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Unable to change to any tool

Community Beginner ,
May 13, 2020 May 13, 2020

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When first opening a document the hand tool appears. I am then unable to change to any other tool, with the hand tool always returning when the artboard is clicked. 

 

I have downloaded illustrator multiple times to try and fix this problem, nothing has worked. 

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Adobe
Community Expert ,
May 13, 2020 May 13, 2020

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seml,

 

You can try the relevant parts of THE LIST, probably 5a) - 6b) and 8).

 

 

 

THE LIST

 

 

If things that should work simply refuse to (all possibilities exhausted including the A) - D) below (and carefully making sure you are performing (all) the needed things)), you may try (the relevant part(s) of) the list 1) - 8 ) below.

 

 

Sometimes, (certain) things may fail or stop working for no apparent reason. When the (other) possible reasons/cures fail to work, it may be some kind of (temporay or permanent) corruption, or even some inconvenient preference setting(s), which may be cured with something on the following list set up in an attempt to provide a catchall solution for otherwise unsolvable cases. It starts with a few easy and harmless suggestions 1) - 3) for milder cases, and goes on with three alternative ways 4) - 6) of resetting preferences to the defaults (easily but irreversibly and more laboriously but more thoroughly and also reversibly), then follows a list 7) of various other possibilities, and it ends with a full reinstallation 8 ). If no other suggestions work, or if no other suggestions appear, you may start on the list and decide how far to go and/or which may be relevant.

 

 

 

The following is a general list of things you may try when

 

A) The issue is not in a specific file,

B) You have a printer correctly installed, connected, and turned on if it is physical printer (you may use Adobe PDF/Acrobat Distiller as the default printer with no need to have a printer turned on, obviously you will need to specify when you actually need to print on paper), and

C) It is not caused by issues with opening a file from external media.

D) It is not caused by other applications (you may close down/disable everything else running, including browsers and antivirus, then try again). There are quite a few usual suspects that may disturb and confuse Illy (job description Adobe Illustrator) so she moves in mysterious ways (even more than usual, some would say).

 

You may have tried/done some of them already; 1) and 2) and 3) are the easy ones for temporary strangenesses, and 4) and 5) and 6) are specifically aimed at possibly corrupt/inconvenient preferences); 7) is a list in itself, and 8 ) is the last resort.

 

If possible/applicable, you should save current artwork first, of course.

 

1) Close down Illy and open again;

2) Restart the computer (you may do that up to at least 5 times);

 

3) Log out of your Adobe account and log back in;

 

4) Close down Illy, then close down al other applications, then open Illy again;

 

5a) Close down Illy and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (easy but irreversible);

5b) Or in the current CC version click Reset Preferences at the bottom right of the Preferences window and restart (also easy but irreversible);

6a) Move the folder (follow the link with that name) with Illy closed (more tedious but also more thorough and reversible), for CS3 - CC you may find the folder here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/preference-file-location-illustrator.html

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/moved-anchor-points-snap-back-to-original-location-after-...

 

6b) Or follow the instructions here: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/setting-preferences.html

 

7) Look through and try out the relevant among the Other options (follow the link with that name, Item 7) is a list of usual suspects among other applications that may disturb and confuse Illy, Item 15) applies to CC, CS6, and maybe CS5);

 

Failing everything else, you may consider going on, but there are real dangers ahead unless you run one of the latest two CC versions, or unless you have the installers for both application(s) and possible update(s) on your computer, and even then you may need to restore plugins and whatnot afterwards if you have customized things:

 

8 ) A) Uninstall (ticking the box to delete the preferences if applicable), B) run the Cleaner Tool (if you have CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6/CC), and C) reinstall. You may try without step B), but sometimes it is needed, because otherwise things may linger.

 

As it appears from this thread, it may be worth repeating this if it fails to help the first time:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2283530

 

To uninstall:

https://www.adobe.com/search.html#q=uninstall%20illustrator&sort=relevancy&start=1

 

Cleaner Tool:

http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

 

 

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Community Beginner ,
May 13, 2020 May 13, 2020

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I have tried all of these, and it still doesn't let me change the tool. When the cursor moves back to the art bored, after I have selected tool, it reverts back to the hand tool. Even when I have reinstalled it, and also reset settings!

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Community Expert ,
May 13, 2020 May 13, 2020

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Could it be that another application is interfering and presses the spacebar for you?

Can you check all processes and shut them down?

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LEGEND ,
May 14, 2020 May 14, 2020

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Hi there,

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. In addition to suggestions given earlier by Jacob and Monika, I'd request trying to create a new user account on your machine and see if you are able to work with all the tools. You may follow the steps provided below to do that:

1. For Mac: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mtusr001/mac

2. For Windows: https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/4026923/windows-10-create-a-local-user-or-administrator-acc...

I'd request sharing your version of OS and Illustrator as well.

Let us know how it goes. Looking forward to your response.

 

Regards,

Ashutosh

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