We’re excited to announce that new contextual task bars are now available in Photoshop Public Beta. We know that finding the right tool, at the right time, can sometimes slow down a great workflow. Our new contextually aware task bars aim to help by providing common tools, actions and next steps right on the canvas where you’re working. We are currently launching five bars for importing new documents, making selections and using the Type Tool. Learn more below: Open Image or File This bar will appear when you open an image or file in Photoshop (i.e. not a new, empty document) New Document Workflow This bar will appear if you open a new, blank document from the Photoshop home screen If you choose to select “import image”, your image will be placed in the document as a Smart Object and the Free Transform bar will appear to help finalize placement Type Tool Workflow This bar will appear when you select the Type tool from the tool bar and draw a text box on the canvas Selections Workflow Once a selection is made, a selection edit bar will appear with options to refine the selection or create a mask Tips and Other Menu Functionality Pin bar position You can pin and un-pin any bar from the “more menu”. Pinning will hold your bar (and all subsequent bars) where it was placed on the canvas until un-pinned from the “more menu” performed Reset bar position The context bar moves with you as you work on the canvas, keeping relevant tools at your finger tips. If you would like to reset the position, you can do so from the “more menu” Hide bar You can always hide the bar if you’d like to remove it completely, or temporarily, from the canvas. If you’d like to re-open the bar at any point, go to Window > Contextual Task Bar We need your feedback! Please let us know what you think and how we could improve the new Contextual Task Bar.

OMG just fixed it!! You can always hide the bar if you’d like to remove it completely, or temporarily, from the canvas. If you’d like to re-open the bar at any point, go to Window > Contextual Task Bar And this is the link to where I found how to fix that: https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-beta-discussions/contextual-task-bars-now-in-photoshop-beta/td-p/13658736

N

Noelle Shamroukh

Adobe Employee

Answered

Contextual Task Bars Now in Photoshop (Beta)

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
March 17, 2023
243 replies
103032 views

We’re excited to announce that new contextual task bars are now available in Photoshop Public Beta. We know that finding the right tool, at the right time, can sometimes slow down a great workflow. Our new contextually aware task bars aim to help by providing common tools, actions and next steps right on the canvas where you’re working. We are currently launching five bars for importing new documents, making selections and using the Type Tool. Learn more below:

Open Image or File

This bar will appear when you open an image or file in Photoshop (i.e. not a new, empty document)

New Document Workflow

This bar will appear if you open a new, blank document from the Photoshop home screen

If you choose to select “import image”, your image will be placed in the document as a Smart Object and the Free Transform bar will appear to help finalize placement

Type Tool Workflow

This bar will appear when you select the Type tool from the tool bar and draw a text box on the canvas

Selections Workflow

Once a selection is made, a selection edit bar will appear with options to refine the selection or create a mask

Tips and Other Menu Functionality

Pin bar position
- You can pin and un-pin any bar from the “more menu”. Pinning will hold your bar (and all subsequent bars) where it was placed on the canvas until un-pinned from the “more menu” performed
Reset bar position
- The context bar moves with you as you work on the canvas, keeping relevant tools at your finger tips. If you would like to reset the position, you can do so from the “more menu”
Hide bar
- You can always hide the bar if you’d like to remove it completely, or temporarily, from the canvas. If you’d like to re-open the bar at any point, go to Window > Contextual Task Bar

We need your feedback!

Please let us know what you think and how we could improve the new Contextual Task Bar.

Correct answer danielm77292327

OMG just fixed it!!

You can always hide the bar if you’d like to remove it completely, or temporarily, from the canvas. If you’d like to re-open the bar at any point, go to Window > Contextual Task Bar

And this is the link to where I found how to fix that:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-beta-discussions/contextual-task-bars-now-in-photoshop-beta/td-p/13658736

Show previous replies

C

csscms

Legend

Why doesn't the new task bar ever go above the thing you're editing? If the layer you're editing is close to document bottom, the task bar covers it. See attached, this happens to me all day, every day because of the work I do - you can't see what you're editing which makes editing text impossible (see attached).

