Is there a setting to control whether a tool is persistent vs. returning to a selection arrow?

[JCarls]

This is especially problematic in Publisher, but probably makes sense for all apps: When I draw a text box or edit its contents, the text box tool remains active. I want it to return to a selection arrow so I can pick the next thing I'm going to manipulate or edit. I realize that having a persistently active tool is good in many situations, especially at the beginning of a project. However, in a project with a large mix of graphics and some text, this is a real obstruction when editing. In trying to get rid of the text tool, I constantly leave the letter "V" in text that was just edited, because simply pressing "V" won't switch to the Move tool.

What we need is a preferences toggle that controls whether tools are persistent or simply return to the Move arrow if you either press [Esc] or click in an empty area. This is the standard for all other graphic software I've used, and it's very intuitive.

[MikeTO]

7 hours ago, JCarls said:

In trying to get rid of the text tool, I constantly leave the letter "V" in text that was just edited, because simply pressing "V" won't switch to the Move tool.

Try Esc and then V to switch to the move tool. Even if Esc isn't needed pressing it first avoids typing a V by mistake.

[fde101]

If all you are trying to do is switch layers/objects you don't need to switch tools to do that.  Even with the text tools selected you can simply click on another layer to switch.  Doing so also takes you out of text editing mode if the layer you click on is not another text object so you could then switch tools directly to whatever you need to use.

[JCarls]

2 hours ago, fde101 said:

If all you are trying to do is switch layers/objects you don't need to switch tools to do that.  Even with the text tools selected you can simply click on another layer to switch.  Doing so also takes you out of text editing mode if the layer you click on is not another text object so you could then switch tools directly to whatever you need to use.

 

 

 

I tried that but it does not do that—frame text mode remains active. The most common operation I am doing in this context is to edit a piece of text in a frame, then adjust a callout rounded rectangle below it (comic book dialog style). It takes more keystrokes than needed to do this when I should be able to cancel text editing mode and just select the next object to manipulate.

Example: I have a photograph over which there are two callout rounded rectangle layers and two text frame layers on top of those. If I click twice to edit a text, then either click on a rectangle or click on the rectangle layer, the cursor remains in frame text mode. Worse, when I hover over the rectangle (or any shape) at this time, the square text icon turns into a pentangle, the meaning of which is a mystery (Help isn't any help here). Pressing [Esc] by itself (even multiple times) does not cancel the text mode.

This is the specific behavior that is so frustrating. If I don't pay attention, I wind up adding a "V" in the text, or an unnecessary text box that needs to be deleted (and I still have to cancel the text mode before I can do that), or I've sometimes accidentally created a hybrid rectangle containing text and not realized it.

What is needed is 1) for text mode to be completely and definitively canceled by only clicking in an empty space or only pressing [Esc], and 2) for text mode to have a "repeat" option for people who are creating multiple text frames.

[fde101]

7 minutes ago, JCarls said:

The most common operation I am doing in this context is to edit a piece of text in a frame, then adjust a callout rounded rectangle below it

If you click within the area of the text frame it will simply move the insertion point, and if you click on another text frame it will simply switch to editing that.  If the shape extends beyond the edges of the text frame you should be able to click within the shape but outside the text frame to select the shape.

Even better, don't bother creating a text frame for this: right-click on the callout shape and choose Convert to Text Frame.  This will make the callout shape and the text frame one and the same so there is no need to change the selection.

[JCarls]

11 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Try Esc and then V to switch to the move tool. Even if Esc isn't needed pressing it first avoids typing a V by mistake.

 

Yes, I've done that. However, in a graphics user interface (and except at the beginning of a project), the single most common operation is to point to something, not to create something. So the system should make it easy to select things. Although I understand that there is more than one level of meaning for [Esc] in a text frame, the last one should be "cancel text frame mode" but it doesn't. That would mean that the cursor reverts to the Move pointer so the next action is to select another object. Also, if the interface assumes that the most common long-term editing action is to select something, repeating the "last tool" should have a hot key (or an option to set an "auto-repeat" until canceled).

[JCarls]

5 minutes ago, fde101 said:

If you click within the area of the text frame it will simply move the insertion point, and if you click on another text frame it will simply switch to editing that.  If the shape extends beyond the edges of the text frame you should be able to click within the shape but outside the text frame to select the shape.

Even better, don't bother creating a text frame for this: right-click on the callout shape and choose Convert to Text Frame.  This will make the callout shape and the text frame one and the same so there is no need to change the selection.

 

Okay, I've figured out that two things are happening instead of one and both can create confusion in the interface. If I edit a text frame and then try to select any shape and click on it, the next click converts it to a "shape text." This happens without actually warning you (other than the inscrutable pentangle icon). While a shape text might be desirable for some shapes, there are plenty of others where this isn't needed, yet I just saw it happen to a simple ellipse for which no text is needed.

The second thing: text frame mode absolutely will not cancel without extra keystrokes (my original issue). I realize that in a publishing project full of text, this might be convenient, but it seems like a setting that turns this off (meaning, a simple [Esc] returns to "Move" mode) would be very useful for people doing complex graphic publications with minimal, non-connected text frames.

Thanks for the input. 🙂