Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Use that scroll wheel!

Anyone using creative applications on either a Macintosh or Windows computer should be using a two button mouse with a scroll wheel. The scroll wheel allows you to scroll horizontally and vertically as well as zoom in and out in most applications. Modifier keys for the scroll wheel were inconsistent in CS2 applications, and made more consistent in CS3. See the tables below for a summary of modifier keys for Macintosh and Windows.

Using a wheel mouse in Macintosh design applications

Scroll vertically Scroll horizontally Zoom
InDesign CS2 wheel only shift or option command
Illustrator CS2 wheel only command not available
Photoshop CS2 wheel only command option
Bridge CS2 wheel only not applicable control (resizes thumbnails)*
InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop CS3 wheel only command option
Bridge CS3 wheel only not applicable control (resizes thumbnails), or wheel only (when viewing a preview with the loupe)*
Acrobat 7-9 wheel only not available option
* in order to use the control key plus the mouse wheel, the Mac "Keyboard & Mouse" System Preference for "Zoom using Scroll Wheel..." must be turned off

 

Using a wheel mouse in Windows design applications

Scroll vertically Scroll horizontally Zoom
InDesign CS2 wheel only alt ctrl
Illustrator CS2 wheel only ctrl alt
Photoshop CS2 wheel only ctrl alt
Bridge CS2 wheel only not applicable ctrl (resizes thumbnails)
InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop CS3 wheel only ctrl alt
Bridge CS3 wheel only not applicable ctrl (resizes thumbnails), or wheel only (when viewing a preview with the loupe)
Acrobat 7-9 wheel only not available ctrl

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweet trick! I always hated that I couldn't scroll left to right in Illustrator. Thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, absolutely awesome. I have been working in 3D CAD programs for while and learning similar techniques in Illustrator has been a task to say the least. Thanks!