Hi again, mate,
I believe that it's always been like this - the Properties Inspector is contextual and when you have a rectangle selected, it gives you the properties of that rectangle.
In the new An 2020 they have added tabs to PI and there you should be able to edit the tool properties even when you have a shape/drawing object selected.
So it may be worth trying that to see if it feels more natural.
Just make a separate install, rather than replacing your 2019 as there are a lot of changes and quite a few known issues with An 20 at this point.
Best regards!
Nick - Character Designer and Animator, Flash user since 1998 | Member of the Flanimate Power Tools team - extensions for character animation