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Is there any way to set the Move tool "arrow" tool (v) as default instead of the hand tool or view tool (H).
Normally you just use space bar to move around using the hand tool, for easy work flow you want to be able to edit right away when opening a file etc. and for that the select tool off course needs to be default (exactly as in Photo shop)

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  • 7 months later...

I'm definitely interested in the default tool either being the move tool or me being able to choose the default tool. I have a lot of documents that have embedded documents and every time I open an embedded document I then have to remember to change from the move tool, i.e. the tool I was using 2 seconds before I entered the embedded document.

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  • 2 years later...
  • 6 months later...
  • 1 year later...

This still comes back to bite me all the time, and it's so annoying.

”Why isn't the cursor working when I try to select something…? 🤔 Oh, right, it switched to hand tool again… 🤬"

I've yet to find a single instance where I found the switch to hand tool preferable and I always want the move tool. 

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40 minutes ago, AdrianB said:

This still comes back to bite me all the time, and it's so annoying.

”Why isn't the cursor working when I try to select something…? 🤔 Oh, right, it switched to hand tool again… 🤬"

I too find it annoying that I can't set a default tool but I see the Hand Tool cursor so I do not have that problem.

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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6 minutes ago, AdrianB said:

By the time I see the hand tool I've already clicked and dragged, I'm that fast! 😄

Haste makes waste?

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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Yes that option is missing.

Hmm, though it might actually -as a workaround- could be somehow performed via some auto startup scripting, aka meaning here for example let a script start Affinity Photo by opening some given doc and then perform a "v" keystroke etc.

So on a Mac via AppleScript something like this ...

set appName to "Affinity Photo"
activate application "Affinity Photo"
if application appName is running then
	tell application id (id of application appName)
		activate
	end tell
	tell application appName
		open "Users:username:Desktop:image.afphoto"
	end tell
	tell application "System Events"
		keystroke "v"
	end tell
end if

... in short, starts APh and if it is already running brings it to front, then tells APh to open some file and to perform a "v" key press in order to activate the move tool.

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2

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15 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

performed via some auto startup scripting

Keyboard Maestro.
I'm already using a macro that types cmd-, for me to open the Preferences, so that I remember to refresh the Ö and Ä shortcuts in place of [ and ] on each app launch. (Because due to some other bugs, once you've been using the app for a while, some shortcuts cannot be set/changed unless you relaunch the app again…)

aph_km_launch_macro.png.a1c03568063677d3bd07d02e68b614e4.png

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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17 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

... in short, starts APh and if it is already running brings it to front, then tells APh to open some file and to perform a "v" key press in order to activate the move tool.

If 'some file' is not the one the user wanted to work on, then it would be necessary to close it before continuing, right? Also, if that file was moved or deleted, the script would not work, right?

All things considered, I doubt it is worth the effort.

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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This basic KM macro will auto switch to Move tool when you open a document, at least in v1 on El Capitan. Haven't tested in v2:

aph_km_macro_change_tool.png.0bdf518173190c8952a81ed51b682631.png

But there will also be lots of false positives, so you would need to include something against them.

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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8 minutes ago, loukash said:

But there will also be lots of false positives, so you would need to include something against them.

All this seems like a lot of effort for something that could be mitigated by just training oneself to tap the V key on startup of AP....

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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1 hour ago, R C-R said:

If 'some file' is not the one the user wanted to work on, then it would be necessary to close it before continuing, right? Also, if that file was moved or deleted, the script would not work, right?

That was just a quick out of the head sample, of course you could let instead open a file selection box for letting the user choosing one, or let a user pass one as an option when instead initiating the script.

So activate APh, then perform "File Open..." and let the user select one, then switch to "Move tool" ...

set appName to "Affinity Photo"
activate application "Affinity Photo"
if application appName is running then
	tell application id (id of application appName)
		activate
	end tell
	tell application "System Events"
		keystroke "o" using command down
		delay 5
		keystroke "v"
	end tell
end if

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2

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1 hour ago, R C-R said:

Haste makes waste?

It wouldn't if the move tool was still selected. 

When I have the move tool selected and place an image in a document and then immediately try to move it I'm really working faster than it takes to observe the not-asked-for switch to the hand tool. Yes, the cursor is a hand now, but I'm not looking that closely since I was using the move tool before I'm not expecting it to suddenly change to something that is [for me] always less useful.

I just can't see the logic behind the thinking that as soon as you have placed an image you would want the hand tool instead of the move tool you were previously using.

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7 hours ago, AdrianB said:

I just can't see the logic behind the thinking that as soon as you have placed an image you would want the hand tool

Well, I, for one, can.
In 99% of cases I use APh for, the Hand tool is exactly what I want to be there to begin with: Because I have no intention to move any layers around on the canvas. I'll be adding adjustments, and eventually I may crop the image.
My "quarter-educated guess" is that Serif engineers likely assume that it's what the vast majority of users will do when using APh, i.e. basic photo editing. The Hand tool seems like a logical choice here.

So on the opposite:
By having the Hand tool the default, any click or drag on the canvas will be non-destructive.
Whereas if the Move tool were the default, many users would likely complain that they're constantly moving their layers around and have to undo all the time.

You can't please everybody…

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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21 minutes ago, loukash said:

Well, I, for one, can.
In 99% of cases I use APh for, the Hand tool is exactly what I want to be there to begin with: Because I have no intention to move any layers around on the canvas. I'll be adding adjustments, and eventually I may crop the image.
My "quarter-educated guess" is that Serif engineers likely assume that it's what the vast majority of users will do when using APh, i.e. basic photo editing. The Hand tool seems like a logical choice here.

So on the opposite:
By having the Hand tool the default, any click or drag on the canvas will be non-destructive.
Whereas if the Move tool were the default, many users would likely complain that they're constantly moving their layers around and have to undo all the time.

You can't please everybody…

Yes, this also reasonable point of view, however I think that adding an option in settings to choose default tool would be the best solution in this case.
Would be nice if devs have added it to their to-do list ;)

Windows 7 | Intel Xeon E5450 | GeForce GT 730 | 8 GB RAM

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Hi,

Well I can understand that there are users that prefer the hand tool and others the move tool, but in 99% of my cases I go for the move tool and must probably there may be others that prefer some other tool, but I believe this two tools are the most wanted.

Normally is true, that you can´t please everybody, but this feature to set in the preferences the default tool must be easier than any other awesome nice tools that are coded into the software or app. Anyhow I guess I will survive as is. lol.

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2 hours ago, loukash said:

Well, I, for one, can.

Good points and I understand that there are different viewpoints (that's why I added a "for me").

I do often use APh like I would AD (it's part of the magic of the tight integrations between the apps!) and therefore the move tool is often preferable for me.

But even if the hand tool was what I needed I generally don't like the automatic switching, after many years of using the Affinity products I still prefer to have the current tool stick until I change it manually. So a setting for default tool and a setting for turning off automatic switching would be the best solution for me. 

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7 hours ago, loukash said:

Whereas if the Move tool were the default, many users would likely complain that they're constantly moving their layers around and have to undo all the time.

Or be annoyed because when they first opened the file they could not move anything because no layer was selected or moved the wrong one because another layer was selected?

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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