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How to Fix Arrow Keys not Working in Illustrator — 4 Easy Steps

How to Fix Arrow Keys not Working in Illustrator — 4 Easy Steps

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For those just getting started, figuring out how to fix arrow keys not working in Illustrator can be frustrating.

Despite being one of the best vector-based design software, Adobe Illustrator (Get 65% discount here) is not without its bugs.

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Adobe Creative Cloud Discount

And regardless of whether it’s a crash or any other minor issue, these bugs can definitely get in the way of your work.

Luckily in this article, we’ll dive into how to get around this annoying roadblock in the following sections.

 

How to Fix Arrow Keys not Working in Illustrator — 4 Easy Steps

Step 1: Open Adobe Illustrator / Adobe file.

Step 1 - Open Adobe Illustrator / Adobe file.
Step 1 – Open Adobe Illustrator / Adobe file.

After you open the Illustrator or the file you want to work with, go ahead and check if your arrow keys are working. If not follow the steps given below.

 


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Step 2: Select ‘Edit’ and then select ‘Preferences’.

Step 2 - Select ‘Edit’ and then select ‘Preferences’.
Step 2 -Select ‘Edit’ and then select ‘Preferences’.

On the taskbar on top select ‘Edit.’ After this, on the dropdown menu go to select the last option which reads ‘Preferences’.

 

Step 3: After selecting ‘Preferences’, select ‘General’.

Step 3 - How to fix arrow keys not working in illustrator
Step 3 – How to fix arrow keys not working in illustrator

After selecting or hovering over ‘Preferences’, select ‘General’ in the adjacent menu. And the General preferences window should appear.

 

Step 4: In ‘General’, change the Keyboard increment and Corner Radius values.

Step 5 - How to fix arrow keys not working in illustrator
Step 4 – How to fix arrow keys not working in illustrator

In the general preferences window, you should check the Keyboard increment and Corner Radius values. For your keyboard keys to work both the Keyboard increment and Corner Radius values should read “1 px”.

After updating both of these, go ahead and select “OK” on the bottom right corner to save your settings.

This is one of the most common fixes to your arrow keys not working in Illustrator and will most likely solve this problem.

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Why use Adobe Illustrator?

When it comes down to it, Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard for any scalable vectors and branding elements. Although there are several less expensive and easier software to work with, when it comes to collaboration and flexibility in designs, Illustrator definitely stands out among the rest.

So regardless of whether it’s for brand logos, web banner vectors, illustrating, or any other creative material, working on Illustrator helps keep your vectors sourced in one master file.

Also, working with popular software like Illustrator and Photoshop is great when working within brand guidelines with limited flexibility.

 

Can you download Adobe Illustrator for free?

Well technically yes, you can download Adobe Illustrator for free for a trial period of 7 days. To avoid being charged, however, you’ll have to cancel your Adobe free trial before the trial period ends. Otherwise, if you carry on the software you’ll be charged an amount starting at $19.99/ month depending on the plan you chose to opt for.

 

How Much Does Adobe Illustrator Cost?

There are 3 plans depending on what you chose to opt for. The most affordable plan costs users around $19.99/month, while for businesses it costs $33.99/month for individual Illustrator software.

After this, individuals can spend an additional $29.99/month to get Illustrator along with access to Adobe Stock. This gives users access to millions of royalty-free digital assets which are suitable for a variety of projects. This plan includes images, videos, audio files, VFX, and even 3D models.

 

Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps Plan

All Apps Plan
All Apps Plan. Image Credit: Adobe
The plan with the most value by far, however, would be the Adobe All Apps Plan. Through this plan, users can access Adobe Illustrator along with 20+ other creative applications that come in the Adobe Creative Cloud. 

This plan costs individuals $52.99 per month and businesses around $79.99 per month. However, with this plan you can access creative software like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Animate, Photoshop Express, and around 100GB of free cloud storage. See the full Adobe program list here. The Creative Cloud also grants users access to Adobe Fonts, Indesign, and several other design-related utilities.

 

Adobe Illustrator — Student and Teacher Discount

Adobe Discount for Students and Teachers
Adobe Discount for Students and Teachers.
Luckily, for both students and teachers Adobe offers over a 65% discount on the All Apps plan. This means you can gain access to over 20+ applications which would normally cost $52.99/month for only $19.99/month.

To avail of this offer all you need is to be over the age of 13 and either be studying or employed in an accredited institution or homeschool and have proof of the same. The proof can be anything from an institution email ID, Identity card, a payslip, or even receipt.

If you’d like to go into this in more detail be sure to check out our article on how to get the Adobe Student and Teacher Discount. For those who don’t meet these criteria but want to avail of this offer you can through the steps below.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the only way to fix arrow keys not working in Illustrator?

This is the most common way to fix arrow keys working. However, another method would be to restart the program and also check the functionality of your arrow keys using.

Can students get Adobe Illustrator for free?

Unfortunately no. However, students can get the Adobe All Apps plan at a significant 65% off. This discount allows both students and teachers access to 20+ applications at a fraction of the price.

What are the system requirements for Illustrator?

When it comes to RAM, 8GB RAM is the minimum requirement, while we’d recommend at least 16GB RAM. For operating systems, Adobe Illustrator requires Windows 10 v1809 (64 bit), or for Mac operating systems, macOS X v10.14. When it comes to graphics cards, any GPU drivers from after 2014 work fine.

How much does the Adobe All Apps plan cost?

The Adobe All Apps plan costs $52.99 monthly for individuals and $79.99 for businesses.

How much does Adobe Illustrator cost?

Depending on which plan you choose to opt for Adobe Illustrator starts at $19.99 for the individual plan. However, it costs businesses $32.99 starting.

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Takeaway — How to fix Arrow Keys not Working in illustrator

Working with Illustrator can seem tricky when it starts acting up. But for the most part, most of these issues or bugs can be easily fixed granted you know to fix them. When it comes to arrow keys not working on Illustrator, most commonly this issue can be fixed by changing preferences through the steps mentioned.

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