Dear Adobe, could you please make it possible to access the hand tool functionality via the middle mouse button / scroll wheel. The same way it works in After Effect and all other 3'rd party software. It will excellerate all the workflow.
it has been more than a year for this rather simple feature request, and it is not yet implemented in the current 2021 premiere. when can we expect this to be done?
This is something that can probably be accomplished with either the mouse manufacturers or a third party mouse setup utility. Do some googling and I'll bet you find something. And if you find something, post back and let people know
thanks for posting. Can you tell us the manufacturer and model? Might help someone here. Personally, I have "H" on the keyboard mapped to the handtool.
As an engineer & designer, everyother app I use in my workflow uses middle-mouse-drag gesture for direct 1:1 view panning (or the 3D-equivalent). Acrobat Pro already has several options to customize mouse behavior related to the Hand tool, so why not let us choose between Acrobat's default "cruise-control pan" behavior and the industry-standard of "1:1 pan"?
Both features are already present, we just want to choose what method our middle-mouse button does.
(I did try to "hack" this action into Logitech's Options+ app for my Triathalon 720 mouse, but I wasn't able to combine a mouse click with the [space] key sadly.)
Are there any other settings to consider on this? It doesn't work for me. I have it set to send the simulated key stroke option 1. Should it be set to 9 or something? What am I missing?
I have just found out that the middle click was implemented in 1996 by Microsoft (Intellimouse), and since then, it has been widely adopted by all computer mouse manufacturers:
But for some reason, Adobe has not taken full advantage of having a scroll wheel with a middle click, even after 27 years. Adobe's developers seem to be very lazy.
Something like "Adobe Mouse" could be interesting, but input device drivers and corresponding software is probably best left to the device manufacturer.
yeah, the xmousebutton macro doesn't work like mentioned above. i tried many permutations, including step 1/2, but can't get it to work either. it would be so much easier for the adobe team to pretty please implement this finally.
@Warren HeatonThere is no need for special drivers. Any regular third-party mouse can function as a generic mouse input device. It operates at the OS level. If the scroll wheel and middle click work in the OS, they can also function in applications running on that OS. App developers just need to incorporate them; for instance, in this case, they need to utilize it as a hand tool (panning tool).
That's because most users on this forum are encountering multiple bugs and performance issues, which is typical for Adobe products. So, firstly, they want those troubles to be fixed, which is unlikely to happen, knowing Adobe.
On my macs, one and two finger gestures take care of this functionality in Pr and AE...and modifiers expand my options... but I realize I may be missing some details...
Is this mostly for PC workflows?
In AE, you can hold down the space bar to make the hand tool active. Is that less desirable than pressing the scroll wheel?
If it were possible to hold down the space bar in Pr to make the hand tool active, would that deliver what you're asking for?
On my macs, one and two finger gestures take care of this functionality in Pr and AE...and modifiers expand my options... but I realize I may be missing some details...
Do both the "pinch in/out with two fingers" gesture to zoom in/out and the "swipe with two fingers" gesture for panning work properly on your Mac? Personally, on my Mac, the "swipe with two fingers" gesture moves the playhead in Premiere Pro, and in After Effects, it zooms in/out instead of panning for some reason. I wrote a bug report about it here:
Holding the spacebar to temporarily enable the pan was implemented in the 80s, approximately 40 years ago. It's an outdated feature. The scroll wheel, implemented in 1996, can provide a better and more comfortable way to temporarily enable the pan tool. It enhances the workflow, speeds up the working process, and makes the app more comfortable to use. That's why it's widely used in CAD and 3D apps.
So, yes, holding down the space bar + left mouse button is less desirable than simply holding the scroll wheel pressed to activate the hand tool.
I'd be fine if pressing the middle mouse button to toggle the Hand Tool was supported as an option at the application level, but pressing and holding the spacebar to do so should never change.
It's not outdated. It's foundational for Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and InDesign. It's anywhere from a few years to decades of muscle memory for users that does not need to change.
I don't mind retaining old features for old users who have already established workflows and muscle memory, but new features should be implemented for newcomers to enhance their overall user experience.
Although the 'spacebar + left click drag' feature is considered 'foundational,' it is indeed outdated. Since its introduction in the 80s, better solutions have been developed. Check this out:
Year of creation
Spacebar + Left Click drag
80s
Scroll Wheel
1996
Trackpad Gestures (two-finger swipe gesture)
2008
Touch panel on a mouse (Magic Mouse)
2009
Some of Adobe's apps have already integrated these technologies, but others haven't. As far as I know, the current situation is as follows:
By the way, how do you scroll through long documents and webpages on your computer? Do you still drag the outdated scrollbars up and down, or do you use the modern scroll wheel and/or touchpad gestures (like two-finger swipe up/down)? I genuinely wonder.
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