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MdesignAZ

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Spacebar to toggle Hand Tool is not working (CS5)

Dec 16, 2010 2:12 PM

In InDesign, using the spacebar to toggle the Hand Tool stops working.

When it stops working in InDesign, it also stops in Photoshop and Illustrator.

If I close the applications, and restart the machine - this combination starts working again, however after a while it stops working again.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated - you don't realize how much you use this 'til it goes away!

Matt

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iMac 27" / 2.93 GHz Intel Core i7

8 GB Ram

OS X 10.6.5

6674 Views 20 Replies Latest reply: makyo44, Jul 17, 2012 2:34 PM

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1. Michael Gianino,

Dec 16, 2010 2:21 PM in reply to MdesignAZ

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What if you tap the Escape key first? Does that work?

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2. MdesignAZ,

Dec 16, 2010 2:44 PM in reply to Michael Gianino

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Tried the [ESC] key, same thing - still doesn't work.

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3. MdesignAZ,

Dec 16, 2010 2:50 PM in reply to MdesignAZ

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I just noticed if I quit Google Chrome - it starts working again.

huh?

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4. Mr. Met,

Dec 16, 2010 4:08 PM in reply to MdesignAZ

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Chrome must claim the space bar for some function or other.

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5. lalavalse,

May 17, 2011 10:51 PM in reply to MdesignAZ

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Me too. Spacebar works again after quitting Chrome.

Man, Chrome, between this and your flash issues, I think it's time we go our separate ways.

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6. Miles Murray,

Jun 6, 2011 4:21 AM in reply to MdesignAZ

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Hi,

Have just experienced the same problem myself - only I wasnt running Chrome. However, I was running Firefox - which had a MS Silverlight page loaded (may or may not be related) - and on quitting Firefox, the problem solved itself again. So seems it may not just be related to Chrome, but it does suggest some web technology interfering with the way InDesign interprets the space bar trigger.

Just my two penneth worth!

Miles

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7. John Hawkinson,

Jun 6, 2011 1:40 PM in reply to Miles Murray

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I would suggest you try changing tabs in Firefox. The last time I tried to reproduce this problem I couldn't, but if you have a good reproducible test case you should file a Firefox/buzilla bug...

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8. joerivera,

Jul 10, 2011 8:59 PM in reply to MdesignAZ

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I've had the same situation -- Chrome causing the problem. Quitting Chrome solves the problem every time -- I've done it dozens of times now to solve the problem across PS, AI and InDesign.

Not sure if this is the case for anyone else -- but it seemed to happen only when I was running sites like Gmail and Twitter that update constantly in the background. Maybe that is a connection, maybe not.

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9. John Hawkinson,

Jul 10, 2011 9:05 PM in reply to joerivera

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Not sure if this is the case for anyone else -- but it seemed to happen only when I was running sites like Gmail and Twitter that update constantly in the background. Maybe that is a connection, maybe not.
That technology is called AJAX, but I don't think it is the issue.

I think the source is web sites that define modifier keys in the browser -- somehow the act of doing so causes the browser to steal some keyboard handling events that it should not, and the Adobe apps no longer receive them, or no longer receive them in the same way.

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10. peter at knowhowpro,

Jul 11, 2011 6:23 AM in reply to John Hawkinson

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John Hawkinson wrote:

Not sure if this is the case for anyone else -- but it seemed to happen only when I was running sites like Gmail and Twitter that update constantly in the background. Maybe that is a connection, maybe not.
That technology is called AJAX, but I don't think it is the issue.

I think the source is web sites that define modifier keys in the browser -- somehow the act of doing so causes the browser to steal some keyboard handling events that it should not, and the Adobe apps no longer receive them, or no longer receive them in the same way.
Interesting that no OSs are mentioned. When I reported to the developer of TextExpander, a Mac keystroke macro tool, that the product stopped responding to its trigger shortcuts, the response was that some browsers caused it. Since then, I have been using Safari almost exclusively, with no recurrence. I'm not sure if newer releases of TextExpander have solved the problem, or if updated browsers no longer create it.

HTH

Regards,

Peter
_______________________
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

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11. John Hawkinson,

Jul 11, 2011 6:42 AM in reply to peter at knowhowpro

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I've only seen it on Macs, but I have not looked for it under Windows.

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12. wasanninjune,

Feb 7, 2012 5:02 PM in reply to MdesignAZ

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just found myself suffering from the same problem: I tried deleting my preferences and that did not work.

I had Dreamweaver open at the same time - once I closed Dreamweaver everything seems fine (with InDesign) - hand tool/spacebar is working again. I'm using InDesign CS5, on an iMac, OS Version 10.6.8.

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13. dlevinson18,

Mar 8, 2012 1:15 PM in reply to MdesignAZ

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I've had this problem a couple of times in the last few months. I'm using CS5.5 on a Mac running OS 10.7.3. I have Safari, FF, and Chrome open simultaneously, all the time.

The first time, a few months ago, I found a solution online that, IIRC, was to go into keyboard shortcut in InDesign, and delete the setting for Hand Tool. I could be wrong about that tho. It did seem to solve the problem.

However, it just happened again today, and after reading the posts above, I tried something else. I had just opened Paypal.com in Firefox, and that's right when the Hand tool/Spacebar shortcut stopped working. I didn't realize it right away, but after quitting FF, the spacebar tool worked again. Then I re-opened FF, went back to Paypal (in a second tab), and the spacebar tool was non-responsive again. Closed that one tab in FF (Paypal.com), switched back to InDesign, and it works fine.

So, apparently Paypal.com on FF is the issue (of course, there could be many other sites that cause the same problem). I'm not sure what it is about the site/coding that renders the spacebar shortcut useless, but that's the problem, at least for me.

For what it's worth.

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14. Larry G. Schneider,

Mar 8, 2012 5:44 PM in reply to dlevinson18

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It's a Mac OS security bit which blocks the modifier keys from working if there is an open port which has access. It's supposed to prevent malware from executing system events.

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15. John Hawkinson,

Mar 8, 2012 7:15 PM in reply to Larry G. Schneider

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That doesn't sound right. What do you mean by "an open port"?
If you mean an open TCP port, that's clearly not the case, since hundreds of apps do that and don't cause this behavior.

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16. Larry G. Schneider,

Mar 9, 2012 10:11 AM in reply to John Hawkinson

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I guess I mean something which has an open connection and does automatic downloads. Used to be Quicken was one which would cause this behavior.

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17. John Hawkinson,

Mar 9, 2012 10:16 AM in reply to Larry G. Schneider

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But everything from Safari to Firefox to ftp to the Adobe Updater meets that description. Do you have any documentation to suggest this is a deliberate system action to prevent malware, or is it just speculation?

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18. Larry G. Schneider,

Mar 9, 2012 10:20 AM in reply to John Hawkinson

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Sorry just what has worked in the past. Firefox (or at least some addons) has been reported as a problem as well.

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19. DirtyFourLtrWrd,

Jul 13, 2012 5:58 PM in reply to MdesignAZ

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I already posted this to another thread, but I was having the same problem and found on the other thread that closing the browser seemed to fix the problem. This absolutely was the case on my iMac OS X Lion running Chrome and CS5.5. I then also discovered that I could reopen Chrome and not have the problem again AS LONG AS I didn't log in to LastPass. Every time I log into LastPass, I lose my spacebar grabber again and have to log out and restart Chrome.

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20. makyo44,

Jul 17, 2012 2:34 PM in reply to MdesignAZ

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It was Dreamweaver (CS5) for me too, as reported above already. Once I closed it, InDesign CS5 and its hand tool returned to normal.

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