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New Participant
September 11, 2013
Answered

Shift-Drag and Option Drag not working

  • September 11, 2013
  • 14 replies
  • 30325 views

I am using InDesign CC and my Shift-Drag to constrain in a direction has stopped working. Also my Option-Drag to duplicate has stopped working. Both work fine in Illustrator. Any help is appreciated....

    Correct answer cre8tve works

    OK. So let me answer my own question. Firefox is the culprit. Sounds strange, but once I quit Firefox 23.0.1 these shortcuts started working again. Also note that the Cmd-Spacebar to toggle to the magnifying glass was not working. Now it is. Problem solved.

    14 replies

    New Participant
    June 7, 2021

    I'm having the same issue and I don't have Firefox. Shift-Drag not working and Option-Drag not working. Very frustrating. Also, if I have a word with "il" it changes the text to another glyph. How do I fix this?

    garym77044897
    New Participant
    July 28, 2025

    This is a late add to this discussion, but quitting safari fixed the issue for some bizare reason. I was even able to relaunch safari and the issue was still resolved.

    New Participant
    January 14, 2019

    Just dropping a note here to say that I ran into the same issue with the latest versions of inDesign (14.0.1) and 1Password (7.2.4) and MacOS (Mojave 10.14.2).

    Quitting1Password completely resolved the issue and then it was fine to reload it (no need to restart computer or InDesign).

    helenea60951886
    New Participant
    October 29, 2018

    Hey everyone, might be late to the party; i'm currently working on PS CC 2019 and had that issue, and while playing around and loosing my mind I realized this; pressing shift wouldn't constrain resizing as it's supposed to, it's actually the opposite now! Pressing shift allows you to free transform and when you leave it alone it constrain the drag.

    Good luck everyone!

    Community Expert
    October 30, 2018

    helenea60951886  wrote

    Hey everyone, might be late to the party; i'm currently working on PS CC 2019 and had that issue, and while playing around and loosing my mind I realized this; pressing shift wouldn't constrain resizing as it's supposed to, it's actually the opposite now! Pressing shift allows you to free transform and when you leave it alone it constrain the drag.

    Good luck everyone!

    That's a new feature with PhotoShop CC 2019 when using the Transform functionality.

    Regards,
    Uwe

    carold21150814
    Known Participant
    March 8, 2017

    This fixed it for me:

    Removed Chrome extension for LastPass and restarted Chrome.

    I think it might be the LastPass extension or others like it as another master password program was mentioned previously.

    Problem gone.

    Gavin Anderson
    Participating Frequently
    July 6, 2016

    A coworker of mine figured out what was doing it to mine. it was 1Password, an app used for securely storing your passwords and which allows you to use a key command to enter them into forms. Quitting InDesign and that, and then restarting InDesign first, solved the issue.

    Thereafter I was able to open either program first without effecting InDesign adversely.

    So, I would say that likely, any of these other programs could be restarted after resolving the problem. It seems to be something the happens after an update/install for one of these effected programs. Something is happening during the assignment of keyboard shortcuts. To me, since this is involving so many different programs, it points to a fault in the Apple install architecture, that it would allow an installer to take over keys that are already assigned, without warning.

    Steve Werner
    Community Expert
    July 6, 2016

    You may have an old version of 1Password. I've been using 1Password on my Mac for a couple years (latest version) with no such problem.

    Gavin Anderson
    Participating Frequently
    July 6, 2016

    I've also been using 1Password for years now (good program, by the way — pricey, but worth every penny). I'm using v6.3.1 (631006), and when I have it check for updates it says it's completely up-to-date. Weirdly, though, when I download the most current version from their website (v6) and drag it into my apps folder, it says, do you want to replace the old version with this new one (likely just because of the download date). Just for kicks, I went ahead and replaced and opened it, and it also shows v6.3.1 (631006).

    Participating Frequently
    March 30, 2016
    New Participant
    March 29, 2016

    I'm having the same issue right now. I know this is months from the latest post, but none of the suggestions listed here up to this point are working. Not able to Option+drag to copy in InDesign and not able to Command+Shift to zoom in InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. I literally use these commands every other minute.  I'm losing my mind!!!

    Steve Werner
    Community Expert
    March 29, 2016

    Try creating a new user in Users & Groups. Change to that user. Open InDesign first before any other application. Or try the problem drags you've had in Illustrator and Photoshop. If it works it works in the new user, there is some kind of corruption or third-party conflict in the original user area.

    New Participant
    March 29, 2016

    Thanks Steve,

    I tried that, praying it would work, but it doesn't. :-( Now I'm trying to re-install InDesign. I'll let you know how it goes.

    I also tried the Safari thing and it didn't work either. Even after rebooting.

    New Participant
    November 10, 2015

    I shut down Safari (and kept it closed) and problem was solved!

    New Participant
    October 14, 2015

    I'm a freelancer at an agency. There are multiple freelancers here all using macbook airs and we all have the same problem. Cannot find a solution. shift key doesn't work in indesign as well as option drag. command spacebar (zoom) doesn't work, as well as spacebar (hand) in Photoshop. Issues in illustrator as well. Creative Cloud is a total mess. We've all restarted and quit all programs multiple times. Nothing works. They're also new computers with not much installed on them. They're basically out of the box. No add ons. How can Adobe have screwed up this badly? These are commands all designers use THOUSANDS of times a day!!! Brutal.

    Participating Frequently
    October 14, 2015

    Quit both Safari and Firefox and start .indd without them. It is crazy, but it works. After you get .indd up and running you can re-open your browsers. Not sure if Chrome has an issue.

    New Participant
    October 14, 2015

    Don't have Firefox on any of our machines. Already tried opening without

    any web browsers.

    I've already tried everything that's been posted in forums. In the 15 years

    I've been using Mac's and adobe products, I've always found an answer in

    the forums. This is the first time I've ever had to write a post. I think I

    pretty much have to just wait for an update where Adobe fixes the problem.

    On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 3:07 PM, Jami Clevenger <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

    joeshouldice
    New Participant
    June 9, 2015

    Evernote extension in chrome was the culprit for me... deleting that fixed it.