Also, is it just me or does the task bar randomly blink on/off for everyone when editing text? It's very distracting.

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gpecu

Participating Frequently

The fact that the contextual menu bar always covers a sliver of the canvas is problematic. Programming the thing so that it automatically moves out of the way of whatever part of the canvas you're currently editing sounds prohibitively complex and probably unworkable.

Right now, the contextual bar forces the user in certain circumstances to manually move it aside, zoom and pan the canvas to work around it, hide/unhide it by clicking through menus, or create a custom keyboard shortcut to do the same thing.

In your screenshot, all of the visible options are available in the traditional options bar at the top of the screen anyway. Most users of any text editor are well-accustomed to looking toward the top of their screens to change those particular options, so in this case I'm hard-pressed to understand what tangible benefit moving them into a floating UI element offers the user.

Combined with the bar's limited usefulness (i.e., it seems to focus on what one must assume the devs have determined are the most common tasks for a given workflow), the floating contextual bar seems a lot like a solution in search of a problem.

PetraMHG

Participant

This thing is annoying, i tried pinning it so it doesnt pop out like crazy all the time but nope, it just keeps resetting and popping everywhere i dont want it. Had to turn it off as i had no use for it at all.

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Gustafa7

Participant

I wish you could dock it on the bottom left of the screen, esp on Mac. Good Lort.

Maxwelp3

Participating Frequently

Mainly this thing gets in my way. I pin it to the menu bar off to the right and it seems to come back. The position does not save as part of my workspace. Every time I start something new it is back in the way AGAIN.

Maybe I should hide it but then I will never know if it can be of any use to me.

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Erik26375044h24w

Participant

I've been using the Photoshop Beta version for two days. Yesterday, there was a little task bar at the bottom of the window for generative AI. That is gone now. How do I get it back? Now I have to make a selection then right click to get to generative fill. I'd like to use that.

D

danielm77292327

Participant

Same thing happened to me, but in my case, I pressed the hide button that appeared in the contextual taskbar and now it wont show up again automatically after making a selection 😞 Can't seem to find how to make it show up each time I make a selection like it used to each time I made a selection.

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edwardd89203457

Participant

I don't get this. The contextual menu bar is absent from the canvas.

A

AndrewBuckle

Known Participant

window menu and bottom of the menu and contextual task bar, display it that way

A

Ailin302185375vn1

Participant

Hi! I don't have the contextual tool bar on my version of Photoshop, and I cheched on Adobe and there are no updates available. Am I missing something? Can you help? Thanks.

A

AndrewBuckle

Known Participant

You need 24.5 Photoshop (or 24.6 beta) and then go to the window menu and right at the bottom, contextual task bar

M

mejhogan

Participant

I aminly use shortcuts in photoshop so I'm not sure about it. It would be nice if there was a shortcut to hide and unhide it so when I wanted to use it I could get it quickly rather than going to the the menu bar

Michael

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AndrewBuckle

Known Participant

Create a shortcut for it via the edit menu and keyboard shortcuts (I use command and [ as I have run out of shortcuts) and then you can quickly hide or remove it

A

AndiSaleh

Participating Frequently

Most of the time it gets in the way. The program already has a contextual Option bar so perhaps expand on that or have the option to "append" this new contextual task bar to the Option bar.

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Marc van Zuylen

Participating Frequently

Okay, I am working with 3 screens. I have put the bar on an other screen as my main screen. I pinned it there. But it keeps on jumping back on my main screen. Please make it that when I 'pin' the bar on a location, it keeps on that place. Even if it's on a different screen.

A

AndrewBuckle

Known Participant

Please add this excellent feature to the gradient tool as well as many other tools, and add more options to the bar. Since getting this tool, made it a whole lot easier to use Photoshop

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