Skip to main content
Bracer_59
Participating Frequently
June 22, 2026
Question

alt key not working in Photoshop

  • June 22, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 51 views

I updated Photoshop CC today to 27.8.0 and the alt key no longer functions (this may be a coincidence but it was working fine yesterday). It won’t activate the color picker for the brush tool, it won’t select an area with the clone stamp tool, etc. When I use the on-screen keyboard, the tools work correctly. The alt key on my physical keyboard works fine with other software that also uses the alt key. For the clone stamp tool I am using a file with only one layer, no selections, current layer and below, etc. I tried all the things that I could find online.

PS reset tool

PS reset preferences on quit

PS disable use graphics processor

PS disable GPU compositing

Win11 settings - Disable Windows Sticky & Filter Keys

restart computer

disable NVIDIA overlay

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

    2 replies

    Sameer K
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    June 23, 2026

    Hey, ​@Bracer_59. Welcome to the Photoshop Community. I am sorry for the delay in getting to your post. I'll help you figure this out. Please share the system information from Photoshop Help > System Info > Copy and paste into a text document > Upload and attach here. 

     

    Go to the location of the preference folder below and rename it to backup.

    • Windows 10/11: Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop [version]/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings

    • You can press Press the Windows key > Enter 'Run' > Enter %APPDATA%\Adobe

    • Rename the Adobe Photoshop folder by adding a .old at the end. (Adobe Photoshop 2026 > Rename > Adobe Photoshop 2026. old), You can restore these preferences later if you need to.(https://adobe.ly/4860qM9)

    • Restart the computer.

     

    These changes will give Photoshop a fresh start as a new install. Let me know how it goes.

    Thanks!

    Sameer K

    (Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

    Bracer_59
    Bracer_59Author
    Participating Frequently
    June 23, 2026

    @Sameer K Thank you for getting back to me. I attached the system info screen information.

    I actually uninstalled photoshop and did a new install this morning (it didn’t help). I did, however, choose to keep preferences during the uninstall. 

    Bracer_59
    Bracer_59Author
    Participating Frequently
    June 22, 2026

    As an update. I did a system restore from 2 days ago and it did not help.