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GapingWound
Known Participant
June 18, 2018
Open for Voting

P: Keyboard shortcuts for navigating layers DO NOT work with hidden layers

  • June 18, 2018
  • 42 replies
  • 3084 views

On Windows, we have the keyboard shortcuts ALT-[ and ALT-] which are used to move between layers in the layer panel. The problem is that those shortcuts only work on VISIBLE layers and not on HIDDEN layers. They need to work on ALL layers. I mean, I can select any layer, visible or hidden, just fine with the mouse, so why am I restricted to visible layers only with the keyboard shortcut? My job often involves processing images with lots of layers, and the stuff I do involves lots of keyboard shortcuts. Literally EVERYTHING I need to do can be accomplished with keyboard shortcuts EXCEPT for moving from a visible layer to a hidden layer. There is even a keyboard shortcut to toggle visibility for a layer (CTRL-,), but it's useless for turning a layer visible, because you cannot navigate to the hidden layer with the keyboard!

I waited 2 hours and 20 minutes in chat support queue, only to be told "That is the expected behavior. You'll have to talk to an engineer to find out more." How am I supposed to talk to an Adobe Engineer? Did anyone's CC subscription happen to come with a list of all the engineers and their contact info?

If this IS the expected behavior, I want to know why it was decided that nobody would ever need to change from a visible layer to a hidden layer with a keyboard shortcut. If not, when can we get it fixed?

    42 replies

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    G
    GapingWoundAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 19, 2018
    My nick on adobe forums is GapingWound.
    L
    Lumigraphics
    Legend
    June 19, 2018
    I don't think its a bug. And if you simmer down a bit and look around, you'll note that numerous Adobe employees post here every day. This is the feedback forum so file a feature request using professional language and tone.

    FWIW, all of the users here pay money for this software too.
    Kukurykus
    Kukurykus
    Legend
    June 19, 2018
    Hard to say wasn't that someone's mood to do it intentionally, but however that is bug or not I believe most people using keyboards to move between layers in layers palette want just fastly access some specific layer whatever settings it got.

    I'm supposed to come shortly with programmatic workaround to make users life easier (as it's not first topic about) before one distant day Adobe fix it. It's for Windows so that's something for you.

    Btw what is your nickname on https://forums.adobe.com/community/photoshop ?
    G
    GapingWoundAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 19, 2018
    I DO think it is a bug. Claiming that it's there because designers are lazy and can't be bothered to keyboard-navigate through hidden layers is not a valid excuse. They could add a preference to toggle that. As it is now, it completely leaves those of us that WANT to be able to keyboard-navigate hidden layers out in the cold.
    P
    phpearsetone
    Participant
    June 19, 2018
    I don't think it is a bug. The feature is designed this way. 
    G
    GapingWoundAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 19, 2018
    I was sent here by Adobe support, ostensibly to talk to an "engineer". Personally, I think the support agent just dumped me here at this glorified suggestion box instead of actually putting me in touch with someone who can actually answer or explain this issue, or even take a bug report to FIX this issue. I pay a lot of money for this software and I get support like this was someone's weekend project.
    Where do I go to file an ACTUAL bug report? I mean no offense, but I expect real support, not a user forum where a bunch of people can commiserate.
    L
    Lumigraphics
    Legend
    June 19, 2018
    I find it a lot more problematic that these keystrokes can't be reassigned. Its a major PITA with how I have the buttons on my Wacom tablet setup.

    I really don't see a problem, this would need to be a feature request most likely.
      G
      GapingWoundAuthor
      Known Participant
      June 19, 2018
      So, when can I expect a dev to chime in on this? As much as I enjoy chatting, I'm looking for an actual solution here.
      G
      GapingWoundAuthor
      Known Participant
      June 19, 2018
      Exactly. There is no restriction on me clicking on a hidden layer to select it, so why can't I do it with the keyboard? Pressing CTRL-, will toggle visibility on a hidden layer, so it's not that shortcuts don't work. It has to be an oversight.
        F
        FeedbackCommunityMember
        Inspiring
        June 19, 2018
        I have to agree with you. Just because it's as designed doesn't make it the way it should be. If I play devil's advocate, I'd say that people are using the kbsc to navigate the layers they can see and will become confused if they land on one that's hidden since they can't actively do anything to it. But the way I see it, if we're using kbsc to select the next or previous layer, that means any layer, hidden or locked or visible, capable of being affected or not.

        We can, btw, use kbsc to navigate through locked layers. We shouldn't be able to paint on them or transform their content, so is it even consistent to say we can land on a locked but visible layer, but not on an unlocked, but hidden layer using kbsc? It would be nice to have someone from Adobe shine a light on their reasoning that this is the way it should be.

        And if they can't give us a good reason for it, perhaps this can be turned from a problem into an idea (feature request).
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