How to use Photoshop with a disability/limitation?

[Gédobe]

Someone asked me the following question:

Wondering if anyone can help me out here.

I use a wacom tablet for my work with the key board sitting behind the wacom.

Now i have a rather serious shoulder injury which is being aggrieved by reaching my arm out to press the space cmd and alt buttons, I'm a photoshop user so those keys are in use all the time, i hover my hand on them all day long = shoulder issue

Now I'm wondering if its possible to remap said keys to a small numerical keypad, so as i can place this next to wacom instead of behind it.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks  in advance

I don’t think it’s possible with the use of a custom keyboard layout, as he is thinking. But maybe Adobe has built in some provisions for such users?

Or maybe a programmable keyboard-like thing exists, somewhere out there, that is just a narrow strip so he could put it in front of the tablet?

One solution I can think of is to have a recessed space in the desk for the keyboard, so it slides halfway under the tablet and the lower row of keys (plus the Shift...) just peep out.

Any other solutions are welcome!

[melissapiccone]

You can customize keyboard shortcuts:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/customizing-keyboard-shortcuts.html

[Gédobe]

Yes, I found that page, too, but there doesn’t seem to be any provision to adapt to his needs: re-assign Shift, Option, Command, or the spacebar to other keys. I mean such usage as in constraining an ellipse to a circle (Shift), drawing it from its center (Option), or temporarily changing to the Hand (spacebar).
If I’ve overlooked it, please let me know!

[Benjamin Root]

Which Wacom tablet does he have? The Intuos Pro has buttons that can be customized. One of those could be set to the Ctrl button

[Gédobe]

Here’s an update from the user:

I have tried using the keys on the Wacom but just can't get my head around it, the keys are vertical and not parallel as in the keyboards, its like driving a car with the clutch gas and brake the wrong way around, Photoshop user for nearly 20 years, hard habit to break...

Looks like i may have to build a small platform for the wacom to sit on, on top of a blue tooth keyboard.with just those buttons sticking out the side. or something along those lines.

He has also tried (Mac) software to reassign keys, like Karabiner etc. (with some success for the Shift, Command and Option keys, I guess) but: "those progs you suggested won't do the space bar "

[weavingalife]

I know this is an old post, but I am developing hand issues and found this thread.

What if the keyboard were turned 90 degrees counterclockwise, and snugged up on the left of the Wacom? That would put Ctrl/Alt/spacebar (Cmd/Option/spacebar Mac) keys in easy reach for the left hand. It would be the same vertical instead of horizontal arrangement you weren't happy with, but it might be more natural, since those buttons are grouped on a keyboard.

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

@weavingalife check out using a custom keypad that uses Macros to replace shortcut keys:

https://www.vaydeer.com/collections/custom-mechanical-keyboard

[weavingalife]

Thank  you for this link...

[Lumigraphics]

You can also check out accessibility features in each OS, there are a LOT of products on the market that help serve disabled users.

https://www.apple.com/accessibility/

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility

[weavingalife]

Great help here. It's a new subject for me.

[Rob_Cullen]

Elgato make 'Stream-deck' devices with keypad buttons that can be programmed to anything you want- a single key press, or a series of actions.

Google Images for "elgato keypad".

https://www.elgato.com/en/stream-deck-mk2

My son uses one for his CAD software and highly recommends.