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Lemon Sandwich
Participant
April 26, 2018
Answered

all tools stuck as hand tool

  • April 26, 2018
  • 13 replies
  • 6960 views

so I use the newest update of photoshop CC and I'm having a lot of trouble.

for no particular reason, about a week ago, an error message would pop up when I tried to work with layers. I uninstalled and reinstalled (and updated) photoshop and that bug went away. now whenever I use any tool, the icon for that tool will show up, but it only works as the hand tool. I have tried cleaning my spacebar vigorously, but that did nothing. the brush tool with works if I draw a horizontal line, but that is it. I have reset all tools and restarted my windows 10 laptop countless times.

I use photoshop for art and animation and occasionally simple projects for school- things that could be make in MS Word

I am not an advanced user, and I've been using photoshop for a year.

please help???

      Correct answer Pete.Green

      Hi reddickulous,

      Microsoft released an update that fixes this: More info here: Cannot paint with stylus when zoomed in on image | Windows 10

      Regards,

      Pete

      13 replies

      N
      Nikola5E7C
      Participant
      April 1, 2025

      Happened to me as of Apr 1, 2025 for the first time after using photoshop for over a 10 years....
      Never ever before happened on Windows or Mac, now the bug present on Photoshop Beta on Macbook Pro

      S
      Stefan33128432dfyh
      Participant
      February 27, 2025

      I just now ran into this problem on my Mac m1 max studio.

      I dont use a stylus or any bluetooth device. I dont have custom shortcuts, and I also reset my preferences.

       

      I got rid of it yesterday by deinstalling and reinstalling photoshop, but today again the same thing.

       

      best,

      Stefan

      G
      Gaminator28
      Participant
      February 13, 2025

      Me too, but on an iMac running Sonoma 14.5.    All tools come up as hand tool in the edit window. Can't do anything , disaster !!!!!

      M
      Mario272144051tke
      Participant
      February 14, 2025

      in my case there was a problem that created this annoying bug when I activated shortcuts that included the keyboard keys “cmd” or “space” or both or for some shortcut that involves the key pressed and held down--shortcuts that I create with the BetterTouchTool program.
      By disabling those types of key combinations I no longer had problems in Photoshop, perhaps some conflict is created that is impossible to verify or explain.

      Do you also use some external program to create shortcuts for some mouse and keyboard functions?

      J
      JNevitt47
      Participant
      March 14, 2024

      I have the same problem with my Mac.  Please tell us a solution, otherwise I am dead in the water.

       

      F
      fac3plant
      Participant
      July 2, 2022

      Four years after this was posted and it's still a problem.  MS updates don't fix it if you're using a mac so how is this thread titled as "solved".  Between this and the hidden dialogue box I'm very close to cancelling my adobe subscription

       

      Ozimac
      Ozimac
      Participant
      November 25, 2022

      I have been tearing my hair out with the problem of the hand tool until today when I plugged my Wacom Intuos 4 tablet directly into one of the MacBook Pro USB ports instead of going through a USB hub and the problem hasn't returned. It looks like you use a PC but the problem may be the same.

      Hope this helps you and others, Don

      C
      Casper van den Bosch
      Inspiring
      April 20, 2021

      I join the list. There has been this hand-tool bug for over years - with many, many complaints - mostly never answered by Adobe and apparantly it's somewhere hidden in the code as after 11 years it's still not solved 😉

      For me; i'm rubnning on a imac 2020, all latest updates and everything, but every time after a while (one day, half a day but almost every day...) working I get the hand tool. Suddenly. And when the hand tool is displayed (as the cursor) it's there to last forever. So only a restart can solve the problem.

       

      I have an old iMac too, it's the same issue there only then it lasts for a week or so and is almost always related to a Adobe Cloud notification. As soon as there is anything in adobe cloud, the computers gets slow, buggy and most of the times the hand waves bye bye again. Untill restart,.

      Ozimac
      Ozimac
      Participant
      November 25, 2022

      Hi Casper,

      Ihave been tearing my hair out with the problem of the hand tool until today when I plugged my Wacom Intuos 4 tablet directly into one of the MacBook Pro USB ports instead of going through a USB hub and the problem hasn't returned.

      Hop this helps you and others, Don

      L
      lestert88282396
      Participant
      May 19, 2018

      I am having the same issue on a MacBook Pro running Mac OS high Sierra 10.13.4. I am actually utilizing the free trial to decide on the product. So far it’s Not a good look and I am glad I didn’t purchase yet which I almost did. The hand    is the only tool available in tools for “me” and it does absolutely nothing. It doesn’t work during the training or regular editing. I ttied the spacebar option , reset preferences and so on from previous posts. No Cigar Adobe, what’s up?

        D
        DevilsAvocado
        Known Participant
        March 15, 2021

        Same for me usingMacBook Pro with Catalina CC PS 22.3

        angie_taylor
        angie_taylor
        Legend
        April 26, 2018

        I stand corrected. Youre right, its not only Wacom pens that are affected. Did you unistall the most recent Microsoft update too?

        R
        reddickulous
        Participant
        April 26, 2018

        I did. And it doesn't give the option  to uninstall it in the MS updates.

        Pete.Green
        Community Manager
        Pete.GreenCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
        April 26, 2018

        Hi reddickulous,

        Microsoft released an update that fixes this: More info here: Cannot paint with stylus when zoomed in on image | Windows 10

        Regards,

        Pete

          R
          reddickulous
          Participant
          April 26, 2018

          I'm having the exact same issue. A horizontal line can be drawn, but otherwise the hand tool is EVERY tool. Using PS CC, newest, on Surface Pro 5. I went so far as to uninstall Creative Cloud as well, and to use Adobe's Cleaner tool to remove all host files and anything associated with CC. I then reinstalled CC, then an OLDER version of Photoshop (2017) within CC, thinking this would work, and it didn't.

          This has rendered PS completely unusable, and I've had to start learning Clip Studio to get anything done.

          angie_taylor
          angie_taylor
          Legend
          April 26, 2018

          Brush moves the Canvas - Surface Pen

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