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Participant
January 24, 2023
Answered

Shift bar not locking dimensions

  • January 24, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 1218 views

Hello

About half the time when I open in design and try to resize an image, holding the shift bar no longer locks the dimensions. I need to restart my comp and then usually it starts working again. What is going on how do I fix this it's really annoying.

Correct answer Tomas31167096pgzn

I'm on the latest version of everything. At the end a restart fixed the problems.
I do have a theory of what happend though. I did a transfer of my setup to a new mac through mac os, and I think that the preference files were corrupted somehow. Deleting the prefs and restarting did the trick. 

3 replies

Participant
March 12, 2025

I found that disabling smart guides solved this problem in InDesign. 
Now though, I can not lock angles or draw straight lines holding down shift. Doesn't work any more since I upgraded to a new mac :-(. 

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Community Manager
March 20, 2025

Hi @Tomas31167096pgzn,

 

Would you mind sharing the InDesign version or macOS details? 

Could you also try the suggestions shared earlier in the thread? If the issue persists, test in Safe Mode to check if any third-party app is interfering with InDesign (make sure Smart Guides are turned ON). Reference:
Windows: https://adobe.ly/4kG0kBE
macOS: https://adobe.ly/4kWXdpd

I tested this on my end using InDesign 20.2 on Windows 11 and macOS, but I couldn’t replicate the issue. If possible, could you share a short screen recording of what’s happening? 

 

Looking forward to your update. 

 

^

Abhishek

Tomas31167096pgznCorrect answer
Participant
March 21, 2025

I'm on the latest version of everything. At the end a restart fixed the problems.
I do have a theory of what happend though. I did a transfer of my setup to a new mac through mac os, and I think that the preference files were corrupted somehow. Deleting the prefs and restarting did the trick. 

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 1, 2023

Hi @gabriel28091273dpqo:

 

We see regular posts about other applications interfering with InDesign's shortcut keys. I would say that Webroot is the most-frequently-cited offender, followed by other anti-virus anti-malware applications. Take a look at the applications at auto load when you start your computer. Once you know this you can usually figure it out.

 

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
Rene Andritsch
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 24, 2023

Holding down the SHIFT key will only constrain the proportions of the image frame. If you want to resize the image you have to hold down the SHIFT key and the CMD/CTRL key simultaneously before starting to drag on a corner.

Participant
January 29, 2023

The shift bar isn't constraining the proportions of either. It's not working. I need to restart my computer every time and then it works. I think it's a bug 😞

Frans v.d. Geest
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 29, 2023

It is not a bug in InDesign or others would find the same. Almost always it is another piece of software (like Google Chrome, mostly well known for this to happen) that interferes with keys...

 

See also:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/can-t-scale-objects-type-using-command-shift-key/td-p/9503313

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-cc-shift-key-not-working/td-p/6070245