For me, the hand doesn't even show (or work) when I hold the spacebar. This is true in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign CS6. I'm on a Mac running 10.7.4. This is very dissapointing as this is probably my most used shortcut.

This seems to be a problem with the trackpad drivers for Vista and Win7. You can see this behavior on the Desktop: if you click-drag while holding the spacebar, the cursor doesn't move. Using an external USB mouse works fine - in Photoshop too.

Strangly, mine spontaniously started working shortly after writing my earlier comment. The only thing I did was close several webpages I had open (in Chrome). I can't imagine open web pages would prevent this functionality... but I can't really explain what happened.

The Chrome (and I guess Firefox) problem was due to the Flash plugin. Once I disabled that, I got my space bar back in CS5.5. But now that I'm in CS6, the shortcut is not working no matter what browsers I close (even all of them). I will look into using a wired mouse but I'd really like to have both working together.

Hi everyone! I had a similiar problem in InDesign CS6 but I managed to solve the problem.

InDesign CS6

1) Edit -> Key Shortcuts

2) Select "Tools" in Product Area drop down menu

3) Select "Hand Tool"

4) Click the empty field of "New Shortcut"

5) Press spacebar and "Space" text automatically appears on this field.

6) You will be prompted to save default copy, and click Ok

7) You should be able to see the new entry "Default: Space" on the Current Shortcuts box.

8) Click "Default: H" and then press "Remove" button.

9) You are done. It should be working when you press spacebar and the screen moves.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Andre

Hello guys!

I have a question too.  The Space bar won't pan when the image is smaller then the screen. Is this a bug or did they removed the feature with CS6?

Thank you!

BogdanStetco wrote:

 

Hello guys!

... The Space bar won't pan when the image is smaller then the screen ...

 

Welcome to the forum!

The pan works with images smaller than the window in "Full Screen Mode" and "Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar". Press F key to cycle through these modes and "Standard Screen Mode".

I was wondering if it works the same way even in Standard Screen Mode.

No, not in CS6 or CS5.1 on a Mac. Is there a version that you remember it working in?

I just installed Photoshop CS6 on a powerfull new computer (i7-3370K + 16GB) running Windows 7 x64. I have a Wacom Intuos 5 touch installed also. I am really ANGRY about the space bar pan feature which has been one of my favorite functions in CS5. In CS6 it works about half the time! Sometimes the hand tool never shows up when the spacebar is depressed.

Sometimes the hand tool shows up but there is no panning!!!

To continue what I want to do with a brush, I have to select the hand tool and use it to pan and then switch back to the brush!

This really stinks!!!

Jim

Thanks paulburd, that fixed my problem. I have Photoshop CS6 on a Mac and my "spacebar" hand feature dissapeared completely. But then, I closed Chrome and it worked fine! I also run CodeKit, and I have this well linked with Chrome so I'm not sure if that was the issue, but closing Chrome totally did it! Thanks!