The two ways of every gesture
Drag, or click and click
Drag or click
Every drawing tool places points: two for a box or a line, three for an arc or a linear dimension. You place the points in two ways:
- by dragging from one point to the next;
- with a click, then another click where the next point goes.
The second way really matters: between the two clicks you can turn the wheel and pan the view, and it is the only way to snap to a point that was off screen at the start. Points are in drawing coordinates, so zoom and pan do not distort the shape you are making.
Selection handles also accept both ways: once you pick up a handle with a click, the gesture continues until you click again.
Click or drag
For a gesture to become a drag you must move a few pixels: 10 on handles and on path points, 4 from empty space (the selection marquee) and for the Pen tool's direction handles. Below that distance the gesture counts as a click.
SHIFT, a single constraint
Holding ⇧ constrains the gesture, and it works even if you press it after the gesture has started (from the next movement). What it means is up to the tool:
| Gesture | With SHIFT |
|---|---|
| Draw a line, a path | angles at 45° from the first point |
| Rectangle, ellipse, page | square, circle |
| Scale | proportionally |
| Rotate | in increments of Rotation step (15° by default) |
| Move | only horizontally or vertically, and without snapping |
With the constraint on, from the second point the drawing does not snap.
ALT
⌥ changes the gesture in ways that depend on the tool: it grows rectangles and ellipses from the center, duplicates while moving or rotating, scales from the center, and on path points removes or adds. The full list is on the Shortcuts page.