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Rotate dialogue box is now painfully inefficient (CC2019)

Rotate and Scale functions used to work the same, where you could press R+Enter or S+Enter to bring up their respective dialogue boxes, type in a number, and hit Enter. Very fast, very efficient. Now when you call up the Rotate dialogue box, the focus is on this manual angle widget instead of the numeric field. And should you try to use Tab to change the focus to that field you have to hit it 5x.

This used to be extremely efficient, which was great since it's not uncommon to use this feature hundreds of times in a day. It meant that, regardless of where your cursor was, you could quickly and precisely make these changes - with either a known angle or your closest guess and then close in using arrow keys or Shift+arrow keys.

Now performing this same common task means I have three far less efficient options:
1) Always have my Transform palette open and poke a value in there each time (that means having to always click on a specific part of the UI for the second most common transform function).
2)Double-click the Rotate tool in the toolbar, then double-click the numeric field, then use the keyboard to enter/adjust my values (hunting down two specific things to click on in sequence before I can enter my angle value. Hooray!)
3)Hit R+Enter (keyboard), then double-click in the numeric field (mouse), then enter/adjust my angle value (keyboard). There's no way that can possibly sound efficient.

Been using Illustrator for over 20 years. Still love it. Use it almost every day. I'm really hoping this was just an oversight in this latest version. If there is a more efficient way to make these changes in CC2019, I'm all ears. If not, this change stinks.

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David Planthold shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
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Completed (Comments Open)  ·  Ashutosh Chaturvedi responded  · 

We have the fix available in the latest release. Please update Illustrator using Adobe Creative Cloud application to the latest build for version Illustrator CC 23.0.2
Please refer to our knowledge base FAQ – https://illustrator.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/1844590 if you face difficulty in update.
Or get in touch with us at any of the other support channels – https://helpx.adobe.com/support.html

Warm Regards,
Ashutosh Chaturvedi | Sr. Quality Engineering Manager – Illustrator
Adobe. Make It an Experience.

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  • Michael Reilly commented  ·   ·  Report

    It's definitely a bug. As someone said, shift-tab should get you there, but that takes you to OK. If you then tab back, it highlights the field and the rotate icon both. I think that is the intended operation, for both to be treated as one element, but the initial focus doesn't do this. Very frustrating! I'm disappointed to see this was reported long ago and is still unfixed.

  • Michael Reilly commented  ·   ·  Report

    If I select the rotate tool, have an object selected, and hit enter to bring up the dialog box, the rotate icon has the default focus, and the tab order from there means it's 5 steps to the text field to enter a value. In CS2018 and prior, I could immediately enter a rotation value. When I try shift-tab which should take me there, I'm taken to OK button and when I tab back, it highlights the angle and the icon. So I interpret that as a bug.

  • Alex commented  ·   ·  Report

    The developers defaulted the form focus onto the rotate icon next to the text input field, so that it is supposed to be used by default with the mouse or whatever other touch input they had in mind. Pardon my insolence, doesn't the free transform tool provide a more interactive experience for this operation??? The main benefits of having popups is to a) type exact values and b) automate the work process. This issue seems to be "minor" on their priorities' list for fixes, judging by the fact that it has been almost a month since the first time the bug was reported. Agree with everyone here - don't let this kind of omissions slip through into release versions, testing with professional users is due. Or, seriously, things like ungrouping objects using the keyboard shortcut no longer working? Ouch!

  • Joe Duhamel commented  ·   ·  Report

    Will you PLEASE stop changing basic functions and usability when you add features?!?!?!?!?!?!? Please fully beta-test and vette new features with seasoned power users!

  • Alex commented  ·   ·  Report

    Please bring back the auto-focus to the text input field in the rotate transform popup dialog — it works for the other transformations but not rotation? Using Illustrator since 1997, rarely have I seen a bug more annoying.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Rotate tool bug
    23.0.1 Mac Rotate tool dialog box: the degree isn't selected automatically anymore. Therefore when I want to rotate an object, I have to select the previous values before I can enter my new values. Which really blockes the workflow.

  • Amikhailov commented  ·   ·  Report

    From over 20 years of Illustrator hardcore user: Please... Please fix this :'(

  • Ton commented  ·   ·  Report

    Type R and hit Enter used to open the Rotate dialog with the Value highlighted.
    You could immediately start type a new rotation value.
    Now you have to use the Tab key 5 times to highlight the value.
    This changed with CC2019

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Same issue here

    OS X 10.14, MBP, AI CC2019

  • CS5 omachi commented  ·   ·  Report

    大いに同意します。ひと手間増えてUIが悪くなっています。CC2018以前の仕様に戻してください。

    I agree much. The UI is getting worse with more effort. Please return to specification before CC2018.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    After updating to 2019, I go to rotate an object in illustrator, type R-Enter as usual, and try to type in the degree of rotation. Instead of just being able to type the degree right away, I have to highlight the existing text before I can type in What I want.

    For reference, a similar action would be typing S-Enter for scaling an object, and then typing in the percentage you want to scale the object by. This function still works...the existing text is already highlighted, so you can just type in your scale without needing to highlight it yourself.

  • Colin Bright commented  ·   ·  Report

    I thought maybe the shift+tab combo might get me there faster, but despite changing the order that it cycles through the buttons, it still requires 5x! I'm loving some of the new features (global edit woot woot!), but the easy rotation we just lost is so frustrating!

    OS X 10.13.6, AI CC2019

  • Paul Cronin commented  ·   ·  Report

    Since the last update, when double clicking on the rotate it doesn't highlight the value like it does with scale. I used to double click the icon, then type in the value, now I have to manually click on the value before I can type in the rotation value.

    It's minor but annoying because that's how it used to work.

  • Marek Domke commented  ·   ·  Report

    I'm experiencing the same issue witn the rotate tool.
    Having to press tab five times to enter the Textbox.

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