Running Excel at same time as CS2 is screwing up key commands

[stockwelldesign]

I currently keep track of time spent on freelance projects, etc., in Excel (and need it for other business tasks) so I often have it open. I'm working on an iBook G4 with OSX 10.3.9 and Creative Suite 2. I've narrowed down the problems I'm having in CS2 to only happening when I have Excel running... Now for the problem!

I seem to lose use of one key command in InDesign when Excel is running -- I lose the ability to momentarily use the 'hand tool' by pressing the spacebar while using the selection or direct selection tool. In order to get it back, I have to reboot the machine (and obviously NOT start up Excel).

If I have Illustrator CS2 and Excel running, I can't use the spacebar to scroll around the page (same is in InDesign) as well as losing the abilty to move an object keeping either the x or y coordinate by pressing shift, I can't make a copy of an object by pressing option... it seems much worse in Illustrator, but I use InDesign more, so I am more concerned with figuring this out!

 

[jmgalvin]

Some people have had problems with keyboard shortcuts - particularly teh hand tool - when running various apps but there does not seem to be any consistancy. You can try downloading the most recent updates for both CS and Office apps. Of course you can also try trashing prefs for excel and/or INDD and AI to see if that helps.

I have the CS1 apps and don't have your problem on my machines. I have Excel X service release 1. You can check the About Excel on the Excel menu to see what you have.

Some people have reported the problem being fixed by leaving the machine on rather than shutting down of sleeping. You could try that.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4