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Can Affinity Designer allow the user to use the modifier CMD in Mac temporarily to use the Move Tool? This was so helpful in Illustrator. I find in AD that holding down CMD acdtually shows the Move Tool, but I cannot actually use. This means that when working with a text I must go to tools or use my shortcut, which of course means that I have to use ESC or some other method to exit the text itself. It would be so much easier simply to hold CMD, move the the text box and then release CMD. Perhaps this would not work with Art Text. 

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don't know if it is the same on mac, but on windows you can move the cursor to the textframe boundingbox and move the textframe.

intel core i5,  16GB 128Gb ssd win10 Pro Huion new 1060plus.

philips 272p 2560x1440px on intel HD2500 onboard graphics

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Affinity Designers main tools do not allow modifiers. You can see this by going to preferences: keyboard shortcuts and try setting a modifier and key, it will show a red warning icon when a modifier key like CMD is pressed.

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Hi Jim Monson :)

Unfortunately you can't set the CMD key to tools in Affinity, as it's used as a modifier for many other tools, my apologies.

However, you can use the V key to shortcut to the Move Tool, then when you're done simply hit V again and you will return to the previous tool used. I hope this helps!

Please Note: I am now out of the office until Tuesday 2nd April on annual leave.

If you require urgent assistance, please create a new thread and a member of our team will be sure to assist asap.

Many thanks :)

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5 minutes ago, Dan C said:

Hi Jim Monson :)

Unfortunately you can't set the CMD key to tools in Affinity, as it's used as a modifier for many other tools, my apologies.

However, you can use the V key to shortcut to the Move Tool, then when you're done simply hit V again and you will return to the previous tool used. I hope this helps!

with te frame text tool active?

intel core i5,  16GB 128Gb ssd win10 Pro Huion new 1060plus.

philips 272p 2560x1440px on intel HD2500 onboard graphics

Razer Tartarus Chroma

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4 minutes ago, dutchshader said:

with te frame text tool active?

Apologies, in this circumstance you'd have to hit Esc first, then V to switch to the Move Tool, and V to switch back to the Frame Text Tool when you're done - so I can certainly see the use case for the CMD modifier.

Please Note: I am now out of the office until Tuesday 2nd April on annual leave.

If you require urgent assistance, please create a new thread and a member of our team will be sure to assist asap.

Many thanks :)

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3 hours ago, dutchshader said:

don't know if it is the same on mac, but on windows you can move the cursor to the textframe boundingbox and move the textframe.

Yes it does, I can move the mouse curser to the edge of the frame, when it changes to the 4 way arrow I can move the frame around with the Text cursor flashing, if I need to resize I just position over the handle until it changes to the 2 way arrow, I can then continue where I left off, no additional clicks or key presses needed. Works on frame & artistic text for me.

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4 hours ago, Murfee said:

Yes it does, I can move the mouse curser to the edge of the frame, when it changes to the 4 way arrow I can move the frame around with the Text cursor flashing, if I need to resize I just position over the handle until it changes to the 2 way arrow, I can then continue where I left off, no additional clicks or key presses needed. Works on frame & artistic text for me.

Doesn't that just resize the frame not actually move it?

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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As soon as I posted I thought to myself; "I should test that". Did so and you are right, I am just so used to using the esc, V, T key commands that I never tried anything else. Thanks for the tip.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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8 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

As soon as I posted I thought to myself; "I should test that". Did so and you are right, I am just so used to using the esc, V, T key commands that I never tried anything else. Thanks for the tip.

You are welcome Bruce, we all have different ways of working and it is good to share :)

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In my case I think I learn more than share. [smiley face emoticon]

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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Great discussion. Since in my data heavy file I have to wait for the Move Tool to appear after pressing CMD, and since it getting the mouse in the exact position to do what I want to do, I'm wasting more time than simply pushing ESC and shortcutting to the tool I want. More often than not, whatever key shortcut I use then appears in my text and I have to undo and try again. Clicking outside the Frame Text box to exit the box works great, but for Art Text it's a different story. In this case I use the ESC method since the Art Text took is too eager to create another Art text. But AD is light years beyond Illustrator so I'm not complaining - but it would be nice to have the Illustrator feature that pushing CMD •totally• frees me to work with the Move Tool and does not require me to take the time to find the exact place for my cursor in order to resize or move. I'll live with that any day rather than struggling in Illustrator again. Bravo Affinity!

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  • 2 months later...

Actually I'd love to have this behaviour too. When using InDesign, I often combine text with other objects like pictures or tables and moving a picture in a text field is not always easy, when AP gets stuck in a different layer etc. The Adobe solution is more practical, at least for me. And of course, the Cmd key is more at hand than Esc, not to mention the virtual Esc key on a Touchpad I'm writing on right now. Any chance of reconsidering this feature? I'm sure you could make it optional in the menu for those who don't like it. Thanks!

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