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Can you hold Command to access the Move tool?


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Is there a way to customise how the modifier keys (alone) work? Not simply with shortcuts, but on their own?

I've got all three Affinity apps too, but without the ability to hold Command (on the Mac) to quickly and temporarily access the Move Tool, I'm really feeling limited. If I'm editing some text, and it's in just the wrong place, I can't just quickly Command-drag it to move it as I would in all the Adobe apps, and as I've been doing for 25+ years. To leave text editing mode and move it, I have to press Escape (sometimes twice) and then V, and lose my current place in the text too. Worse, Command-dragging on the Mac makes duplicates like Option-dragging does!

Option-dragging is the standard way to make copies all through the Mac system, not just Adobe, so that's not changing. But please, can the Move Tool automatically be selected when Command is held, at least as an option? It's really slowing me down and I don't see a good alternative. I don't mind differences, but this is a regression. Suggestions welcome; apologies if I've missed something.

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To move a text box while in text editing mode there is no need to change tools. Just position the mouse pointer over any of its edges. The cursor will change to a 4-way arrow, indicating you can click & drag the block to wherever you want. Similarly, try positioning the pointer over a corner or midpoint of an edge or just outside of any of the bounding box handles. The pointer will change to an arrow indicating what a click & drag will do.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Thanks. I did discover this, but I find it fussy, because moving to select an edge requires clicking on a very small target with precision, and in some contexts it doesn't work. For me, the cursors also don't always change to indicate if the "drag at edge" feature will function.

Holding Command to move has been a convention for decades, and it's been the #1 problem I've had adapting to Affinity apps. Command does work pretty well when drawing a shape — it switches to the Node tool, like Illustrator's Direct Selection tool — but it doesn't do anything useful when working with text. I do realise that holding Command allows selection of non-contiguous text areas, but Command-Option also works for that, and could continue to work.

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On 4/9/2021 at 3:16 AM, funwithstuff said:

Holding Command to move has been a convention for decades, and it's been the #1 problem I've had adapting to Affinity apps.

Yeah, that's some muscle memory that somehow tends to stick forever.
Affinity's modifier keys implementation was initially quite different from the Mac conventions – possibly to ensure some consistency with Windows that is lacking a fourth modifier – but in the meantime they made some changes for the better. Still, there's room for improvement.

On 4/9/2021 at 3:16 AM, funwithstuff said:

I do realise that holding Command allows selection of non-contiguous text areas

Exactly, something that wasn't possible in InDesign (CS5.5, don't know about CC).

On 4/9/2021 at 3:16 AM, funwithstuff said:

but Command-Option also works for that, and could continue to work.

Adding the Option modifier while working with text selections is generally reserved for copying. I don't think it would be a Good Idea™ to mix that.

~~~

Interestingly – and I've never noticed that until now – the standard MacOS text framework as used e.g. in TextEdit has a special use for cmd-option when selecting text. Watch the modifier keys display in the lower right hand corner (sometimes it wants to copy though, depending on where I click):

 

 

Edited by loukash
replaced *.mov with *.mp4

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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