Direct selection tool - how not to move the form/path?

This thing keeps me working my stress ball: when I touch a path with the white arrow I am always first in a mode where the path can be moved. But I want to move a nod or handle - is there a place where I can set this tool to never move or or to never select the whole path? I have the normal selection tool for that! I think I oversee something. Thank you!

orangestuff,
Whichever way it works in each version should be consistent. If not, it may be time for a preference corruption removal, see the hint Move the folder here: http://www.bugge.com/Family-and-friends/Illy/illy.html
This may be a reversible test to see whether you are forced to use older ways in newer versions.

Similar Messages

  • Direct Selection Tool Will Not Scale

    For some reason my direct selection tool will not scale or stretch any vector or raster imgaes - CS5.  I can only grab a corner and simply move the art.  Does anyone have a fix for this?  Maybe I hit some quick command keys and did not know it?

    The Direct Selection Tool (the white arrow, shortcut "a") has never had that capability. All it's ever done is select and move points. You need to use the Selection Tool (the black arrow, shortcut "v") to do those things.  If you want to scale, stretch, etc...  a sub-selection of an object, you can make your selection with the white arrow and then use the transform tool (shortcut "e") to modify what you selected.

  • Direct Selection Tool will not choose individual "path" anchor points

    Photohsop CS4, 11.0.1
    Mac OSX 10.4.11, MacPro, Dual-Core Intel Xeon, 2.66 GHz, 9GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT-256 MB VRAM, 500GB Startup HD, 500GB HD (wlhere file resides and scratch disk), OpenGL enabled
    I am unable to select individual anchor points and line segments of a path, although the anchor points appear to be individually highlighted, copying them copies the entire path, not just the selected points, and deleting them deletes the entire path, not just the selected points. In effect the "hollow arrow" direct selection tool is working like the "solid arrow path selection" tool.
    I ran Disk Warrior, repaired disk permissions. I deleted old preferences by renaming file with Photoshop closed, and then restarted photoshop.
    After calling Adobe Tech Support, they are recommending I reinstall the entire CS4 suite, which I am hesitant to do. At the least I will lose all of my menu preferences in all programs. Should I just follow their advice and reinstall CS4?
    Thanks.

    When you click on it with path selection tool (black arrow) which option is enabled in options bar at top - add, subtract, intersect, or exclude?
    Can you combine paths?
    Have you tried drawing a new path and selecting points on it?
    Can you still add and subtract points?
    Edit: Can you pull on the bezier handles?
    Edit: is it a vector mask or a standalone path?
    I'm trying to simulate your problem – in the meantime I'm brainstorming, not sure how else to help. It seems like something restarting the program would fix.
    What about quitting the app. Then going to User: Library: Prefs: Adobe Photoshop CS4 paths, trash it then restart?
    Message was edited by: Printer_Rick: Added Edit: Can you pull on the bezier handles?

  • Hi. I can not use "direct selection tool".

    Hi. I can not use "direct selection tools". When i click the direct selection tool, mouse like on image.
    I use illustrator cs 6

    Thanks Monika, i am noob

  • Arrow keys with direct select tool problem

    Hi list,
    I hope somebody can help me. I just switched from MX to CS3.
    Now selecting an anchor with the direct select tool and
    moving it with
    the arrow keys moves it 30 Steps at once (Using normal select
    tool works
    as usual). Strangely enough I have to undo 30 Times for one
    time hitting
    the arrow key.
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    this?
    thanks in advance
    oe

    Your frustration is understandable. Anchor point selection is unforgiving in InDesign, especially when compared to Illustrator with Smart Guides, although I wouldn't call it "broken."
    I suspect most InDesign users don't do enough "path editing" on their InDesign pages for there to be an outcry over this.
    Pablo28282 wrote:
    It shouldn't be able to select and move an image. That is not the point of the tool.
    That's always been a function of the Direct Select tool. Simply, if you're aiming for an anchor point and select the frame's content instead, you've missed the point. <rimshot>
    There's nothing broken, and no advice to offer, other than zoom in further, slow down, and keep an eye on the pointer cues which change when the pointer is over an anchor point. I suppose it's also possible you could make adjustments to your mouse/input device settings that might help you move and click more precisely.

  • CS2 - Can't select points with direct selection tool

    Noramlly in CS5 and any other version of Photoshop or Illustrator that I know of, if you click a point in an object, it will show the handles for transforming the line. As I'm creating something today, it works for a while and then stops. Yesterday I had the same problem. I drew a few things and then suddenly, the Direct Select Tool is not showing any transform handles.
    I can get them to show if I can click and drag a box over the point, but this is slow and doesn't work well for layered art. I already tried resetting my illustrator preferences. Any other ideas?
    EDIT: Also, in CS5 there's a simple icon that you can click to convert the currently selected point from a curved point to an angled point. Is there not such a thing in CS2?
    I ask because at work I only have access to CS2.

