P: Alt key shorcut, menu activating and beeping

Hi Peter,

As commented earlier, nothing has changed on Photoshop or Windows' side -- this has been a standard behavior for literally decades and, quite frankly, is a requirement for the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Perhaps you didn't notice it, but I can assure you, it was there.

Thanks,
David

what is baffling is I used to use CS6 and only recently bought CC. I have never had this issue till I switched to CC. I feel like I might change back to CS6 since it works. Fix it guys please.

Thats nice, and its big problem to make checkbox "use alt to activate header menu" in settings? .... Please dont tell something as "there is no way" ... many people used before "Photoshop assistant" i think it was CS6 era ( http://millionart.deviantart.com/art/Adobe-Photoshop-assistant-160950828  ) for this. Could you please listen to your customers? Try google keyword disable alt photoshop, its hundreds of threads about this topic complaining about this "feature" ... also argument that something is 20+ years old is funny as well. Download free krita and try this.... pressing only alt.... nothing happened... when u press Alt+F, dropdown file menu appears... Its that hard?

Hi Bulavkina,

Having ALT trigger the Command Menu is actually a standard Windows behavior for 20+ years and a requirements for the Americans with Disabilities Act. There is no way to disable it, either for the OS nor for the app.

Thanks,
David

The problem for me wasn't just the sound but how it keeps switching to the toolbar menu for shortcuts. I erroneously described it as a glitch, but I see now that it's just the alt key activating that menu toolbar. Like other people have suggested, if there is a way to just disable the alt key switching to the dropdown application menus, it would fix this problem for a lot of us who need to use alt for certain tools, and not to go into that menu. 

Strange to see this has gone on so long without anyone mentioning that this is a *basic Windows behavior* for the menu bar, and has been for decades (perhaps even back to Windows 1.0). You press Alt, and the menu bar is activated. For example, you press Alt, F, O to get to the Open dialog.

Photoshop is one of the few titles that relies on the Alt key for basic use. In order to keep Alt from activating a menu, one might have to dig into Windows foundation code. Otherwise, there are some third party programs already listed above that will disable the Alt key behavior.

Thanks David. I hope the Adobe engineers can do something about this.

Wow!

Thanks for those steps, Mike.  You're right -- that's annoying and weird bug.  I've gone ahead and logged it.

Sorry for the confusion!
David

Im currently using Windows 8, but have had this happen on windows 10 as well. Nothing else is running other than the basics like my web browser. Sticky keys are not active. 
Also the language is English.

Do note, that this is not a bug on Mac versions of Photoshop.

To reproduce, just do the following.

1.) Make a new file.
2.) Save As, PNG or TGA
3.) Once the save window closes out after saving, try pressing a tool hotkey. 'B' for brush or 'E' for Eraser. It will open up the menu at the top as if Alt had been pressed.

Pressing Esc or Enter wont fix this. The only thing I've found to stop this from going once it happens is to actually enter into something within the menu using the hotkeys. But either way, this bug is severely damaging to workflow.

Howdy Mike and Skylar,

Which OS are you seeing this?  I couldn't repro.  What else do you have running at the same time?  What you're describing sounds as if the app is receiving ALT plus the letter you're hitting.  Could you have sticky keys or something similar active?  What language is your keyboard set to?

Thanks,
David