Participating Frequently

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Dock Contextual Task Bar

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I believe many others have a distaste for the inability to dock the contextual task bar. It becomes a tedious thing to continually have to move while working in Photoshop. It's always in the way, and pinning doesn't really work well.

I suggest making it able to be docked like any other panel, integrating into the control (options) bar like every other contextual task before this, or adding to the properties panel.

I'm not a beginner, so why am I forced to have a beginner-like user experience? The beauty of Photoshop and other Adobe software is to be able to customize your tools for your workflow and how you like them. This takes away from that, and other Adobe software such as Illustrator is starting to copy what Photoshop did.

I love gen fill, however, so it presents a conundrum. Do I only turn it on when I'm using gen fill or always leave it on? To the best of my knowledge, gen fill is the only thing that the bar has that there's no other way to do other than to go to Edit > Gen Fill or use a shortcut...

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wise_Echo6468

Participant

First off, thank you for replying. It’s nice to be heard.

I vote to make it dockable.

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onyooru

Participant

Good suggestion! I completely agree. And regardless of how useful the feature itself is, this is especially problematic when using multiple monitors. The Contextual Task Bar can appear in different positions depending on which monitor Photoshop is on.

I would really like true docking support, so it can be attached to the top, bottom, or side of the Photoshop window like other panels.

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D Fosse

Community Expert

@onyooru

But then you don’t really need it ;-)

Everything in the contextual taskbar is duplicated from the ordinary menus and tools. Lined up alongside it just becomes redundant, a second menubar/toolbar.

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wise_Echo6468

Participant

Some of us like redunencies :)

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airrunkle-_-

Participant

ABSOLUTELY AGREE, why is it different from the rest of PS?

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Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

Guys, how hard have you tried to get on with the Contextual Taskbar? It’s such an incredibly useful tool, I can’t imagine why anyone would actually hate it.

A good first step is to take control of it by giving it a Shortcut. I use F3 (It’s default is to toggle the Character Panel on and off.) This gets it out of the way when you don’t need it, and can also help you find it when it gets lost — which it likes to do on a regular basis. I always keep it set to Pinned and drag it close to what I am working on. I do my best to avoid moving the mouse a millimetre more than I have to.

I’m sure you all understand the Contextual aspect of the CTB, and it’s constructed to give you all of the options associated with what you are doing, or have just done. I absolutely love that! I’ve grabbed a few screen shots showing some of what the CTB offers under different conditions.

Something else I do is use short Actions that set and reset my workspaces. This means I can drag panels like Properties, character etc. next to where I am using it, and have it go back to its tidy space with a single press. This can really speed up your workflow because you are not hunting for what you need. The CTB is by far the best example of how this helps because it knows what you are thinking!

So, please give it a chance. Try the drop-downs with various tools selected and functions underway, and I bet you’ll come to love the Contextual Taskbar as much as I do.

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Nataliia_M

Inspiring

Hi @Trevor.Dennis

Thank you for sharing your workflow. It’s amazing that the CTB fits your needs and processes.

I would never say that I HATE it 🙈 The feature is great, many users benefit from it. But in my particular case, it’s just not giving the effect that's enough to use it all the time. I still use CTB from time to time for graphic design tasks, when the contextual tools are important. But 98% of my work is illustration, with a limited set of tools, colour palettes and graphic styles. Almost everything is being executed with custom keyboard shortcuts, suitable for my hand position and available workspace. If the CTB jumps around while giving me one speed benefit per day, this is not a reason to use it.

Also, I think there are just two approaches to panels: some people move them a lot, some prefer them docked. In Adobe After Effects, I move everything movable 😂. But in Ai, after 17 years with this app, I still prefer things to be in their places 🤷🏻

So we are not asking to remove a cool feature, we are asking to give it a bit of flexibility that can be helpful in our workflows 😇

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Warmly, Nataliia

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

How about we suggest that we get more control of its position when not pinned similar to Show Transformation Values:

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Nataliia_M

Inspiring

This is one of the reasons I don’t use it - the jumping is super annoying, while the pinned position still covers your working area that moves behind it. I would be OK if it docks on the bottom.

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Warmly, Nataliia

D Fosse

Community Expert

Well, I always thought the contextual taskbar was a solution in search of a problem. Everything in there is available as the normal menu items and tools, and all of it can be assigned shortcuts if you need quick access. And on top it’s constantly in the way. I disabled it immediately and have never missed it.

Just saying, you don’t really need it.

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coliny5045454

Known Participant

Contextual Task Bar, is a pain in the rear….. it won’t lock in place anymore, when you click on the lock button you can’t tell if it’s worked or not. I try to set mine at the top just to the right of the drop down menus, then for no reason it will jump to the left covering up most of the menu’s. PLEASE PLEASE give us a dropdown version of the dreadful contextual task bar, then SCRAP IT. Was the someone drunk who thought it up? Sorry adobe, a very bad annoying idea…..

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jane-e

Community Expert

@coliny5045454 wrote: “then scrap it”

Adobe has given you a way to do that yourself. Just uncheck the Contextual Taskbar (Window menu).

Jane

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Nataliia_M

Inspiring

@jane-e This is my way 😂 I don’t use it because of the visual noise it creates. But I don’t consider this feature to be useless, and I would use it if I could organise it as any other panel.

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Warmly, Nataliia

Swandive stream

Inspiring

Being able to dock it like you can duck the Tools bar (except horizontally) would be useful to stop it wandering around the screen and generally getting in the way. Example: Color panel docked horizontally.

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andrzeju68800611

Participant

good idea !

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Malb from premier tech

Participating Frequently

It used to do the same on my side, it wasn't consistent. I believe it was when using other tools that permitted the Gen Fill options, too, which made the menu pop up elsewhere. Pinning stays pinned nowadays.

Wouldn't mind having at least an answer as to why Docking is impossible.

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