Arrows don't move selected item, they move my view to another position on the layer

[justinekwood]

I am a student working on Vectorworks 2017.  I was working on a file in vectorworks 2016 and have opened it and am now working in Vectorworks 2017 on Mac.  If I select any item - text, shape etc - and try to move it using the arrow buttons on the keywboard, it doesn't move the selected item, it throws my view in that direction.  As far as I can tell the item is still selected.  The view changes in the direction of the arrow.

[PVA - Admin]

Correct, to move an item you would hold down Shift in conjunction with the arrow keys to move an object, this is called "Nudge." If you use the arrow keys on their own, it will pan your view up/down/left/right.

[Gadzooks]

@justinekwoodIf you want to nudge with just the arrows, there's a little more to it.

 

Nudge has user defined options you can access from Tools>Options>Vectorworks Preferences...

 

 

Just switch the arrow key options to suit your preference. For example just arrow for Nudge objects can be chosen (as above).

 

I would guess you were previously using a copy of 2016 that another user had set to their preferred default and (having got used to that) you expected the (as it turns out - default) 2017 to respond in the same way.

 

Vectorworks is great in that you can 'make it your own', but using in a multi-seat environment (which I'm guessing you may well be in) can sometimes come-back-at-yer when others have set options you are unaware of.

 

..................................On the other hand, now you know what options are available, you might like a bit of shift-arrow.

 

All the best.