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Can't make a horizontal or vertical line with shift key

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
January 14, 2019
9 replies
13580 views

I cannot make a horizontal or vertical line anymore using the shift key as I used to do.
The line is straight until I release the pointer of the shift key.

The same problem I have in Photoshop. There I cannot make a square selection, frame or shape. (I already know about the changing in photoshop using the shift).

It looks like something is broken.

I use windows 10

[Posted on January 14. ]

[Moved from Illustrator to Photoshop at the request of the OP since the problem is in both Illustrator and Photoshop and it has not been solved.]

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Mike_Gondek10189183

You must keep the shift down, and mouse up first for this to work. you mentioned that you tried both.

Doubt this hardware problem as you are using mouse not digital tablet, though please do try another mouse.

Until this is resolved you can use the pen too, if you arleady are not doing that. Click once hold down shift, then click second time?

You can also look at the control setting for your mouse and key repeat rate.

I still have a suspicion this is some OS level software interfering with your modifier keys.

Apologies if I missed your reply on this, but did you try removing ESET?

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birckcmi

Inspiring

It's happening again. It started this morning, and there are other formerly-reliable Illustrator keyboard shortcuts that have stopped working, too, but this one is the worst. I do a lot of woodworking design in AI, and being unable to depend on straight lines at 90˚ to each other is going to double the time it takes for a single job. I trashed the prefs(settings) immediately. The only other citation of this problem in the forum was in 2019, and the 2019 solution won't work for me. Do I need to re-install the app?

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birckcmi

Inspiring

Problem solved. I fixed it, somehow. I had trashed the prefs, with no improvement, and when it came back up, the problem wass still there. So I closed AI and rebooted the Mac. When it came back up this time, the problem was gone. Is it fixed? No idea. Will it start acting up again? If it does, I'll be back.

D

Danielle24052343hl0b

Known Participant

have this issue often on all version past v20 too and no it has nothing to do with not holding down shift for the entirety or an issue with the hotkeys mapped to my mouse. The weird part for me is that it seems to be only in the vertical direction.

running cc cleaner helps but only for so the day or a few days and even then is really annoying to have to quit and run so often. Seems to be another adobe bug for windows that just isn't getting fixed.

MoPix9

Participant

I had the same issue, here is what did work for me

1- Uninstall any plugin you may installed before to illustrator

2- Uninstall Illustrator

3-Clean your C drive (with something like CCleaner)

3- Reinstall the illustrator

it woke fine with me, hope it help you

N

nat-ong

Participant

To anyone who (was like me) looking for a solution:
Perspective Grid is on if the lines are lopsided, turn it off and the lines/shapes will be straightened out again.

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defaults4juzupvot74

Participant

I had this issue on windows, but it was because i had sticky keys turned on.

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brendasioux

Participant

I have the exact same problem. in both InDesign and Photoshop. It feels like many of the shortcuts using shift, option keys or command keys (or any combination thereof) do not work, except for switching to typing in all caps.

-In InDesign, I cannot constrain a line to draw straight in vertical or horizontal. (But it works in Pages.)

-In InDesign I also can no longer constrain the keys to draw a square. I have to go in and manually set the sizes the same in the W and H menu at the top after I've drawn it.

-In Photoshop I can use the keys to constrain to a square as I draw, but when I go to intervene after, even if I click to deselect the 'constrain proportions'...it constrains as I drag to change the size!

It's driving me crazy! I'm using latest version of CC, on a 2 year old Mac. And I just realized I no longer have the CC app icon in my menu bar, upper right...

Mike_Gondek10189183

Community Expert

As the solution is not working for you, your issue is different.

Please start your own post, and list your Illustrator and OS version, extra software such as antivirus and plug ins. Avast antivirus, MacCleaner had issues and cannot remember the others.

Once posts get so long with multiple people, hard to follow the details of who is saying what, basic information needed is nto supplied when posting, and just gets out of control and noone wants to reply for good reason.

You did not confirm that you are continuously holding down your shift key.

jane-e

Community Expert

hanneke61 wrote
The line is straight until I release the pointer of the shift key.

When do you let go of the mouse/wacom tablet/drawing device? If you let go of Shift first, it’s as if you never held it down. Release it last.

H

hanneke61Author

Known Participant

I tried both. Keeping the shift and releasing the pointer doesn't help

jane-e

Community Expert

I can't reproduce it. Shift constrains my lines as it always has. What does it say in the Transform panel?

Mike_Gondek10189183

Community Expert

Is your shift key working, try setting a capital letter. When did this stop working, after updating to 2019 or did you maybe add some other software update eg: wacom or other). Have you restarted your computer since this started happening?

H

hanneke61Author

Known Participant

A capital works fine. Also other things I do with shift. I don't know exactly when it began. I think it was before installing 2019. I have a wacom tablet. Could that be the problem?

Mike_Gondek10189183

Community Expert

You need to hold down the shift key the entire time, as the 2019 update only affects scaling. Do you have any othere software that affects the OS like antivirus or such?

Do you still have 2018 instlalled try that. I would always keep the previous version when updating, and you need to change the setting to do that.

I would update wacom driver to the new 6.3.32, regardless. Especially if you have dual monitors, as there was a sleep problem that fixed with which monitor was your main display.

Good Luck!