The hand or pointer cursor gets selected and the user cannot select any other tool. It is a very weird problem with Fireworks versions (Macromedia 8, Adobe CS2, CS3, CS4 and CS5).
It has happened in my laptop running Windows XP Professional SP3 first with Fireworks CS3, then opened Fireworks 8 and still the same, also happened in a Mac OSX with Fireworks CS5. Other people have also experienced this issue, here you can find an open thread in Adobe forums talking about this same error and another one in Layers Magazine, similar but with Adobe Illustrator CS2.
The solution is to select the tool and press the Spacebar key (thanks Angela). If that doesn’t work, minimize and maximize the window or try pressing Alt key and clicking on a tool, then with Shift key and press some tools, then minimize and maximize again. You can also try restarting the computer or the application but you should not delete your preferences since it seems not to work.
If the suggested solutions don’t work and you still get the bug, try selecting the Text tool (T shortcut key) and create a text box. Thanks Olaf for this solution :-)
Vista users: Another solution if the hand keeps coming up is to try to minimize Fireworks and then go to another application such as Firefox. Thanks John!
Vista users: Go to File > Preview in Browser > Preview in firefox.exe. Thanks Mike!
32 comments
lunadude says:
Wow, good suggestion. I did the minimize/maximize trick, and viola!
This has been plaguing me for the last few months, in both Fireworks 8 and Photoshop CS. WTF? Never had the problem before. Guess some software patch (OS, driver, or application) “fixed” something, and broke something else.
Thanks!
frdrcklim says:
Hello, I have the same problem and I think I was able to turn it back to normal when I press the space bar since it’s the shortcut key of the hand tool.
thank you says:
hi! i was just about to throw the laptop outside the window when i read your suggestion. thanks!
Phil says:
Thanks too !
Alex says:
10x
Christian Scholz-Flöter says:
Wow, thanks a lot for sharing this information. I had my axe sharpened and was going to do something stupid, when a thought struck me: “Ask auntie Google when in times of trouble” and she did not disappoint me :)
brian says:
xoxoxoxoxox
Olaf says:
Thank you.
Olaf says:
I got the error again and this time it did not fix it self with the minimize/maximize trick, but I found this post on the adobe forum, which says that you should use the text tool (T) and that worked.
http://forums.adobe.com/message/1277696#1277696
LuckyShot Author says:
Hooray!
The hand error appeared again and I created a text box and it solved the problem.
Thank you Olaf!
Mads says:
THANK YOU! The text tool did the trick for me. This has been bugging me for ages! Thank you
John says:
I’m running Fireworks CS3 on Vista. I found that simply minimizing the window doesn’t work, but going into another application (such as Firefox) fixes it. Quite strange.
LuckyShot Author says:
Maybe that works too for XP users, when the error happens again I’ll try.
Post updated. Thank you John! :-)
Mike says:
I am using Vista and this has happened to me several times. Usually minimize/maximize got it to work again, but not today. I tried everything listed here and nothing go it to work.
So I played around with some other things and I found another solution.
Go to File > Preview in Browser > Preview in firefox.exe
That did the trick :)
LuckyShot Author says:
Thank you Mike! I’ll add it to the list
Angela says:
I just choose the tool and press spacebar, works everytime. :D
andrew says:
spacebar guy = LEGEND. Thank you so much.
christian says:
THANKS for the solution: “selecting the Text tool (T shortcut key)”
It works!!! :)
IamShipon1988 says:
This problem still exists in Fireworks CS4. I had this problem for an hour. I closed the program and re-started it, but nothing happened. And then all of a sudden when I changed screen from Fireworks to Firefox, it started working again. Very strange.
Guillermo Luy says:
Hey, sometimes happens that this tool activates single and we must to minimize and maximize the fw,
but is actually a tool that blocks the canvas to avoid disappointment, I think that is good. Regards!
gulyas says:
Oh, thank you, thank you for the solution! It’s so easy and unlogical, but it’s working :)
Alrud says:
The windows minimize-maximize works perfect thanks for the tip
Stankiewicz says:
Thank you, I was going crazy.
Rod says:
Thank You!! it saved me a whole hour at the very least
stoke says:
Thanks for this info, help me a lot!!! XD
Sue says:
Iv had my photoshop stuck like this for weeks, no matter how many times i rebooted the computer nothing changed. Pressing the ALT key and clicking on a tool did the trick! Thank You!xxx
Clint says:
Thanks so much… saved me a lot of stress…
Sverri says:
CS4 on WinXP confirmed. Minimizing and then maximizing the window makes it go away.
rupert says:
thanks man
ÅŸiÅŸme bebek says:
spacebar guy = LEGEND. Thank you so much
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Jimmy Mejia says:
Here is hhat I did to solve this same issue:
1- Right click over Adobe FireworksCS3 exxutable
2-Click on properties
3- Click on Compatibility tab
4- Click “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings”
5- Apply , and OK
That’s it.