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Inspiring
May 1, 2023
Open for Voting

Left Handed???

  • May 1, 2023
  • 10 replies
  • 1504 views

Just curious, as to how many "left handed" users are part of this community? I'm sure I'm not the only one. With all the changes and wonderful updates Adobe releases every year, I'm wondering if they will ever give the option to change the interface for some of the major tools used in PS to accomodate us left handed people. I would love to actually scroll thru my layers and be able to see the thumbnails at the same time instead of having my wrist constantly in the way and that's just one of the tools that has the scroll button on the right side of the tool. Lightroom came out with the update to move their Developement dropdowns to the left side, which is a great beginning. Having used this software since the late 80's, I think it's about time to give us left handers the ability to use the tools without some appendage in the way. I'm really kind of surprised this hasn't been brought up before, I mean one of the main brush designers and a major contributor to Adobe's new iPad drawing software, Fresco; Mr Kyle Webster is left handed for goodness sake!! Where's the love??!!!!  Respond to this thread, "LEFT HANDED" users!!!

10 replies

Participant
April 29, 2025

I'm left-handed, and up until now, have used a right-handed mouse with my left hand, and a Wacom tablet, also left-handed.

 

However, I've recently acquired a Wacom Movink 13, so I can edit on the screen, so to speak - and opening a RAW file, my hand covers the image as I use the stylus on the adjustments box on the right. Really, I think I'd like to flip the whole screen.

 

We're 10% of the population, I think, so we're not a trivial community - though we are used to a right-handed world, and using tools the wrong way round. And it would be really nice to know how to move things around - HOW do I move the panels around, and what is this 'save as a new Workspace'?

KR Seals
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 21, 2024

@11517832Exactly the same here. Wacom pen in the left hand and mouse in the right. It's very efficient to work with both hands that way.  🙂

I work nicely for me in Ham Radio, too. I can send morse code with my right hand and copy incoming code with my left. K6KT

 

Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.
Participant
October 21, 2024

HI! I have problem - my touchpad doesn't works just fir left hand and just in Photoshop. It worked before.... 

Participant
February 10, 2024

I've been wanting left-handed scrolling forever in adobe products. It looks to me like Illustrator 24 won't let you move panels to the left side of the workspace when you have application frame selected either. This is a problem for me routinely when working in illustrator with a cintiq 24". 

Inspiring
May 25, 2023
I don't understand why they can't make the simple "scrolling" change
for their tool windows! I'm really curious how many left hand users
they have!! Gotta say I like Procreate but love the larger format on
PS. HATE covering my layers with my hand to locate a specific layer
with the right hand scroll!!!! Thanks for commenting, totally get the
rant. Stay safe and keep creating!!
wsayer2
Participating Frequently
May 24, 2023

Whatever the solution is to keep the tools from being unintentionally triggered- leave that to a good R&D team to text and implement... top, both on one side, whatever. 

I reported my ideas and experiences to Adobe. Reply- basically "we'll look into it"... sure. 

I see these  issues have been reported in the past and nil has been done.

I'm agreeing with the original poster. Not looking for upvotes as I've already checked out mentally for PS for the IPad. It's just not a good painting tool as it stands, period. Desktop version is fine.
 I see the left handed issue goes back quite a ways from other posts- not enough upvotes on those either, I suppose.

I'm too busy doing concept art to be on threads. 

This will be my final post. 

jane-e
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 24, 2023

 

@wsayer2 wrote

I can switch from right handed to left handed mode with one button. I can actually see my brush icons on the tablet as I paint or erase! These should not be special features requiring years of R&D to implement for a company with the long history that ADOBE has. Adobe is not listening to it´s customers

 

I reviewed your posts and see that this is the first post you have made on the Photoshop forum, so it's the first time you are bring up the issue in PS for iPad. You also made three posts in one thread on the Fresco forum in April.

I just looked at Procreate. While Photoshop has panels on one side and tools on the other (similar to desktop), Procreate has tools on only one side. In Photoshop for iPad, switching would simply swap the two. Is that what you are thinking?

 

What you might do is start a new post, tag it as an "Idea" and make a request that you would like to be able to switch from right-hand to left-handed on Photoshop for iPad. Be clear about how you want the feature to work. When each idea is in its own thread, it is easier for others to upvote and comment and for Adobe staff to keep track. Adobe staff does listen to its customers and they do care.

 

You can keep track of it, too, and watch to see if it gets a bunch of upvotes or only a few.

 

Jane

wsayer2
Participating Frequently
May 24, 2023

Man... I feel your pain! Not as big of an issue on the PC version (yes- you can move your panels around)... but the IPad version of PS? It's a friggin´ nightmare for lefties! Some part of my left hand always hitting a tool and messing up my workflow..even with an art glove. I can't stand it. Seriously! As a concept artist that primarily paints using PS, I can say the only advantage it has over Procreate (which is a tiny fraction of the price without a ridiculous subscription) is the higher resolution I can work at, and the better ability to organize my brushes. Outside of that, Procreate is far superior as an illustrative tool. I can switch from right handed to left handed mode with one button. I can actually see my brush icons on the tablet as I paint or erase! These should not be special features requiring years of R&D to implement for a company with the long history that ADOBE has. Adobe is not listening to it´s customers or acting quickly enough, so smaller companies are starting to steal their lunch. Anyhow, if you´re just painting (and I know most PS users are not illustrators) I think the quick solution it to just bail on PS for the tablet and stick to forward-thinking smaller companies that are actually clever enough to address the work-flow issues of a large portion of their consumer base. Maybe Adobe will take the hint and use their ridiculous income from these subscriptions to actually add basic features that matter. After I'm done with my last project I am cancelling this ridiculously overpriced subscription and sticking to Procreate. I'll stick to CS5 on my PS, which has worked great without paying Adobe additional money every month. Sorry for the rant... 

Ged_Traynor
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 2, 2023

I'm left handed as well but I use a right handed mouse with my right hand and a Wacom pen and tablet with my left hand, you could say I'm ambidextrous when it comes to using computers 😁

Don't have any issues using the left handed Wacom pen and tablet with Photoshop though.

jane-e
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 2, 2023

 

@Brad22414184ax00 

 

You may not want to hear from me! 😊 I'm left-handed and have no problems with using Photoshop as it is.

 

You can, however, move your panels as you see fit, then Save the panel locations as a new Workspace. You can put your Layers panel on the left, for instance. One thing you cannot do is to move the scrollbar to the other side of the panel.

 

You might also learn some keyboard shortcuts for working with layers:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/keys-layers-panel.html

 

Select next layer down/up

Alt + [ or ]

Option + [ or ]

Move target layer down/up

Control + [ or ]

Command + [ or ]

 

Jane