How do I use the Hand Tool as default in Adobe Reader?

Question

I would like to use the Hand Tool as default for all documents in Adobe Reader on Windows.

Currently it opens with the Select Tool. Does anyone know how to change this?

Answer 1

If you select the Hand Tool from menu (Tools / Select and Zoom), Adobe Reader should keep this setting when you open other documents later (tested with Adobe Reader 9).

Answer 2

On Windows, the relevant preference is set in the registry like this: -

• Open the Registry Editor -->

regedit.exe

• Browse to the relevant key -->

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\[version]\Selection

• Edit the appropriate value -->

Change the data of aDefaultSelect to Hand.


PS: I could not make this work for previously opened documents until I restored the default settings for Adobe Reader by deleting the following key -->

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\[version]\

You might not have to take this step.

Answer 3

There is no Tools menu on my version, nor is there any Hand tool under Zoom.

I found the Hand with a right click on the page.

Unfortunately, from the next right-click, I also accidentally hid the toolbars and now I can't find any way of getting them back.

Answer 4

I have Adobe Acrobat Pro DC 2021. The most common method is through Preferences/Accessories/"Uncheck" box saying, "Always display keyboard selection cursor."

This box was already unchecked for me so this is obviously the wrong route for me. I found that if I Right-click my mouse and literally click "Hand Tool", then exit Adobe and reopen it, it now starts with my Hand Tool.

Such a strange random way to make something a 'Default', but that's how it worked for me.

Answer 5

For Adobe Reader DC the default tool is configured in Edit/Preferences.../General (credits):

• Touch Mode Never = Selection Tool is default
• Touch Mode Auto-Detect = Hand Tool is default

If you enable Use single-key accelerators to access tools, the mode can be toggled while pressing Space.

Now it would be super useful if one could bind this toggle e.g. to a HP Tilt Pens' B-Button, but I did not yet sort out whether this is possible.

Answer 6

splattne's solution doesn't work for me, Adobe Reader always switches back to the Select Tool on startup. Following the hints in this thread on adobe.com, I found that the following works on Unix:

– Open ~/.adobe/Acrobat/9.0/Preferences/reader_prefs in a text editor.

– Search for the section beginning with /Selection [/c << and ending with >>].

– Replace the whole section with

/Selection [/c <<   /DefaultSelect [/a /Hand]
>>]

It should also work on other platforms if the corresponding preferences file can be located.

Answer 7

1. Just right click on any part of the document.
2. In the menu select "Hand Tool"
3. Done

Answer 8

Hand tool and selection tool is related to touch mode settings.

When the program detects that the user is using a touch screen then it selects hand tool. so that your hand can be used as usual way. But when it detects that , there is no touch-input / touchscreen connected then it selects selection tool (cursor) for using with mouse.

So you need to set touch mode option to >Always. Thus the program will always presume that the user is in touch mode. And give you the hand tool as default.

To make hand tool default , Go to : Edit > Preferences > General >Touch Mode > Always

Answer 9

Go to Preferences - > Accessibility, uncheck the box "Always display the keybord selection cursor"

Answer 10

the only working solution at this moment is to change option "aDefaultSelect" to "Hand" in registry editor in the branch HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\Selection