I can't aim or fire a bow in minecraft

I can't aim or fire a bow in Minecraft on my pc computer. I can use other items such as a fishing pole, so I don't think it's a 'Use item' issue.

All other things work fine, like opening doors, magic carpet, etc. A fellow gamer suggested I uninstall and and re-download and install the game. I am wondering if there are any other possibilities before I go to all that trouble. The last time I tried to download something, it changed my desktop and search engine and it was a pain restoring it all. That was 2 months ago, so not what's wrong now.

Solution 1:

You need to have arrows in your Inventory.

Even with a Bow with the Infinity enchantment, you still need at least one arrow¹ in your inventory - it won't work if they are in a shulker box or anything like that.

^{1. Tipped arrows do not work with Infinity}