Hand tool stuck in CC 2014

[StanfordAlan]

On both of my Macs, both running the latest versions of Mavericks and Photoshop CC 2014, the hand tool keeps getting stuck after use. It's getting worse and worse. I appear to switch to a different tool based on the toolbar, but it doesn't behave like the tool. Just the Hand tool.

I have the following without success:

• Toggling the Hand tool with both the keyboard shortcut H, the spacebar, and clicking around.
• Resetting the preferences.
• Reinstalling Photoshop and even Mavericks.
• Switching to a different keyboard.

I have restarting Photoshop. Sometimes it works, but it can take three or four restarts. Sometimes, I just have to restart my Mac.

One Mac has a Wacom tablet; one does not. The file size does not matter.

What am I missing and what can I do? This is a major bug. I had the same issue in CC, but only rarely. I never saw this before CC. I see in the forum that other have posted about this on different versions. There must be some way to get Adobe to look at this and the other posts.

Thank you.

[willcheyney]

I have found a solution that works [for me] every time.

I'd be good to know if you all have success with it.

When your Adobe app gets stuck in the Hand Tool do the following:

- Double click a text layer in your layers palette to start editing the text

- Press space bar to add a space to the text (you can delete this immediately)

- Hit command and enter to confirm the edit

BOOM! You'll be kicked out of forced Hand Tool mode.

Now the question remains who is to blame? Adobe or Apple. Seeing as this happens in no other environment other than an Adobe one, I'm inclined think the problem lies within their software.

[station_two]

It happens in many applications, such as Firefox, Safari, MS Word… and only in the Apple OS X.

It's an Apple problem, just as the occasionally disappearing cursor or pointer is.

[Dave_Mole]

I've never had this problem in anything other than Adobe programmes, looks like its an Adobe issue!

[station_two]

That's your experience, Dave.

I've seen the issue on many applications as diverse as Firefox and MS Word over the years, ever since Mac OS Tiger 10.4.x.  Snow Mountain made it worse, and Yosemite MUCH worse.

[DYLANANDJENI]

Lifesaver. Thank you!

[gregoryi55248319]

@willcheyney Clicking on the page palette in ID helped. Thanks. To me, it's incumbent upon Adobe to MAKE THEIR SOFTWARE RUN ON ANY OS. Fix it. I can't stand your new, buggy cloud products, but you have us by the proverbial balls there.

[willcheyney]

I've since found out that you can actually just double click a layer to rename it and press space bar in that. Seems to fix it in the same way.

[Arciel]

willcheyney wrote:

I've since found out that you can actually just double click a layer to rename it and press space bar in that. Seems to fix it in the same way.

THANK YOU! I've had this problem off and on for years with Photoshop Elements, even as I bought new versions. This fixed the problem immediately.

[Sarah_Dukes]

How random, and how wonderful you found this! I'd really hate to mess with reinstalling Photoshop or my OS. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

[stevel62679836]

Cheers Willcheyney!

You dug me out of a hole there!

[HarlequinMary]

Willcheyney, you are brilliant!

I've been having trouble with this forever in all three design programs — Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. The only thing that worked for me, was to close everything and re-boot. Really frustrating! I've been searching online for a solution for so long, until I finally came across your answer. Now I just follow your instructions, and within seconds I'm in the clear. You have no idea how much time and frustration you've saved me! (Well, you probably do, considering you had the same issues in the past). Thank you so much!!!

[shuqin.qu]

Solved my problem in Illustrator CC 2017 on Windows 7

[visualolly]

I have the same problem occurring in Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign.

I try hitting the V key or any other shortcut command to try and select another tool. Eventually I can select another tool but not before a prolonged period of swearing and hitting different keys.

Using a wacom tablet which seems to be a common characteristic among those experiencing this problem.

Has anyone had any joy with a fix?

[vintagebmw]

No joy.

I've had this problem ever since I got the Mac Pro/OS Mavericks, which required my Adobe apps to be updated to CS6.

Getting stuck on the Hand tool was so common (and disabling) that my only solution was... never use the Hand tool. Never use the spacebar. I just use the vertical/horizontal scrollbars to move around and that's REALLY SLOW.

I do not think it's an Apple OS issue nor an Adobe issue (though I think Abobe could fix it). I think it's a Wacom issue.

I have an older Wacom Intuos tablet and the latest driver available for that device. But with OS Mavericks/CS6, I've lost pressure sensitivity, eraser support, and angle support. It's basically a pen-shaped mouse.