    Gregor,
    Sometimes Illy gets distracted an confused when others start intruding. The usual suspects are listen in Item 7 in Other options .
    You did get rid of the preferences while Illy was alseep, no?

  • Direct Selection Tool

    with practice over the last week, I've gotten pretty good at using the pen tool to make selections…
    I was wondering, when I go to use the direct selection tool to refine my curves…
    The pointers sometimes get in the way when I'm trying to be as precise as possible when I want to refine my curves…
    Is there a shortcut key that I could press to hide the pointers while I am trying to place my curves?

    I'm a quadriplegic, taking screenshots would take forever. :-)
    I don't have Camtasia, sorry for the low quality video & even lower quality picture I was working on.
    But, you can clearly see my anchor points & direction lines.
    The screen recorder was taking priority over my laptop, so… I wasn't able to use the on-screen keyboard like I wanted to.
    That's neither here nor there, but… That is the reason why it is on the screen though.
    you will see when I switch to the direct selection tool & grab one of the handlebars and move it around. When I go to the handlebars back, is when the pointer kind of gets in the way in where I would like to place my final positioning.
    I was wondering if there was a keyboard shortcut that I could press to hide the pointer so I could make a more precise positioning of my curve.
    Thank you in advance

  • How do I constrain anchor angle when I tug on a path with the direct select tool?

    How do I constrain anchor angle when I tug on a path with the direct select tool like it did in every version of Illustrator since 1988? New behavior is costing me time.

    That solves it!
    I was not able to find this in the online materials about the pen tool.  In fact, Illustrator Help | Adjust path segments does not show the new functionality at all.  They need to update that article.
    Better way to implement the new functionality
    It would have been nice if Adobe added to the chording controls for the direct select tool the ability to toggle this setting temporarily by holding down the space bar after mouse down to drag a segment.
    Before mouse down this would give the user the hand tool.
    If, after mouse down, I could hold space bar and have the behavior switch from the historical capability where dragging a segment cannot change adjacent segments to the new behavior where dragging the segment cannot move anchors but can rotate them, I am sure I would find times when the tool saved time. If, before mouse up, I release spacebar, turn the constraint back on with anchors pointing in their new directions and allow me to stretch the curve protecting the new shapes of adjacent curves.
    Using space bar for this would be intuitive to me because holding down the space bar is something I already do to organically drag the page around with the hand tool. The new tool allows me to more organically stretch artwork around, something that is distantly analogous, but close enough to remember.
    For long time Illustrator users, the chording features holding Ctrl/Alt/Shift/Space or Ctrl/Command/Shift/Space in different combinations while using the direct select tool and pen tool is the killer app part of Illustrator that keeps us using it. This what we did on Illustrator 88 on a Mac Plus in 1988 and is still the most productive way to produce vector art when precision is required.

  • How do i get my direct selection tool to work properly?

    using adobe cc 2014 and all of a sudden the space bar does not turn the direct selection tool into the hand to drag a pasteboard.
    it seems universal across the above programs
    amazing how such a little thing kills productivity

    spooney,
    As I (mis)understand the issue, you may try the list.
    The following is a general list of things you may try when the issue is not in a specific file, and when it is not caused by issues with opening a file from external media. You may have tried/done some of them already; 1) and 2) are the easy ones for temporary strangenesses, and 3) and 4) are specifically aimed at possibly corrupt preferences); 5) is a list in itself, and 6) is the last resort.
    If possible/applicable, you should save current artwork first, of course.
    1) Close down Illy and open again;
    2) Restart the computer (you may do that up to at least 5 times);
    3) Close down Illy and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (easy but irreversible);
    4) Move the folder (follow the link with that name) with Illy closed (more tedious but also more thorough and reversible), for CS3 - CC you may find the folder here:
    https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/preference-file-location-illustrator.html
    5) Look through and try out the relevant among the Other options (follow the link with that name, Item 7) is a list of usual suspects among other applications that may disturb and confuse Illy, Item 15) applies to CC, CS6, and maybe CS5);
    Even more seriously, you may:
    6) Uninstall (ticking the box to delete the preferences), run the Cleaner Tool (if you have CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6/CC), and reinstall.
    http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

  • How do I turn off preview of hidden areas when dragging an image in frame with Direct Select Tool?

    CS5, Not sure how to word this...
    In previous version of ID, if I had a graphic in a frame, I could drag the image around inside that frame with the Direct Selection Tool.  I can still do this with CS5 but it seems to want to show the entire image in a ghosting way that is outside of the frame.  Is there a way to turn this preview type look off like it was in previous versions?  I feel like its slowing my computer down bigtime because I am dealing with a large image.  Everytime I click to drag it, everything slows to a crawl and unusable.

