Adobe Illustrator Keyboard Shortcuts Not Working
Pricilla Igoe
The way to test: Restart your computer, if possible disabling any startup applications. Open Illustrator FIRST. See if you still have the problem. If not, then slowly open new programs to see which one is "capturing keystrokes."
Thanks all. I have managed to resolve the issue. I'm not entirely sure what worked or why it worked, but I restarted, installed an older version of Illustrator, restarted, installed an even older version of Illustrator, restarted then installed the latest version again and it then seemed to fix the issue. It was only during the last step that it seemed to work.
I figured out what the problem was. I have an alternate Spanish keyboard installed on my Macbook Pro and one of the Illustrator shortcuts I was using was toggling to the Spanish keyboard and messing up the Illustrator shortcuts. I had to uninstall the Spanish keyboard because I don't know how to turn off the toggling shortcut in the Mac preferences. Maybe someone else does?
Thanks for reaching out. In addition to what Monika and Steve has suggested correctly, I'd recommend creating a new user account and see if the shortcuts are working there. Then you can check which additional programs or apps you are running on your user account.
You may follow the links below to get help:
1. For Windows: -in/help/4026923/windows-10-create-a-local-user-or-administrator-acc...
I just had this happen to me today. I'm running Illustrator 2021 v 25.4.1 on my MacBook Pro. I opened up my computer this morning after being away for the weekend, and Illustrator had signed me out and required me to sign back into my Adobe account. After signing back in, I checked on my Adobe Creative Cloud App, and saw an update available for Illustrator 2020 that I also have installed, updating it to v 24.3.1. I closed down Illustrator 2021 (just in case that would interfere with the update), ran that 2020 update, and then opened 2021 again, discovering that all tool keyboard shortcuts weren't working anymore. Restarting Illustrator did no good. Restarting my MacBook did no good.
Here's how I solved the issue: I tried opening up the 2020 version while the 2021 version was still open. The shortcuts seemed okay in 2020. I then tried working in 2021, and now the shortcuts were working there too! I closed 2020, and the shortcuts continued to function properly in 2021. All seems well now. No idea what that was all about, but at least I didn't have to uninstall anything, trash my preferences, or anything inconvenient like that!
Without any actual system info nobody can tell you much. The most common culprits for this are background apps that use system-wide hotkeys (instant messengers, screenshot tools etc.) or custom input devices and their drivers. As a start, check that.
On UK keyboards the ' symbol (single quote) is located on the same key as the @ sign but is the "lower" symbol of the two so doesn't require Shift/Ctrl/Alt to invoke - this would therefore make more sense. I tried ' in place of " in the above shortcuts (to check for Windows or Adobe keyboard "locale" issues, or just poor keyboard shortcut/mapping programming in Illustrator) but that didn't work either.
I'm going to try that next, although it doesn't change the fact that something is definitely amiss if the default ones aren't working correctly (again, this may prove not to be Illustrator's fault, but I suspect it is).
Most applications don't have locale-specific preferences/settings because they use the underlying ones from the operating system. I could only find one specific one in Illustrator which is Preferences > Hyphenation > Default Language, and mine is set to English: UK.
I also have the same problem, specifically with Hide Grid and Snap to Grid. Haven't tried Snap to Point but assume it's the same. Seems like a bug to me! I can change the shortcuts with the shortcut editor, and the shortcut editor picks up the key combination I'm pressing (so it's definitely not getting blocked by a background app), but whatever I change them to it does nothing at all. It's a bug yo :bug:
Was starting to think about pulling hair out, and then looked up "keyboard shortcuts not working in Adobe". problem solved!!! It WAS background app related. Worked the moment I closed out the other applications. (I was working in InDesign)
Hi all. Since updating to the latest version 21.1.331, my keyboard shortcuts keep dropping out. The only way I can get them to work again is to either quit SketchUp or close and reopen the current model I am working on. This happens when I go into another program (Photoshop for example) and then back into SketchUp. So, somehow, leaving SketchUp to use another program and back into SketcUp is dropping the keyboard shortcuts. Does anyone have a fix for this please?
Thank you all.
I had that problem yesterday. Not sure what brought it on, but going into Preferences, Shortcuts, and using the Reset button, fixed things. You would then need to reenter any custom shortcuts you had set up before.
It is odd how shortcuts are deleting. It appears to be the ones I have more recently added that last a few sessions and then disappear. I had not added a shortcut in years but recently did and experienced this.
There used to be a way to go directly in the default.txt text file that codes the keyboard shortcuts and to force Cmd+Numpad keys to do other stuff than paragraph or character styles (mainly for Fit page in Window), but I can't find the article back :( I'll need to dig through my old CPU.
Hi, same problem. On MacOS Catalina, keyboard with a numeric keypad, French keyboard. Regarding shortcuts in Photoshop -> everything OK. CMD 1 brings the image at 100% (using the "1" from the numeric keypad). BUT it doesn't work with InDesign...
Do you have num lock turned off? I use a Mac keyboard on my PC and thus have no light for it and sometimes when using the calculator I mistakenly press the "Clear" button like I would on a mac (for "AC" on the calculator) and this of course turns num lock off on a PC. Mine is a strange scenario with the non-standard setup but thought I'd mention it, as I've had the same issue with shortcut keys not working and gone to all sorts of troubleshooting lengths before realising with an eye roll what I'd done! But as it works in Illustrator and Photoshop it may be something else.
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In a commercial printing enviornment, it is imperative to be productive and to work quickly getting jobs from entry to completion. One way that can help speed up production in Electronic Prepress is knowing the applications you work with. Using keyboard shortcuts for repetitive actions saves time from having to search the multitudes of panels within the application to find the right tool.
These are the default keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator, but you can always change the key by going to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts and choosing your own key. If you want to revert back to the default settings, choose the Illustrator Defaults in the set drop down menu.
Eyedropper Use the eyedropper when you want to duplicate the look and style of shapes and graphics. Select the item you want to modify, then choose the eyedropper and click on a previously made shape. This will copy the style of the previously made item. You can also do the same with text.
Graphics Styles If you have an object that you are using the eyedropper to copy the style of and applying to other objects over and over, create a graphic style and save some time. Open the Graphic Styles panel by going to Window > Graphic Styles. Once open, select the object you want to copy the style of and drag it into the Graphic Styles window. To apply the style, select an unstyled object and click the desired style in the Graphic Styles window.
Copy and Paste Working with Illustrator and Photoshop is easy with the newest versions of the applications. Instead of saving your art from Illustrator then opening in Photoshop, just copy your art to the clipboard and paste into Photoshop. When doing this, you have a few options: Paste as smart object (this is the best option as it allows you to reduce and enlarge without losing the clarity of the object); Pixels (this will place your object as a rasterized layer and is not good for scaling); Paths (will paste as an editable path in the paths layer); and Shape Layer.
Select Same Many times we will receive a logo or support file that should be in spot color but the client has missed a few vectors or the file is in RGB color mode. Using Illustrator, it is very easy to convert the vectors into spot colors even if there are many shapes with different colors. If the object is grouped, use the Direct Selection Tool (A) and select a color to change. Once selected, choose Object > Same > Fill color (or stroke). This will select every instance where the selected color is applied. Now you can assign a spot PMS color. Repeat as necessary.
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