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Space Bar Hand Move & CMD-Space Zoom Not Working—CS5

May 15, 2010 10:02 PM

Today, all of a sudden, two of my most used functions—holding down the space bar to move the image around and holding down CMD-space bar to zoom—just up and quit on me (I do like the "Scrubby" but it took a little getting used to. It's very touch screen-esque).

I did all of the normal trouble shooting such as deleting the prefs, relaunching, restarting, etc. Nothing. The functions work fine in the other CS5 programs.

Anybody else come across this? I checked through all of the prefs thinking that perhaps I accidentally changed something but I couldn't find anything. If all else fails, I'll do an uninstall/reinstall but only as a last resort.

I did notice that Adobe finally fixed the Distort (in Full Screen Mode) bug that was killing me in CS4.

Thanks for any help.

23562 Views 89 Replies Latest reply: OrangeandBlack23bb, Jan 23, 2013 6:32 PM

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1. Chris Cox,

May 15, 2010 10:09 PM in reply to rudy713

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Check the OS shortcuts in System Preferences, especially the keyboard->Keyboard Shortcut settings, and Universal Access. The modifier spacebar keys are frequently used to change localized keyboard settings.

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2. rudy713,

May 15, 2010 10:26 PM in reply to Chris Cox

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I had already checked there.

It's only in Photoshop CS5 that this is happening. Flash, InDesign, and Illustrator are all working fine. If it were something in the System Prefs, I would assume that it would affect all of the programs, no?

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3. Chris Cox,

May 16, 2010 12:36 AM in reply to rudy713

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No, because Apple has some per-application settings.

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4. rudy713,

May 16, 2010 12:20 PM in reply to rudy713

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Well, 5 minutes ago, both functions started working again out of the blue. I have no idea why and I did not change any prefs. I have been switching between PS, Flash, and Illustrator. When I started this morning, they were working in Flash and Illustrator but not PS. After several hours, boom!, they are working in PS. Obviously, there is a bug somewhere. But now I can not use Acrobat 9 Pro because it says that I need to activate the Suite, which I have done. I am probably going to have to call Adobe on this one.

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5. rudy713,

May 19, 2010 8:33 AM in reply to rudy713

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I spoke too soon. The problem has returned. Arrrgh. Out of the blue. Anybody else having this issue? Adobe, are you there? Any ideas of what is going on?

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6. Gyno-jiz,

May 19, 2010 8:38 AM in reply to rudy713

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System prefs > spotlight. Turn off the shortcuts.

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7. rudy713,

May 19, 2010 8:55 AM in reply to Gyno-jiz

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Thanks but that is not it.

As I have mentioned before, it happens ONLY in PS and NONE of the other CS programs. This occurred when I began running CS5. It does not happen in CS4.

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8. NWitness,

May 21, 2010 10:07 AM in reply to rudy713

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I'm having the same issue, but I found that it occurs when I open an image from Bridge CS4/CS5. It works again when I reboot my computer. It doesn't happen on Photosho CS4. There's some bug between Bridge and Photoshop CS5. Anyone else having the same problem?

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9. rudy713,

May 21, 2010 10:42 AM in reply to NWitness

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@NWitness

Are there other variables involved? My Space Bar Hand is working again (though I expect it to go any minute) and so I tried your thought but I could not replicate the problem. For me, it is either some other issue, or something other variable along with opening from Bridge.

In PS CS4, my Distort transform would always go wonky on me when I was in Full Screen mode. I would have to switch out of Full Screen and back in and then Distort would work again, usually for only 1 or 2 images. If I were working on, say 12 images, I would have to repeat this process 3-5 times. I figure that there has to be something like this that is affecting the Space Bar Hand. I was really hoping that your Bridge bug was the answer.

BTW, it should be noted that I am running CS5 Design Premium on Snow Leopard while drinking a Bud Light. Perhaps the issue lies with the OS or the beverage of choice.

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10. 101Phil,

May 27, 2010 12:23 AM in reply to rudy713

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Im having the same problem, fine in Flash CS5 just PS is causing the problem..

Snow Leopard
CS5 Design Premium
Ironically I have Lucky beer in the fridge.

Of all the shortcuts I use, this is by far the most frequently used.

Be very interested in the fix for this..

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11. Jeffrey Tranberry,

May 27, 2010 5:33 AM in reply to 101Phil

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We're trying to track this down. Next time it happens to you, please do the following to help us debug:

1. Take a screen shot of your entire Photoshop workspace (so we can see what panels are showing when this happens)
2. Take a screen shot of Activity Monitor (so we can see every other program and process that is running) (Applications>Utilities>Activity Monitor)
3. Then quit each other application that is running one by one and check see if the problem goes away after quitting each app
4. If you quit all other applications and it still occurs, try resetting your workspace WIndow>Workspace>Essentials and then select Window>Workspace>Reset Essentials

Thanks.

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12. 101Phil,

May 27, 2010 2:32 PM in reply to Jeffrey Tranberry

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Hi Jeffrey,

Thanks for responding.

Please find screenshots attached..

