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vincent_8939
Participant
January 28, 2026
Investigating

P: Photoshop drawing random lines when using tools (Remove, Brush and other drawing tools)

Bonjour,

Quand j'utilise l'Outil Correcteur Localisé en cliquant avec ma souris sur une zone de la photo à l’écran, une multitude de lignes partent dans tous les sens. Donc cet outil ne fonctionne plus depuis plusieurs jours. Est-ce un bug ?

    Pinned Reply By Bkelley01

    I was having the same issues with multiple tools in Photoshop. Finally after a day of trying all things, we have found a solution on Reddit. I tried it and it fixed it right up. This is for PC only.

    1. Create a text document with Notepad. Name it “PSUserConfig.txt”
    2. Write “UseSystemStylus 0” in the text body (that’s a zero not an “O”)
    3. Save it in “C:\Users\*YOUR USER NAME*\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2026\Adobe Photoshop 2026 Settings

    (In step 3, *YOUR USER NAME* is unique to whatever your username is.)

    Restart photoshop and the tools should work again. 

    Credit to u/Professional_Use442 on Reddit for sharing this fix. Note: If you want to use the stylus again you’ll have to follow their instructions on how to re--enable the stylus mode.

    168 replies

    Participant
    September 25, 2026

    Ok, so this bug has been going on for more than 6 years, judging by the posts I've repeatedly slogged through over the last year to try to find a fix. I hope that someone at Adobe actually reads this, because if I took 6 years as a developer to fix a bug in my own software that’s this big, I’d be without a job.

    That said: The trigger is cursor tracking. When the software is tracking the mouse to determine whatever the heck it is (my suspicion is that it’s tracking function usage), it begins the tool path at the beginning of that instance of cursor tracking. Anytime the software is tracking the mouse behavior (for whatever reason, but again… I think it’s tracking feature/function usage given the erratic behavior) and upon selecting *any* tool after that that uses the mouse pathing, it will create the “random” pathway. It’s not actually random. It’s the mouse movements you’ve made since it started the tracking. It’s also why the lasso tool sucks now. It’s sometimes impossible to create a selection because the tracking screws up the pathway, especially if you are using the hand tool (which seems to trigger the tracking immediately).

    You can replicate these behaviors in one of these two ways:

    1

    • Use the hand tool to move the graphic you are working on.
    • Use a tool that tracks the mouse (such as the brush, eraser, lasso, pattern tool, etc.

    2

    • Move away from the PS screen such as going to another window, screen, application, etc.
    • Come back to PS and use a tool that tracks the mouse.

    It doesn’t matter if it’s the beta or the current stable. This is a feature (the mouse/cursor tracking) I doubt they’ve bothered to look at as the source as it would a) break their current process for evaluating which features to disable/age out and b) would require someone to actually investigate the source of the issue).

    Look there for your solution. I’m simply amazed that production software that’s primary intent is to use these tools has a bug causing it to do something this insane is not being taken seriously.

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    Participant
    September 15, 2026

    Hi, how are you? I really dont find where save the text document. I havent this folder named in step 3. Can you help me please? Thank you so much.

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    Community Expert
    September 15, 2026

     I really dont find where save the text document. I havent this folder named in step 3. Can you help me please? Thank you so much.

     

    The appropriate folder from step 3 is hidden and normally not visible. In a first step you’ve to show hidden files. Then you can save the text file.

    Windows: Show hidden files, folders, and filename extensions in Windows

    MacOS: Access hidden macOS library files

     

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    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 26H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 9 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
    Community Expert
    September 11, 2026

    It seems your issue is the same as described in this thread:

     

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    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 26H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 9 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
    Participant
    September 11, 2026

    Ao fazer um clique, enves de demarcar o pincel ou formato selecionado do mesmo, faz um rabisco. Ja reiniciei o Photoshop, limpei cache e continua. Note que no anexo dei somente um clique na mascara e ele ja rabiscou toda

     

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    coliny5045454
    Known Participant
    September 6, 2026

    Since the latest update Ps (beta) 27.11,  the soft round  brush & hard round brush once selected are showing as a straight line brush? Please sort this basic error asap. thank you. 

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    Participant
    August 19, 2026

    I am totally frustrated trying any "fix" mentioned and nothing makes it work and stay fixed. I cannot do the work I need to do with the program I am paying for. 

    Also irritating that any possible contact us just sends me in circles. 

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    Participant
    August 14, 2026

    I worked all day trying all of the suggestions and none of them worked. I went back to Version 26.7 and everything works fine. No more updates for me until this problem is fixed.

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    Ged_Traynor
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 31, 2026

    ​@Bettybbb your issue may be related to this thread, have a look at the pinned answer to see if it helps

     

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    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 31, 2026

    What have you done for all-purpose trouble-shooting so far?

    Restoring Preferences after making sure all customized presets like Actions, Patterns, Brushes etc. have been saved might be a good starting point:

    https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

    https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/basic-trouble-shooting-steps.html

     

    What is your input device? 

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    Bettybbb
    Participant
    July 31, 2026
    Why are Photoshop tools suddenly becoming uncontrollable, forcing me to scribble randomly the first time I click the button? They're just drawing randomly following the mouse cursor.How can I do??😭 I already try to restart computer and PS but still no use.
    It suddenly turned like this when I was using the software.
    Please, can someone help me? It's urgent.🙏

     

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    anthony_9108
    Participant
    August 4, 2026

    A combination of Resetting All Tools, Uninstalling and Reinstalling Photoshop (twice), and restarting my computer (twice) finally fixed it for me.

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