Temporary switch to pan tool with spacebar not working correctly

[ronster08]

Has anyone else experience issues with the temporary activation of the pan tool by pressing the spacebar? I use this shortcut all the time, but it's recently stopped working correctly for me. At present when I try to temporarily activate the pan tool with the spacebar it flickers on briefly and then switches back to whichever tool I originally had selected. I haven't done any software upgrades in the last couple months, and the spacebar/pan tool was working just fine a few days ago. When I activate the pan tool with (H) or by selecting it from the tools palette, it works. I'm working on an iMac with OS 10.11.5 (with 16GB of RAM). I'm using VW2016 SP4. (And I just did a check for updates, and my version is currently up to date.)

 

Thank you for any advice you may be able to offer!

[abt5000]

I've been having the same problem and I just discovered that if I hold down the center scroll button on my mouse it has the same function as holding down the spacebar. This doesn't answer the question as to why spacebar no longer activates the pan tool but if you are using a mouse it is a good alternative.

[zoomer]

On 5.10.2016 at 2:25 AM, ronster08 said:

Has anyone else ....

 

Indeed, Space Bar does no more work as view drag in VW 2017.

[PVA - Admin]

Not able to confirm this here. Shut the machine down, restart it launching ONLY Vectorworks and no other applications, then test the space bar. If it works, open your other commonly used applications like your browser and email clients and see if the spacebar ceases to work after launching any of them in particular.

[zoomer]

You are right, it works.

You just have to click in the view window to activate before using SPACE+Dragging.

 

It will also show then the hand icon again.

[Paul Stapp]

I have also been having this problem, starting only a couple of days ago. Rebooting as per JimW works, but is there a bug fix in the works?

[PVA - Admin]

24 minutes ago, Paul Stapp said:

I have also been having this problem, starting only a couple of days ago. Rebooting as per JimW works, but is there a bug fix in the works?

 

For what OS and what version of Vectorworks? We would have to be able to replicate the cause specifically in order to file a bug.

[Paul Stapp]

Mac OS Sierra 10.12.1, Vectorworks 2017 SP2 (Build 338823)

[PVA - Admin]

What other applications do you have running at the moment? Does it always stop working around the same time or does it seem random? 

 

We used to have an incompatibility with some versions of Office but those were resolved (also Im running 2017 SP2 on macOS Sierra here with 4 office v15 products open and can't reproduce it) 

[Paul Stapp]

This morning I think I just had Safari (10.0.1) and maybe Acrobat Pro DC (2015.020.20042). Yesterday I think I also had Photoshop CC (2017.0) and Illustrator CC (2017) open. I just now re-opened all of those, and the spacebar+mouse works just fine. I don't even have Office on my machine.  

[zoomer]

For me it just needs a Click into VW Window, to re-activate VW after you switched from an other View.

As long as you just activate VW from the Dock, it is just in a sleep state and doesn't react to inputs.

(Maybe only when you use Screen Spaces for your Apps)

 

When VW in an active Mode, SPACEBAR PAN works reliably.

[Paul Stapp]

No, the Vectorworks window was definitely active. All the other keyboard and mouse commands (or at least the ones I regularly use) worked perfectly, just not the spacebar pan.

[zoomer]

Still SPACEBAR or middle Mouse Button work fine here for me.

 

But the last half year I often read on forums, no matter what software, that people suddenly

miss things like their ALT key or other important short cuts do not work for any reasons in

one single App, while everywhere else there is no problem.

[Peter King]

Had the same problem (spacebar-pan ceasing to work suddenly) this morning after always working fine. I also had Safari running and prompted by one of the ideas above, I quit Safari. That did the trick! The spacebar-pan shortcut was working fine again. Rebooted Safari and spacebar-pan still working fine so looks like it's possible that something in Safari scuppers that invaluable shortcut at random?

[atelierva]

Agreed, frequently use key combination, especially so when magnified and dropping points/objects. Having the same issue with spacebar pan tool activation when other applications running. A restart, followed by only running VW temporarily solves issue on Mac OS 10.13.6 (17G9016). VW may also want to look into issues with files properly displaying/rendering sheet and design layer information following the opening of a file using file menu and navigating to file. Appears to not happen when opening file directly from finder

Edited November 14, 2019 by atelierva

[Tony Oliveira]

I use MAC, I just close Safari and it works!

[Falcon76]

I have been having the same issue in Photoshop. I couldn't use the spacebar to pan around the screen. In this case, once pressed it should change into a hand icon and then be able to be used for panning.  I have just discovered that if you  click twice (the track pad in my case or for you, maybe the mouse) and then hold the spacebar along with the 'fn' button, the spacebar works as desired! I wonder if this would work for you too in other programs.

[Tony Oliveira]

Good afternoon. It didn't happen again! regards

[Susanna100]

I'm having the same problem. I've tried some of the techniques above but nothing is working. Its so frustrating, I was using the space bar for the Hand Pan tool all the time before, but now I can't. I've recently got a new MacBook Pro and I'm working on shared files. I'm on the latest Mac OS system (Version 10.15.7) I'm not sure if the combination of these two is having an affect using the spacebar for Hand Pan tool. It flickers on briefly but goes away. It's driving me crazy!! 

[joerg]

i am having the same problem since today newest VW newest MacOS ....kills me it's like taking off a key from a piano....! any tricks lately?

 

Bthw wheelclick on a logitech mouse is working...

[LenLindhout]

Also having the same problem.
Pan tool not working with space bar.

Have tried restarting machine and only start VW. This doesn't solve the problem.

VW - 2021 SP4 (B602791) 64bit

MacOS - 11.5 Big Sur

[hollister design Studio]

I've pretty much stopped using the space bar in favor of MMB.

The MMB works quickly, is on your input device, and ends up being a bit more intuitive.

I use a Wacom and having "pan" on the pen seems right, but I occasionally also use a mouse and MMB.

It also doesn't compete with smart options display...

 

[zoomer]

I have my Wacom Pen set to

Nib = LMB

Button1 = RMB

Button2 = MMB

 

No problem with panning.

Just Zoom (about cursor) is terrible.

As a Workaround I usually place my old Space Navigator on the bezel of my Cintiq.

Not as good as a real on the fly Zoom about cursor Shortcut, like in Modo or C4D.