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Pierre-Eliott - Dalet
Participant
July 10, 2021
Question

Adobe Photoshop 22: text carriage return is not working

  • July 10, 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 4442 views

Hi,
I'm using Adobe Photoshop 22.4.2 on Windows 10 64bits. I noticed an issue with the text layer. When editing the text and pressing Enter (text one or number one), Photoshop is validating the text edit on my layer and not performing a carriage return as it should do by default. I tried several shortcuts combinaisons, without being able to perform a text carriage return in the app. I tested on Adobe Illustrator and it's working correctly as expected.

I uninstalled, downgraded to v22.0, reset the user preferences, all without success. I tested on my mac, same version and it's working fine. The issue is only with the version I have on Windows.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Pierre

    5 replies

    BVL2
    BVL2
    Participant
    October 22, 2025

    It seems to default to zero line spacing. The text box to the left of Color: on my version.

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 22, 2025
    quote

    It seems to default to zero line spacing. The text box to the left of Color: on my version.

    By @BVL2

     

    Zero is not the default. If you reset your preferences, the leading would be Auto (the default). 

     

    Options are sticky. When you change options for a tool, they remain until you change them again or Reset the tool. That's why you are seeing zero for the leading on your computer. Try resetting the Type tool (with no Type layers selected).

     

    Jane

     

    BVL2
    BVL2
    Participant
    October 22, 2025

    I've never seen an ap unable to perform a simple carriage return until Photoshop. Word, Notepad, just about anything but Excel. I don't know why Adobe makes it so difficult to simply add a line.

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 22, 2025
    quote

    I've never seen an ap unable to perform a simple carriage return until Photoshop. Word, Notepad, just about anything but Excel. I don't know why Adobe makes it so difficult to simply add a line.

    By @BVL2

     

    Photoshop can easily start a new line when you press Return (macOS) or Enter (Windows). Since it is not working on your computer, you might consider Resetting your Preferences. Steps are here:

    https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

     

    You can start a new line in Excel, btw. 

    • Windows: Press Alt+Enter 
    • macOS: Press Control + Option + Return

     

    Jane

     

    J
    Jason Mojica
    Participant
    March 22, 2025

    I reset my preferences and the same happened to me. Turned out it was the leading. Set it to auto (or something other than .01) and you're good. 

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 22, 2025
    quote

    Turned out it was the leading.

    By @Jason Mojica

     

    Typical leading, as defined by Guttenberg, is type size plus 2. For example, 10 pt of type has 12 pt of leading (10/12), and 11 pt type has 13 pt of leading (11/13). Auto leading is defined in preferences as 120% of the point size. 

     

    Jane

    C
    catkarina
    Known Participant
    November 27, 2023

    Funny story I had a similar issue but it was because I put a space after the last word and until I removed the space and pressed enter it would not let me go to the next line.

      quentinfox
      quentinfox
      Participant
      December 25, 2023

      That fixed it for me. A weird bug to be sure.

      Trevor.Dennis
      Community Expert
      Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 25, 2023

      I had to replace my keyboard. 😞

        jane-e
        Community Expert
        jane-eCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 10, 2021
        @Pierre-Eliott - Dalet wrote:

        not performing a carriage return

         

        Hi

        The first thing to ask is which Enter you are using — the one on the alphabetic keypad or the one on the numeric keypad, as they are not the same. Don't use the Numeric keypad Enter.

         

        On your Mac you will use Return and not numeric keypad Enter.

         

        ~ Jane

        P
        Pierre-Eliott - DaletAuthor
        Participant
        July 12, 2021

        Hi Jane,

         

        Thanks for the tip. However, Photoshop is not behaving as default by conducting a carriage return in the text paragraph block when using the alphabetic keyboad on my Windows version. As I said, on the same laptop, it's working correctly with Adobe Illustrator.

        I also checked that no other third party software might "geopardize" the shortcuts.

         

        Pierre

        jane-e
        Community Expert
        jane-eCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 12, 2021

        Hi @Pierre-Eliott - Dalet 

         

        Here are a couple of things to try:

         

        • Can you look in Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts to see if the shortcut for a Enter got reassigned to accept the Text edit instead of start a new paragraph?
        • Are the Keyboard Shortcuts using the Default set or does it say (modified)?
        • As a temporary workaround and for testing purposes, does Shift+Enter (line break) work?
        • Try resetting the Type tool: right-click the Type tool in the options bar (not Tools panel) and Reset.

         

        Also, it's hard to see: are you clicking to create Point text or dragging first to create Area text? Try both to see if Enter works with either.

         

        As a last resort, when PS acts flaky, and this qualifies, then you need to reset Preferences after backing up customization: 

        Prefs > General > Reset Preferences on Quit.

         

        ~ Jane

         

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