a wrench in your workflow. Happy to have provided some relief 😄

[kualhd]

Thank you!