Replace the ALT key with CTRL

[Frank Forsman]

Hi 
I used Illustrator software for many years, but due to multiple crashes and heaviness in new versions (it was very difficult for me) so I decided to use Affinity Designer, because it is very light and smooth (even for computers with  low processing and low graphics) but unfortunately one of the problems is here, in Illustrator I kept the "Alt" key to zoom in and out by rotating the middle mouse button to make the image smaller and larger
Unfortunately in this software I have to hold down the "Ctrl" key to do this, please help me how I can change this feature and replace the "Alt" and "Ctrl" keys to zoom in and out
This is very bad for my nerves because for years I used software that I used to zoom by holding down the Alt key.

[G13RL]

Hi @Frank Forsman,

You don't need to use one of the "Alt" or "Ctrl" keys to zoom in or out: instead of just rotating the central mouse button, press and hold it while you rotate it.
If you want to keep your habits, it will also work if you use the "Alt" key (in this particular case, I think it has no effect, the central mouse button takes precedence over it), just remember to press the central mouse button when you rotate it.

[Frank Forsman]

22 hours ago, G13RL said:

Hi @Frank Forsman,

You don't need to use one of the "Alt" or "Ctrl" keys to zoom in or out: instead of just rotating the central mouse button, press and hold it while you rotate it.
If you want to keep your habits, it will also work if you use the "Alt" key (in this particular case, I think it has no effect, the central mouse button takes precedence over it), just remember to press the central mouse button when you rotate it.

Thanks for your help, but your solution makes it harder, I'm willing to hold down the CTRL key until I hold down the middle mouse button and rotate it, probably a month later the middle mouse button will crash, something You say that I should use B instead of A.
I just wanted to find a way to replace CTRL with ALT
 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by Frank Forsman

[Dan C]

On 1/30/2021 at 5:50 AM, Frank Forsman said:

I just wanted to find a way to replace CTRL with ALT

Hi Frank, unfortunately there's no option to switch these within Affinity currently, my apologies.

I can see this thread is in the feedback section of our forums for our devs to see and consider adding this option in a future update 

[cbasstn]

I would like to second the request for a way to change the behavior of the ALT key, especially to stop me from rotating my workspace everytime I want to zoom in or out as a past Photoshop user.

Thanks,

Sebastian

[Dan C]

Hi @cbasstn,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums

Unfortunately it's not possible to switch the shortcuts from CTRL to ALT and vice-versa, however you can disable this specific Alt + Mouse Scroll behaviour that is rotating your canvas.

To disable this, please navigate to Edit > Preferences > Tool and then untick Enable Canvas Rotation with Alt + Mouse Scroll Wheel.

I hope this helps!

[cbasstn]

Thank you Dan, that does help me a lot! 🙂

[JRENG!]

I've been struggling to wrap my head around this problem too.

Yes it is a problem, because other application that i use daily (Blender, Davinci Resolve, Fusion, even DAW like REAPER) OOTB used Cmd + Mousewheel to Zoom In/Out. Intuitively it is like a standard convention.

Currently only Affinity Designer/Photo use Alt + Mousewheel to Zoom on my system. Thus, every single time i need to zoom, i end up rotating my canvas instead. It is very tedious, to reset to rotation (because it is also NOT undoable, not something easily reverted with a common keyboard shortcut). Zooming In/Out is a something we all do most of the time in Designer anyway, it's used more often than rotating canvas.

A very common most used task such as Zoom In/Out with wrong mouse modifier often make me lost my train of thoughts, because i have to set and remember another keyboard shortcut just to reset the rotation or diving into menus searching the right command to reset the canvas.

That is a very poor user experience.

If it's something idiosyncratic to the way Designer/Photo designed/programmed, at least give users the options to swap Cmd vs Alt as modifiers to Zoom / Rotate canvas.

[cbasstn]

9 hours ago, JRENG! said:

I've been struggling to wrap my head around this problem too.

Yes it is a problem, because other application that i use daily (Blender, Davinci Resolve, Fusion, even DAW like REAPER) OOTB used Cmd + Mousewheel to Zoom In/Out. Intuitively it is like a standard convention.

Currently only Affinity Designer/Photo use Alt + Mousewheel to Zoom on my system. Thus, every single time i need to zoom, i end up rotating my canvas instead. It is very tedious, to reset to rotation (because it is also NOT undoable, not something easily reverted with a common keyboard shortcut). Zooming In/Out is a something we all do most of the time in Designer anyway, it's used more often than rotating canvas.

A very common most used task such as Zoom In/Out with wrong mouse modifier often make me lost my train of thoughts, because i have to set and remember another keyboard shortcut just to reset the rotation or diving into menus searching the right command to reset the canvas.

That is a very poor user experience.

If it's something idiosyncratic to the way Designer/Photo designed/programmed, at least give users the options to swap Cmd vs Alt as modifiers to Zoom / Rotate canvas.

I second that, it should be considered since it it covers various problems here like the canvas rotation not being undoable, the aspect of loosing creative focus over it and the fact that choosing ALT over CMD / CTRL just creates one more barrier when reaching out to new users who are currently using PS or similar industry standard tools.

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by cbasstn

[Mithferion]

On 1/28/2021 at 10:39 PM, Frank Forsman said:

but unfortunately one of the problems is here, in Illustrator I kept the "Alt" key to zoom in and out by rotating the middle mouse button to make the image smaller and larger

Which makes me despise it because any other program not named Photoshop or Illustrator use the Control key on windows to Zoom (well, Adobe XD has both).

Best regards!

[Greg Mc Fazdean]

Dear Affinity Team,
changing to above mentioned "industry standards" (i.e. alt = zoom) would be a welcome upgrade to the usability of your software.
Giving the users choice to change which key ctrls what would be even more phantastic.

Best Regards!

[PaulEC]

On 11/12/2021 at 11:24 PM, Greg Mc Fazdean said:

changing to above mentioned "industry standards" (i.e. alt = zoom) would be a welcome upgrade to the usability of your software.

I must have a lot of non "industry standard" apps, as most are the same as in Affinity!

[Old Bruce]

39 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

I must have a lot of non "industry standard" apps, as most are the same as in Affinity!

That is the true beauty of Standards, industry or otherwise, we can have as many as we want. [smiley face]

[Skindermann]

Yes, please change this or give users the possibility to switch Keys. It's annoying like hell. Is there any reason why it's done in another way that's not standard?

[Pšenda]

13 hours ago, Skindermann said:

Is there any reason why it's done in another way that's not standard?

Because this (Ctrl + mousewheel, same like Ctrl + "+/-") is "standard" behavior for zooming.

[Richard Podsada]

In case this helps anyone, in Affinity Designer 2 there is an option in Preferences > Tools for "Zoom with mouse wheel". If you turn this on, the canvas zooms when you roll the mouse wheel without any modifier key.

If you subsequently turn off the "Rotate canvas with Alt key", then you'll effectively get zoom while alt-scrolling (even though the alt is not needed.) It satisfies the need to work this way.

Using it without a modifier key is like hooking up ChatGPT to the hoist in Image A by Frank above  

[deeds]

Affinity copied the Duplicate shortcut of Command+J but not the zoom operation mechanics?

What was the thinking behind that decision making?