Participant

Question

Wacom tablet grabber hand scrolling

Forum|Forum|14 years ago
November 15, 2011
5 replies
39706 views

I'm an experienced Photoshop user completely new to InDesign. I use a Wacom Bamboo tablet (the lowest-end one) as a mouse, and can't get the 'grabber hand' scrolling to work with it. The lower pen button is supposed to activate the grabber hand tool (just as if you held down the spacebar, which is what I think the pen button effectively does). The pen button works in Photoshop, but not InDesign. (In InDesign, the pen button makes it scroll, but it's a jumpy one-axis scroll that doesn't invoke the grabber hand tool).

It's hard for me to get around without the grabber hand, since I'm so used to it. Does anyone else use a Wacom, and does the grab-and-scroll button work for you? I'm open to getting a better tablet if it's just a quirk of this model.

I'm using OS X 10.7.2 and InDesign CS5.5.

Thank you!

This topic has been closed for replies.

T

toto PC

Participant

Im using intuos5.
Try disabling windows ink in wacom settings while in InDesign to do stuffs,
just enable it back when painting in photoshop to activate pen pressure

D

dennisandersson1990

Participant

I have found a good way to do it. it takes a few minutes to set up, but it works.

I'm using a Wacom Intuos pro medium for InDesign CC 2015, MAC 10.12 sierra

If you set your pen button settings for "all applications" at "keystroke" as "SPACE"key, you will be able to move around InDesign, without having to choose another tool to go away from the Hand tool.

BUT you have to set the other applications, (finder, safari, illustrator....) to be "pan/zoom" (if that is what you're using the button for).

Have no idea why it won't work to just set InDesign's settings for "SPACE" to pan....

Hope it works for you guys!

J

julianaeye

Participant

I believe I've found a solution:

In your Wacom Tablet settings choose 'InDesign' as the application specific settings, then navigate to the "Pen" tab

Once in the "Pen" tab, on whatever button you choose (I chose the bottom button), select the "Keystroke" option from the drop-down menu

Then in the keystroke settings, enter the letter 'h', which is basically a shortcut for the 'hand tool' in InDesign

Now whenever you're working in InDesign, and you click the button you selected, it will automatically select the "hand" tool, and you can move around freely!

You're basically just telling your pen to act as your finger pressing the 'h'/'hand tool' short cut key on your keyboard

Hope this helps out, I was trying to find this solution for a long time as well!

MarinP

Participant

I have had the same issue in Lightroom CC, using a Wacom Intuos Art (although worked perfectly in PS). I couldn't use hand tool to move image when zoomed in.

I accidentally fix it (trial and error) by setting "Pressure Hold" instead "Pan/Scroll" (the lower pen button).

I don't know if it matters but I disabled "Tablet PC Input Service" service in Windows 7. So no Flicks activated.

mtraps

Participating Frequently

Pressure hold didn't act like a scroll or pan and scroll/pan is the only function that works for that button. Any idea how I would disable flicks on a mac?

tonyharmer

Community Expert

Hi Randall

You're wlecome.

There are a few Bamboo models (Touch, Pen and Touch, original) with varying controls on the side. If you can stretch to an Intuous 4 they are extremely configurable, and can be configured differently for individual apps.

R

Randall MunroeAuthor

Participant

I picked up the Intuos 4—it was time for an upgrade anyway. It's really nice. I was wavering between it and the Bamboo Create (I thought it might be nice to be able to do multitouch mouse stuff and pen art work on the same tablet, but I wasn't sure how well it would mimic the actual OS X magic trackpad).

It didn't actually solve the InDesign issue, though. The pan/scroll button still activates the grabber hand in Photoshop but not in InDesign. (In InDesign, it still does the same jerky scroll it does when scrolling with the touchpad).

The Wacom preferences suggest that it should work with "applications that pan with a grabber hand", so I'm not sure why it has this issue.

I can work around the problem by setting the pen button to send a spacebar keypress instead of pan/scroll, but this breaks scrolling in non-Adobe applications.

Do other people use a Wacom tablet with InDesign under OS X who can report whether the pen's grabber hand scrolling function works for them? If no one pops up, I'll figure it's just that InDesign and Wacom don't really cooperate and mark this partially answered.

tonyharmer

Community Expert

Hi Randall

This really has a lot more to do with Wacom than it does InDesign, as tablets can usually (but not always) be configured differently with different applications.

I use a Wacom Bamboo tablet (the lowest-end one)

Doesn't help too much, unfortunately - 'the lowest end one' doesn't provide anyone with enough information to give you a reliable diagnosis of your problem, sorry!

However, the following things may be of use to you, I hope.

InDesign does not always use the spacebar as a shortcut for scrolling - when you are in an active text frame, for example (and for reasons I am sure are obvious) the ALT key has that functionality.

InDesign CS5+ supports 'spring-loaded' tools: you can hold down a button on your keyboard and use that tool while the key is held down; once you release the key, you are returned to the tool you were using previously. H is the [accelerator] key for the Hand Tool, which is also the same tool you're engaging when you hold down the spacebar (although with less functionality). Again, this won't work if you're in an active text frame.

In your system prefs, check the Wacom tablet options out, you may be able to configure your pen buttons to work differently with InDesign.

R

Randall MunroeAuthor

Participant

Tony, thanks for the advice!

I thought there was only one Bamboo—the "lowest-end one" was just to clarify what the Bamboo is. (There's also the Bamboo Fun, but mine's just the Bamboo). Mine says MTE-450A on the back, but I doubt that means much of anything.

Photoshop is the same way about the spacebar—neither it nor the pen work in an active text field. It doesn't work in InDesign anywhere, though. I didn't know about spring-loaded tools, though. That's really handy.

I took your advice and went through the Wacom options again. I didn't find anything to fix it properly, but I did figure out that I can set the pen button to actually send the "H" keystroke when pressed. This gets it working with InDesign, though it means I can't use it to scroll outside of Adobe products.

If it does sound like an issue with this tablet model, I may try getting another (and returning it if I have the same issues). It'd be nice to try out a better tablet, anyway

Thank you!

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