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darcfuture
Participating Frequently
September 11, 2020
Question

Where is the shortcut for Panning?

  • September 11, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 14797 views

I want to assign middle mouse button to pan.  How do I do this?

    3 replies

    M
    Community Expert
    mark@headTrixCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 20, 2022

    I have a mac, and a mac mouse with the little rubber ball on the top middle of the mouse.... with it I can scroll up and down in this browser window, in Premiere I can scroll the timeline, and in Photoshop I can pan my canvas.... so its already part of the normal functionality of the mouse. And if all else fails, just press the HUGE spacebar button on your keyboard and you can easily pan and move the canvaas around when zoomed in.

    Hope this helps.

    cheers,

    mark

    headTrix, Inc. | Adobe Certified Training & Consulting
    M
    mnemonicon
    Participant
    September 21, 2022

    It's PAINFULLY OBVIOUS(as obvious as, say, A HUGE SPACEBAR) that original post(and me) are trying to circumvent pressing down the spacebar, as well avoid the HEINOUSLY designed mac mighty mouse- or whatever nonsense they call it nowadays.  Some people require more from their apps to make work flow more streamlined.  I cant get into Why a person would want MMB to be pan(without being bound to garbage mac mouse) but understand that even if you cant/or chose not to see why, there are many many people out here who would benefit from this.  (And let's be done with the passive aggressive comments.)#iykyk

      M
      M-H
      Inspiring
      August 8, 2025

      I love how the community expert replied to you about assigning the mousewheel to pan (as it is present in illustrator)  is "NOT possible" as if you were asking for photoshop to use AI magic to read your mind or something.

      Also, why they shield on being volunteers while being appologetic for a multibillion dollar monopoly?

      And to add a constructive point to the discussion:  I'm left handed and when I use my tablet with my left hand I also use my mouse with my right. Previously I used the macro function of my logitech mouse, but now I have a mouse that doesn't have that function and I dont want to involve yet another software for such menial feature.


      Hold on, if you are using tablet with your left hand, im guessing to control the cursor, so what is your right hand doing at the same time on the mouse? Do you have like 2 cursors or something? Sounds like you might want to use keyboard with yr feet or maybe get a foot pedal for panning or just a 3rd hand?

      Akash Sharma
      Akash Sharma
      Legend
      September 11, 2020

      Hi there,

       

      Photoshop uses the spacebar as the modifier to zoom and pan images. Photoshop has the following ways to pan across your images:

       

      • “H” selects the Hand tool.
      • Holding down the spacebar (while most other tools are selected) will temporarily access the Hand tool (allowing quick panning of images that are zoomed in). This shortcut also works while in a modal state (such as while a dialog box is displayed or while in Free Transform).
      • When using the Hand tool to pan, Photoshop “eases out” of the pan (this is referred to as Flick Panning). For an abrupt stop when panning, click, drag and hold with the Hand tool. Note: Flick Panning can be disabled in Preferences > Tools > Enable Flick Panning.
      • When viewing multiple images simultaneously, Shift -drag with the Hand tool to pan all open documents. To set this as the default behavior, with the Hand tool selected, check “Pan all Windows” in the Option bar.

       

      You may also check this discussion: https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/cs6_use_middle_mouse_button_as_hand_tool

       

      Thanks,

      Akash

       

        D
        darcfutureAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        September 11, 2020

        So basically, you can't.  Great.  And the topic you linked is a request for such a feature... and it was made 9 years ago.  Thanks for the time warp.  It gave me a laugh at least.

          JJMack
          Community Expert
          JJMackCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          September 11, 2020

          What can you not do?  I have no problem assigning H to the middle mouse button.  I can hold it press the add the left click to get  Spring H Zoom out position the area box let go of the left mouse button zoom back in  then let the middle button up to switch back to the original tool. Or I just tap the middle button to switch to the hand tool the pan with the left mouse button. When the hand tool is the current tool  I can also press and  hold the middle button then add the left mouse button to get the Zoom out and  position  the area box  let the buttons go to zoom back in.

          JJMack
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