Sunday 12 February 2012

Adobe Reader X: hand tool as default tool

I've started using Adobe Reader X 3 weeks ago. In the last 10 days, I noticed that I had to choose the hand tool every time I opened a document. I checked Edit > Preferences. But no help. So, a fix has been looked for in the web. Finally, I found it. The following steps should be done in order to select the hand tool as a default one.

1. Run Regedit (the registry editor)

2. Go to key HKEY_USERS\\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\10.0\Selection , where refers to the user you want to change (it will look something like this: S-1-5-21-1030456098-1922302732-3321231120-1000)3. The "Selection" key contains the following values:
"bShowKeyboardSelectionCursor"=dword:00000001
"iColumnSelectHalo"=dword:00000000
"bHandSelects"=dword:00000000
"bImagesFirst"=dword:00000000
"iSnapshotResolution"=dword:00000048
"bUseFixedSnapshotResolution"=dword:00000000
"aDefaultSelect"="Select"

4. Delete all values except for the "aDefaultSelect"

5. Change the data in "aDefaultSelect" from "Select" to "Hand"

6. That's it!

Credits: kpapani from http://acrobatusers.com/forum/general-acrobat-topics/default-text-selection-tool/

There is another fix that claimed to be working in that page too.

Edit > Preferences > Accessibility > Other accessibility options
Clear check boxes of "Always display the keyboard selection cursor".

I could not try it as my check box is already cleared from applying the registry fix. However, it would be a nicer work if we do not have to work with registry.
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14 comments:

  1. Anonymous26 April 2012 at 22:22

    Thanks so much for the in program v registry fix. The following did work for me

    Edit > Preferences > Accessibility > Other accessibility options

    Clear check boxes of "Always display the keyboard selection cursor".

    What a maddening issue!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous2 May 2012 at 11:56

    Thanks it works

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hertz26 May 2012 at 11:28

    I'm glad I could help.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous21 June 2012 at 17:46

    THANK YOU!!! I was going nuts soon using Reader X in my office! Now it is fixed. Used the accessibility options trick.

    ReplyDelete
  5. guygo17 August 2012 at 05:27

    Thank you, finally a solution that works. Amazing how Adobe can't help with this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8 November 2012 at 11:09

    The accessibility trick worked for me too!... thanks...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown15 November 2012 at 06:20

    Good work. Found that the "Always display the keyboard selection cursor" check was the culprit...

    It's amazing that such a simple PDF reader has so many options.
    Surely this could be simplified.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  8. Joove6 March 2013 at 17:55

    registry fix worked only, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous13 April 2013 at 17:14

    Thanks a lot. Disabling "Always display the keyboard selection cursor" option worked for me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous9 June 2013 at 05:37

    thanks, man!! It worked..
    Mine is Adobe Reader version 9 and Windows 7. In the registry, there is no 'Softwares' listed right under HKEY_USERS. So I searched for Adobe Acrobat. Rest was as you said.

    How did you find this out?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Kanamaster2 October 2013 at 18:48

    Thank you VERY MUCH! It also worked for me using Acrobat XI Pro, although I had to find the right place to go in the registry. But the deletion of those entries worked perfectly. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous16 January 2014 at 14:14

    this has been driving me crazy ever since Adobe Reader X - THANK YOU. Works well

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous30 April 2014 at 02:15

    Thanks also!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Unknown2 October 2017 at 01:59

    man, it still works.!
    (after so many years..i know :-D )

    ReplyDelete

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