Question

Brush Tool Not Working

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
December 9, 2025
2 replies
469 views

My brush tool is not working. I use Windows. My LR is updated and I have tried restarting my comptuer and shuting it down completely. The subject and background selection tools are still working but not the indvidual brush tool. Help?

Windows

Srishti_Bali

Legend

Hi @amandap76043169

Thanks for sharing the details. I’d like to request that you try the following steps and let us know how it goes:

Update Lightroom to the latest version 9.1
Reset Lightroom preferences

Close Lightroom.
Relaunch it while holding Shift + Alt.
When prompted, confirm Reset Preferences

Please let us know if this helps or if you need further assistance.

Regards,

Srishti

MassC

Legend

Hey @amandap76043169 ,

When you say the brush tool is not working, could you specify what exactly isn't working? Can you see the brush? Is it just not showing you the mask? Any screenshots or recordings would help.

In the meantime, can you share your system? You can find it by going to Help > System Info, then copying and pasting it into a text file to attach here. This will enable us to investigate it further.

We'll be here.

^CM

A

amandap76043169Author

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045

I have attached two examples below. It doesn't show the application area, the brush just isn't working even if I have the exposure all the way down. Nothing happens. It is also moving at a glacial pace.

Michael J. Hoffman

Community Expert

I'll offer a couple of suggestions, based on your screen shot. See my image below as a reference:

If you want to see an overlay where you are brushing, you need to toggle the overlay to "on." Your setting is currently "off."
Make sure the overlay options are also set to "color overlay."
The fully black mask indicates you haven't yet made any adjustment (at least, no visible one).
Your brush settings may be affecting this lack of visibility, click the disclosure triange to show the brush settings and let us know what the settings are for flow and density.

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