    Go to the Prefernces and set Live Screen Drawing to Delayed.

  • Direct select tool in illustrator CC not working

    I think i might of, at some point, hit a shortcut key by mistake that has rendered my direct select tool duff. But after a lot of search and going through options i can't figure out what's going on.
    If i select the direct select tool (A), click on my expanded stroke split into dashed lines. Usually i'd be able to use direct select to target each dash, but instead now nothing gets select when i use my direct select. Nothing at all. It's bugging the hell outta me as it's effecting my workflow. Is this a bug, or an option that's been switched on/off?

    Doidge,
    Is the Direct Selection Tool working normally for other tasks?
    If it is, there must be something strange about the former dashes. You may have a closer look at them in the Layers palette.
    If not, there may be preference corruption. You may press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during restart of Illy, or Move the folder (follow the link with that name); the latter is reversible.

  • Gradients gets cropped with the Direct selection tool

    I discovered another strange thing with gradients in InDesign.
    I could see this problem in both CS6 and CC.
    1. Make a gradient fill and apply it to a square object
    2. Use the Direct selection tool and select two corners
    3. Move the corners and you will see the gradient fill being cropped away
    4. Change to the Selection tool and make the object wider. It does not reveal any more colors. They are cropped away for good now.
    According to the color palettes this is still a gradient fill but it looks like one color now more or less. I couldn't find any way to release the cropping. I suppose it would have to be reveresed with the Direct selection tool.
    The gradients in Illustrator stay inside the object when using the Direct selection so both selection tools works the same way. I also tried with vector objects in Photoshop and the gradient fill effect. Both selection tools in Photoshop works the same way as Illustrator. Gradient stays inside the object.
    So is it a bug or feature?

    Adobe has provided a very large tool box. Why not just do this in
    Illustrator and place or copy/paste the frame. You obviously don't like
    InDesign's way of doing things and you have at your disposal a tool that
    does work the way you like.
    I like InDesigns way of doing things very much. It's easily my all time favorite software after 25 years in this business.
    And I can understand different behavior between the Adobe apps. This app can only do a little bit of what the other app can do.
    But it don't like when three apps have the exact same tools, and one app is programmed to do something else with these tools, when it just as easily could have been programmed to do the same thing.

  • Direct selection tool not working

    Im trying to use the direct selection tool, but instead of moving objects its only moving anchor points.. how can i fix this? it doesn't usually happen!! Im using illustrator CS6
    THANKS!!!

    godcoma,
    I believe the (normal  black arrow) Selection Tool is what you are after here.
    If you ClickDrag an Anchor Point of an unselected object with the Direct Selection Tool, only that Anchor Point will be dragged along. If the whole object is selected, the whole object will be dragged along. You may select the whole object in the Layers palette if that is what you wish.

  • Direct selection tool not showing anchors illustrator CS3, Mac 10.5.8, MBP 2.6 GHz

    With the direct selection tool (white arrrow) moving over an anchor they show up, but even if the anchor is selected the anchor blue box disappears as soon as the mouse moves away, so its impossible to select a handle.  I can still move an anchor, but its hard to select two anchors to joint the paths etc., sort of like driving blind.  If I click on a path, then hold down the command key, the hollow box anchors show up and the cursor changes into the selection tool.  The hollow boxes show up on selecting using the selection tool (black arrow).  I am pretty direct selection tool was working correctly last week (am an occasional user).
    I've know the difference between the select tool, direct selection tool, and group selection tool.   I think this happened a year ago and deleting a preference file helped.  I, quit illustrator,  deleted "com.adobe.illustrator.plist" in my user library, and tried again.  that didn't help.

    Adobe Camera Raw

  • Please fix the direct selection tool that you broke

    When you create a curved path with at least four anchor points that is not a complete circuit, clicking on that path with the direct selection tool only selects a portion of the path, whereas before, it would select the entire path. This odd new behavior, whether intentional or not, is a result of the new Path Segment Reshaping functionality.
    The problem is, it is very annoying to have only a portion of the path selected because it makes it look like the path is non-contiguous. (Selecting with the regular selection tool isn’t necessarily a solution if your paths are grouped, since it will always select the entire group, and not just the one path you’re interested in.)
    This does not happen with closed paths, and it does not impede the Path Segment Reshaping functionality at all. Therefore, there is no reason why open paths shouldn’t/couldn’t behave the same way — the way they previously did before this update.

    Thanks for thoroughly explaining the problem. I can reproduce the issue. I blamed it on improper screen redraw. I've noticed other screen redraw issues in 17.1.

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