View Tool/Hand Tool (space bar) unpredictability

[gskidmark]

When I hit the space bar, I expect to be able to pan around my work area and that is how it works most of the time. However, when I am doing something in the layers palette (or elsewhere) and hit the space bar, and expecting to move around in my work area, it does not activate the view/hand tool and I end up moving some item around, forcing me to undo and try it again. It works the second time. 

Is this a bug or is there is some condition I am experiencing that causes it to, sometimes, not activate the view/hand tool when I press the space bar? If there is some condition that causes this, is there a method to remove that condition so the spacebar works as it should all of the time?

[MikeTO]

The document window needs to have focus - it sounds like you were using a panel and it still has focus so the keystroke for the view or hand tool is going to the panel and not the window.

Affinity isn't great at indicating what has focus. Just remember that after using a panel you might need to click on the document page again.

[gskidmark]

1 hour ago, MikeTO said:

The document window needs to have focus - it sounds like you were using a panel and it still has focus so the keystroke for the view or hand tool is going to the panel and not the window.

Affinity isn't great at indicating what has focus. Just remember that after using a panel you might need to click on the document page again.

What I really don't like about that is, you have a selection-maybe a complex selection and you have to lose that selection in order to get back to the hand tool. 

Or is there a way to get the focus back on the main window?

Thanks.

[MikeTO]

1 hour ago, gskidmark said:

Or is there a way to get the focus back on the main window?

Sorry, no

[Ron P.]

No matter which tool you're using, when you are not over the Document Window, it automatically changes to the Move tool. I think this is a good. IF not, you would need to change to the Move tool every time you want to make changes in the Layers or any other Panel, and then change back to whatever tool you were using. This way, you don't.

[gskidmark]

3 hours ago, Ron P. said:

you would need to change to the Move tool every time you want to make changes in the Layers or any other Panel, and then change back to whatever tool you were using. This way, you don't.

Not if you simply use the space bar to change to move tool, release space bar and you're back to whatever tool you were using.