I have disappearing cursors also, mainly in Safari and in the Desktop.

I'm going to make my boss buy me a brand new Wacom tablet. I figure it will have a driver that OS Mavericks and CS6 likes.

If that does not solve the problem, I will be screaming bloody murder.

[benwellby]

For a couple of years now I have had the same issue of a stuck hand tool after using the zoom tool (CMD + Spacebar), and I've just found a solution in another post:

Photoshop CC : If using zoom → stuck w/ Hand tool on MacOS 10.9

For me the solution was to disable Better Touch Tool, specifically for Photoshop.

• In BTT, click the 'plus' icon in the left sidebar
• From the popup window choose the Photoshop app
• Once the Photoshop icon has been added to the sidebar list, right click and choose, "Disable BBT completely for PS".

Hopefully that will work for you too if you have BTT installed.

[lrigginsdesign]

I am also having issues wight the hand tool NOT WORKING in Photoshop since upgrading to CC 2014. I cannot get the hand tool to work by using the space bar, and also the shift key for linear dragging and proportionate scaling stopped working at the same time. I just plugged in my Wacom tablet tonight, which has a hand tool key built right in. This also does not work. It literally does NOTHING.

[csneeddesigns]

I'm having this problem for the first time, on a mac, in InDesign and Illustrator and i do not have a wacom tablet. Restarting fixed it the first time, but not the second time.

[Brendon - Burning Flame]

I too have this damm issue... It just seems indicative of Adobe overall!

If these software engineers worked for me I would terminate there employment and hire engineers that know how to debug an app prior to release. I cant afford to treat my clients like this, so why can Adobe?

The half assed excuse that we are on OSX is a really poor excuse due the majority of industry professionals doing the projects on a Mac.

Please rectify this frustrating issue.

[stevel62679836]

I'm just so fed up with this!!!

I'm running a 5K iMac on Yosemite and using a Wacom tablet.

I might be in the middle of retouching 5 or 6 images in Photoshop CC 2015 and for no obvious reason boom the stupid f@@king hand appears and won't leave for anywhere between about 5 and 20mins.

Restarting PS sometimes helps but not always. I can't even open a text layer anymore, this worked with PS CC 2014 once for me (and why the hell should I have to do some stupid workaround anyway???) 

I don't know about you guys but it's tough enough sitting here for hours retouching and only made worse when you are sitting around waiting for this poxy hand to disappear..

Adobe... for God's sake please address this issue (it' is NOT a stuck key or any old other stupid excuses that were thrown out over the past few years!)  This issue has been a problem for so many people using PS over the last years. Here we are in 2016 and STILL this stupid buggy annoyance exists...

Rant over... hand has disappeared (only 15minutes this time....) 

[haralds64176918]

Same damm issue here!

I have this issue only in InDesign. Not in Illustrator or Photoshop.

And I have it since I updated to CS6.

Other problems that I have in Indesign:

Each document window opens in big size to the lower right corner.

Each selection window opens in small size.

It's frustrating.

It's definitely not the keybord, bad drivers, bad utilities or assistive services.

If you google for this issue there are numerous posts from users who have the same problem. Have all these users bad keyboards, bad drivers, bad utilities or assistive services? I don't think so.

I think it is a problem between Apple and Adobe. And they should solve it together.

-------------

iMac 3,06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

12 GB RAM

El Capitan

But I had the issue with yosemite too.

(Sorry for bad english)

[jimg4393629]

I'm having this problem too. It's a brand new iMac and brand new software. The renaming layers solution is spotty for me. Besides we shouldn't have to do this.

[jimg4393629]

Aha! On a Mac the same key commands that shrink or enlarge your view also activate Siri. I just deactivated Siri and it fixed the problem I was having in Photoshop. If you want to use both Siri and Photoshop, maybe you can reprogram the shortcut keys for zooming in photoshop. This works with or without a Wacom tablet for me.

[henrywng]

Yeah--two years sice original post, and the hand tool gets stuck in my old Adobe Illustrator (CS5) whenever I right-click my Intuos pen. Restarting works for me. It only happened after I installed Wacom's updated driver for Intuos a month or so ago, though. Maybe if I reinstalled the old driver? 😞 I'm planning on getting Adobe Cloud, so will be using the Illustrator CC version, so we'll see if it happens there as well.

[SproetS]

Deleting the Wacom drivers fixed it for me...