Hand Tool

The Hand Tool is for moving graphics. It is provided as an alternative to the Arrow Tool. Use this tool to move a graphic or group of graphics after they have been selected by the Arrow Tool or one of the tools on the Selection Tool Palette .

The Hand Tool is used for the sole purpose of moving graphics. The graphics are selected with other tools. The graphics are moved with a click and drag of the mouse. Multiple click and drag sequences is used without fear of changing the makeup of the set of selected graphics. The move process may be repeated until the graphics are in the desired positions.

Another tool must be clicked to finish the use of the hand tool.

The Shift Key can be used to add a graphic to the set of selected graphics. It won't allow deselection of graphics. The Shift Key can't be used to add a graphic that overlaps with the selected set.

The Cmd Key can be used to remove a graphic from the set of selected graphics. Use this to deselect a graphic.

The Option Key can be used to use the Hand Tool for "panning" the drawing. Hold down the Option key then click and drag to reposition the viewing area of the drawing.

There are two main uses for the Hand Tool. It is useful to avoid loosing a particular selection arrangement with an inadvertent mouse click when using the Arrow Tool. It is also useful to avoid modifying graphics with unintentional clicks on a Resizing Handle.

Traditionally a "hand tool" is used for "pan" actions. Many users were confused by the use of this tool for restricted movement of graphics. For this reason the action of this tool was returned to the traditional pan action. This change to the traditional definition was found to be unacceptable by most EazyDraw users. Pan actions are often handled by advanced mouse functions and always may be performed with the scroll tools. While the restricted move action proves to be a valuable productivity tool. For this reason the standard action of the Hand Tool has been returned to the restricted move actions as defined here.