Spacebar Broken

Spacebar refuses to work in Photoshop? Probably not a Photoshop problem...

Jennifer in Hawaii using a MAC 9.2 and Photoshop 6.0

The spacebar decides on it's own accord when to work and not to work while using the type tool. It is very strange - even after reloading the OS - it still continues to just "stop working" from time to time. I have to exit out and restart PS to solve the problem. Any clues?

Never heard of this before.

This sounds more like a font corruption problem than a Photoshop problem.

You might uninstall ALL your fonts down to the bare system fonts and see if the problem appears again, consistently.

If so, then re-install each font, and test, one by one until the problem comes back. That's the nasty font.

The problem could also be caused by 3rd party plug-ins, or special programs running in the background -- like back-up text programs that "watch keystrokes" or spell checkers which always watch. It could also be caused by a macro program like QuicKeys which utilizes keystrokes in macros.

We've seen problems with the page-up, page-down keys, and traced it to a font, or utility, but never the space bar while setting type.

Something is preventing the space bar signal from reaching Photoshop.

Beyond these measures, Shut down, reaffirm that all connections and cables are firmly seated, including any internal cards (like a USB or Firewire card) installed.

Otherwise, a fresh install of Photoshop would be recommended.

Sorry we couldn't be more help.

Comments

[Graham Green]

THE WARP TEXT TOOL TRICK WORKED FOR ME!!!!

THANK YOU TWIST MEDIA.

I love you forever.

Best,

G

[Adam]

I'm having the same problem on my mac. I'm not running Entourage. I tried the brush size switch. Still, the space bar does not work. .... I can open a new document and the space bar will be working... then I'll open an old document and the space bar will not work anymore (in an old or new document)... anybody got any ideas?

[Sven]

This problem has driven me crazy in the past. The advice from Apple was that the MAC account was corrupt, and you need to make a new user account on your MAC. But that is a pain in the arse, it's just like installing everything from scratch, all the settings have to be done again, email, fonts, everything. I had the problem again today, So I just tried the quiting Entourage thing (see comment below from David), and IT WORKED!

[david.]

why not just buy a new spacebar.

[Twistmedia]

I found it was something to do with either MSN Messenger or Entourage after quitting both these and starting photoshop up again I got the space bar back. Phew was getting really worried there for a minute.

Most used shortcut for me is using the spacebar to move the page around...

[psking]

to get the space bar back in gear i find that if i warp my text eg fisheye, bulge etc .. then go back and select none ... the space bar kicks back into normal!

[ps-king]

to get the space bar back in gear i find that if i warp my text eg fisheye, bulge etc .. then go back and select none ... the space bar kicks back into normal!

[Markos722]

This is definately a Photoshop glitch! I have run into this problem on several occasions. One thing I've noticed is that when the space bar stops working, the brush preference toggles from "actual size" to "precise" or vice-versa. I know it seems like B.S. However, I find that if I go into my Photoshop preferences and switch the brush size back... the space bar works again. Don't spend another dime on a new keyboard, try this first.