Subject: Please stop introducing workflow changes that interfere with established Photoshop habits

After going back with Chat for over an hour to get Photoshop to work for me properly, plus countless hours working around what feels like the buggiest photoshop ever…. I had Chat write the below for me. Chat clearly knows me, so gave you a little background….

Subject: Please stop introducing workflow changes that interfere with established Photoshop habits

I have been a professional Photoshop user for many years, and I rely on Photoshop for real production work. I understand that the application needs to evolve, and I have no objection to adding new capabilities, including AI.

What I am increasingly frustrated by is the number of new behaviors and interface changes that seem to be introduced without enough consideration for users who have spent decades developing extremely fast, muscle-memory-based workflows.

Recently I have had to hunt down several settings that changed the way Photoshop behaves in ways I did not ask for and did not expect.

For example:

1. Spring-loaded Tool Shortcuts

I suddenly found that pressing a normal tool shortcut such as B, S, or J would briefly select the tool and then immediately return to the previous tool.

After a considerable amount of troubleshooting, I discovered that Spring-loaded Tool Shortcuts had been enabled. This is apparently enabled by default and changes the fundamental behavior of Photoshop's traditional single-key tool shortcuts.

I understand the usefulness of temporarily accessing another tool by holding a key. But for users who have spent years pressing B, S, J, V, etc. as permanent tool selections, having Photoshop silently change that behavior is extremely disruptive.

The fact that I could hold the key down and use the tool, but could not simply tap the key and have it remain selected, made Photoshop feel broken.

2. Tool switching / Shift behavior

There are also new or changed tool-switching behaviors that make clicking and cycling through grouped tools feel different from the Photoshop workflow I have used for years.

Again, the issue isn't that the functionality exists. The issue is that these behaviors are being introduced into an established application where users have decades of muscle memory.

3. The Actions panel

The Actions interface has also been redesigned. I have multiple sets of custom actions organized into folders. The new interface repeatedly presents those sets in an expanded state rather than preserving the compact, organized workflow I have established.

For someone with a large library of production actions, this isn't merely cosmetic. The Actions panel is part of the working environment, and its organization matters.

The bigger issue

Photoshop has become incredibly powerful, but I increasingly feel that Adobe is optimizing the application around discoverability and new features at the expense of experienced users and established workflows.

I don't need Photoshop to constantly introduce new ways to interact with tools I have been using for 20+ years.

I want:

• My keyboard shortcuts to behave predictably.

• My tools to remain selected when I tap their shortcuts.

• My custom workspace to stay the way I configured it.

• My Actions to remain organized and collapsed the way I left them.

• New features to be opt-in when they alter established behavior, rather than silently becoming the new default.

Please give serious consideration to a principle of “don't change established workflow behavior unless the user explicitly opts in.”

There is enormous value in Photoshop's accumulated muscle memory. For professional users, that muscle memory is part of the product.

Add the new features. Improve the AI. Modernize the underlying technology. Make Photoshop faster.

But please don't make longtime users repeatedly hunt through Preferences to figure out why Photoshop suddenly doesn't behave the way it has behaved for years.

The best Photoshop is the Photoshop that gets out of the way and lets an experienced user work.