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Temporary Move Tool Selection Shortcut, NOT.


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I came to the forum today looking for a way to replace a certain keyboard shortcut functionality I'm used to in Adobe products. Specific examples of operation given below are from InDesign; from what I recall Illustrator is pretty similar and Photoshop is a little different. I only found one post here that was even in the ballpark, so...

Scenario: you're editing text. Obviously you can't use "V" to select the Move tool; that will just insert a "v". OTOH selecting the Move tool with the cursor is a pain if you just want to do a quick move and get back to editing text right where you were.

The Adobe convention I miss: If you have the text tool selected (also applies to many other tools although not always in the exact same way) you can press and hold CTRL (PC) to switch the cursor to the Move tool only as long you continue to hold CTRL. As soon as you let it go, the cursor reverts to the Text tool (or whatever tool you were using).

But wait, there's more. Having pressed and held CTRL, you can then add SHIFT or SHIFT+ALT in order to zoom in or out, or if you add SHIFT+ALT and then release CTRL, you get the Hand tool and you can shift the artboard. When you release SHIFT+ALT, you're back to whatever tool you started out with. It's still second nature to me even after years of very infrequent use. Fast and hassle-free.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't see any way to add this kind of temporary tool select modification to the keyboard shortcuts myself.

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Disclaimer: I no longer use graphic design software on a daily or even monthly basis, and for all the years I've used Adobe products, I'd still call myself a noob. My copy of Adobe Creative Suite is v3, so... yeah. I should also point out that I am thrilled at the quality, facility and AFFORDABILITY of Affinity software. A boon for a guy like me who has a few skills that occasionally come in real handy, but rarely generate significant income -- certainly not enough to justify Adobe prices.

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10 hours ago, SolarDude said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't see any way to add this kind of temporary tool select modification to the keyboard shortcuts myself.

Alt, Ctrl and Shift is the Modifier key, which cannot be configured as classic keyboard Shortcuts (must be controlled directly by the application).

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11 hours ago, SolarDude said:

Scenario: you're editing text. Obviously you can't use "V" to select the Move tool; that will just insert a "v". OTOH selecting the Move tool with the cursor is a pain if you just want to do a quick move and get back to editing text right where you were.

You don't need to switch to the Move Tool to move the Text Frame

Just move your mouse anywhere over the Text Frame bounding box (not the nodes) and the cursor will change to something like that shown below 

Then drag the Text Frame to where you want it - once done dragging you can "get back to editing text right where you were."

CURSOR.png

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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  • 2 months later...
On 6/9/2020 at 3:15 AM, carl123 said:

You don't need to switch to the Move Tool to move the Text Frame

Just move your mouse anywhere over the Text Frame bounding box (not the nodes) and the cursor will change to something like that shown below 

Then drag the Text Frame to where you want it - once done dragging you can "get back to editing text right where you were."

CURSOR.png

Sorry I'm just noticing this now. I failed to enable notifications on this thread. (Noob.)

This is very useful, thanks much.

After trying it out for a few minutes, I realize what I miss the most is the ability to quickly zoom and pan (i.e. change the view) without selecting the move tool and then having to double-click into text editing again. At the moment I'm editing 5.8 pt lyrics for a CD insert and having to zoom in frequently to see what I'm doing at the character level and then zoom out to see how the column breaks are working out.

Edited by SolarDude
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On 6/9/2020 at 2:12 AM, Pšenda said:

Alt, Ctrl and Shift is the Modifier key, which cannot be configured as classic keyboard Shortcuts (must be controlled directly by the application).

Apologies to all respondents that I am so new to the forum I didn't realize I had to enable notifications and have only now noticed your post.

Thanks sincerely for your reply, but I'm not sure how to interpret it. Is the upshot that the behaviour I've described in Adobe products is impossible, or are you simply confirming that it is not currently possible in Affinity products?

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If you are on a Mac and happen to have a Wacom tablet, you can use gestures on the tablet to zoom ad pan regardless of tool selection.  I believe that will work on a Mac trackpad too, and I understand there is work underway to enable that with trackpads on Windoze (though I have no idea how long before that might be available - this has been discussed in other threads).

You should be able to pan with the scroll wheel/ball/equivalent on a mouse, but if you only have a scroll wheel on your mouse that might be limited to vertical panning, and I don't know of a way to zoom with a mouse without switching tools (although there are a few keyboard shortcuts that should work for some limited zoom capability - check the View -> Zoom menu in the menu bar).

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On 8/15/2020 at 7:28 PM, SolarDude said:

Sorry I'm just noticing this now. I failed to enable notifications on this thread. (Noob.)

This is very useful, thanks much.

After trying it out for a few minutes, I realize what I miss the most is the ability to quickly zoom and pan (i.e. change the view) without selecting the move tool and then having to double-click into text editing again. At the moment I'm editing 5.8 pt lyrics for a CD insert and having to zoom in frequently to see what I'm doing at the character level and then zoom out to see how the column breaks are working out.

On Windows, with the Text Tool (or other tool) active, the scroll wheel of my mouse:

  • With no modifier: scrolls vertically
  • With Shift: scrolls horizontally
  • With Ctrl: zooms

All without invoking different tools.

In Illustrator CS6, it's similar:

  • No modifier: scrolls vertically
  • With Shift: scrolls vertically in larger increments
  • With Ctrl: scrolls horizontally
  • With Alt: zooms

 

Quote

Is the upshot that the behaviour I've described in Adobe products is impossible, or are you simply confirming that it is not currently possible in Affinity products?

The upshot is that you really can't expect all drawing programs to use exactly the same momentary keyboard modifiers. As you mentioned re Photoshop and Illustrator, even different applications owned by the same vendor don't have perfect consistency between programs.

JET

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1 hour ago, JET_Affinity said:
  • With no modifier: scrolls vertically
  •  
  • With Ctrl: zooms

For addition only - can be modified (swapped).
image.png.03adb925ed9544a5d9c3ad337e3d7aea.png

 

P.S. But I think there is a bug - after checking this option (on Windows) the scroll zooms, with Shift it also zooms (why ?!?), and with Ctrl it does a vertical shift.
Thus, the possibility of horizontal shift is completely missing!!!

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Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
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1 hour ago, Pšenda said:

For addition only - can be modified (swapped).
image.png.03adb925ed9544a5d9c3ad337e3d7aea.png

 

P.S. But I think there is a bug - after checking this option (on Windows) the scroll zooms, with Shift it also zooms (why ?!?), and with Ctrl it does a vertical shift.
Thus, the possibility of horizontal shift is completely missing!!!

Yep. If I turn that Prefs setting on, just scrolling (without modifier) zooms. But if it's off, I get the behavior I described.

Affinity Designer 1.8.4.693; Windows 10.

JET

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