I was able to use the hand after I closed Dreamweaver and also after I restarted Dreamweaver.

Regards,

Phil

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13. Jeffrey Tranberry,

May 27, 2010 2:56 PM in reply to 101Phil

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Phil this helps. I'll start digging in more. The more people that post similar tests/results will let us figure it out. I've also heard people say that quitting their browser also gives the keys back to PS. The more data points we have the better.

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14. rudy713,

May 27, 2010 4:25 PM in reply to Jeffrey Tranberry

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Hi Jeffery.
My spacebar move and zoom is currently working. I've enclosed screen grabs of the workspace and activity monitor. Please note that my workspace extends over 2 monitors.

As soon as move and zoom stop working again, I will send you screen grabs of those.

Rudy

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15. Jeffrey Tranberry,

May 27, 2010 7:41 PM in reply to rudy713

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Thanks Rudy.

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16. DrunkCyclist,

Jun 2, 2010 10:04 AM in reply to Jeffrey Tranberry

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I just started using CS5 today and ran into the same issue. Every CS5 program I have open is all of a sudden disabled in terms of being able to use the space bar / cmd / option keys to get the hand tool, and magnification tool.

It happened in Photoshop and Illustrator simultaneously.

I have gone through this thread and disabled spotlight shortcuts and other keyboard modifiers used by os x by default and it is still broken. I restarted both Photoshop and Illustrator and it still does not work.

I am going to attempt re-booting my machine but if this is going to be the norm it is going to seriously impact my workflow since those are keyboard commands I use all the time.

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17. DrunkCyclist,

Jun 2, 2010 10:11 AM in reply to Jeffrey Tranberry

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Rebooting my mac brought back the keyboard commands in Photoshop and Illustrator. I will post more information if that issue happens again and see if I can find a pattern or a situation that will cause it to happen.

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18. Jeffrey Tranberry,

Jun 2, 2010 8:09 PM in reply to DrunkCyclist

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Thanks DrunkCyclist. Be sure to try my debugging steps above ( http://forums.adobe.com/message/2846310#2846310 ) to see if there is another process that is conflicting.

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19. Matthias Rendl,

Jun 3, 2010 1:07 AM in reply to Jeffrey Tranberry

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I've had the same problem and i can confirm that quitting the webbrowser brings back the hand-tool in Photoshop. Adobe - I hope this information helps you to fix this bug quick. I also hope for an Photoshop-Update that fixes the "slow scrolling" problem (off topic).

Apart from that Photoshop CS5 seems to run smoother and faster on my MacBook Pro than CS4 did, seems you guys did a good job! =)

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20. Jeffrey Tranberry,

Jun 3, 2010 8:38 AM in reply to Matthias Rendl

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Matthias,

It helps. We haven't reproduced the problem in house for the Hand/Spacebar issue but we have some good clues.

Which Web Browser do you use? Do you remember what content/URLs were active/visible? What version of Flash Player do you have?

Slow scrolling - Yes, we're aware of the issue. I was looking at a fix for it yesterday. Which mouse (brand/model) do you use?

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21. Matthias Rendl,

Jun 3, 2010 9:37 AM in reply to Jeffrey Tranberry

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Jeffrey -

I use Firefox 3.6.3. I don't remember all the websites that were visible, but I think I had www.spiegel.de as a tab open and in another tab i was logged into an account of http://basecamphq.com/. is it possible, that there is a conflict, when a javascript/JQuery/lightbox on a website responds to keyboard-commands?

my flash player is version 10,1,52,15

and the scrolling problem appears with this new "apple magic mouse" as well as with the old "mighty mouse" (wired version)

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22. DrunkCyclist,

Jun 3, 2010 12:15 PM in reply to Jeffrey Tranberry

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I haven't had the problem come back since I rebooted yesterday. I see that other people replied to the thread but I haven't been able to reproduce the issue since.

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23. Ham1000,

Jun 4, 2010 7:29 AM in reply to rudy713

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Hi guys,

I've just had the same problem in InDesign CS4 - you don't realise how much you use this command until it stops working!! First time it's happened to me since installing the CS4 suite some 3 months ago.

Anyway, having read the thread, I did what Jeffrey Tranberry suggested and quit my web browser, which fixed the problem straight away (was running Firefox 3.6.3 if that's of any help).

Cheers

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24. rudy713,

Jun 4, 2010 8:58 AM in reply to rudy713

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I don't believe it but I think that I finally found the culprit: hulu (the desktop app, not through a browser).

To make sure, I rebooted, launched PS, Flash, and InDesign, and then fired up every app that I could think of, one by one, testing each time, leaving hulu for last. Sure enough, it was not until I got to hulu that the space bar hand/zpom stopped working. And then I went one by one, quitting each app, testing each time, again leaving hulu till the last. Sure enough again, the space bar continued not working until I quit hulu, the very last app that I had running (aside from CS5 and system processes).

Please, please do not tell me that there is a conflict between CS5 and hulu's utilization of Flash! That would just make Mad Dog Jobs' a happy camper. (I am a big supporter of Flash on the iPad).

What a relief. Except how am I now going to watch my TV shows while working???

In regards to browser conflicts, I have had none with Safari, Firefox, or Chrome.

Adobe, I hope that this information helps. Let me know if you need any info screen capped.

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25. Ham1000,

Jun 4, 2010 9:03 AM in reply to rudy713

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I haven't got Hulu loaded on my Mac, so that's definitely not the culprit in my case.

Either way, it's damn annoying. Hasn't happened again to me since relaunching Firefox however, and, as I said in my earlier message, it had never happened before - and I use Firefox on a daily basis at work... so it may have actually just been a coincidence that it started working again then.

I'll follow this thread with interest...

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26. rudy713,

Jun 4, 2010 9:39 AM in reply to Ham1000

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When it started happening for me, it was very, VERY random but I can't remember if I was launching and quitting hulu. Honestly, I expect this to be a fluke. Sure... today it is linked to hulu but tomorrow may not be the case. I'll just have to keep an eye on it. And I agree that it is very frustrating. Those are two huge functions for me and having to hit the "H" or "Z" key to perform the function, and then hit the key to toggle back to the previous tool is extremely disruptive.

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27. georgespataru,

Jun 7, 2010 7:43 AM in reply to rudy713

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For me the shortcuts for pan and zoom stop working when i open firefox and log into my gmail account. As soon as i quit firefox they come back again.
It's quite annoying because i check my mail very often.

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28. barry young,

Jun 8, 2010 9:13 AM in reply to georgespataru

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Can those who are seeing this bug also include the Flash Player version you're running?

You can find it by going to this site:

http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/

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29. georgespataru,

Jun 8, 2010 9:16 AM in reply to barry young

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I have version 10,0,42,34 installed.

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30. Jeffrey Tranberry,

Jun 8, 2010 9:43 AM in reply to georgespataru

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Thanks. And just for good measure, what version of Firefox are people using?

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31. rudy713,

Jun 8, 2010 10:05 AM in reply to Jeffrey Tranberry

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Flash Player 10,1,52,15

Firefox 3.6.3

Just to keep you up to date, as long as I don't have Hulu Desktop running (0.9.8.2), all is well with CS5. As soon as I fire it up, the space bar hand/zoom goes away.

===========================
rudy pospisil / ny, ny
http://rudypospisil.com/
http://anothernormal.com/

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32. barry young,

Jun 8, 2010 10:17 AM in reply to rudy713

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I can reproduce this with Hulu Desktop. We'll be able to take it from here. Thanks for the info.

Barry

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33. 101Phil,

Jun 8, 2010 3:34 PM in reply to barry young

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For me its not HULU - I don't have it installed.

For me, Since I quite Dreamweaver and discovered that solved the problem. I have had PS and DW open at the same time and was working with it last night, Space Bar Hand worked perfectly.

I put the Mac to sleep last night, woke this morning. Woke it up and PS hand space not working anymore. Saw this update about Firefox (3.6.3), so I quite Firefox to test that and didn't make a difference, I closed Dreamweaver and it works fine again.

Thought Im on to something here - restart Dreamweaver though it still works.

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34. barry young,

Jun 8, 2010 3:47 PM in reply to 101Phil

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At this point, i suspect it's related to Flash (as others have pointed out). Hulu desktop is an AIR app running the flash player. Dreamweaver probably runs some form of flash when loaded, triggering the same bug. Using the Hulu desktop gives us a reproducible case, so we can have a developer look at it and figure out what's going on. Thanks.

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35. Matthias Rendl,

Jun 9, 2010 12:55 AM in reply to barry young

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Just for the record: I use Firefox 3.6.3 and Flash Player 10,1,52,1 and I don't have Hulu installed

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36. Poodels,

Jun 9, 2010 6:33 AM in reply to rudy713

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I use Firefox 3.6.3. after restart firefox, space bar is working

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37. StevenKMktg,

Jun 9, 2010 10:20 AM in reply to rudy713

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yep it's definitely a Firefox thing. My spacebar wasn't working in ID CS5 all of a sudden. Closed Firefox (without even restarting ID) and it's working again fine. I'll let everyone know when it' stops working and will take a screenshot of the Firefox windows open. I'm in Firefox v 3.6.3 and OS X v 10.6.3

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38. DrunkCyclist,

Jun 9, 2010 10:20 AM in reply to rudy713

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This happened to me again today in Photoshop, (only the 2nd time its happened to me). I had Flash and Photoshop open at the same time, but no Firefox or any other apps at the time it happened.

Not only did the spacebar tool stop working, after clicking around a few times in Photoshop, the program just froze up and I had to force-quit and restart Photoshop, at which time the keyboard commands came back.

Don't know if it is the same issue, but I was locked out of the keyboard commands before Photoshop finally choked completely.

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39. rudy713,

Jun 9, 2010 10:38 AM in reply to StevenKMktg

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Perhaps it is Firefox's use of Flash Player that is causing the conflict. That would gel with the issue with Hulu (as it is wrapped in Flash).

Rudy

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