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Xarbrough
Participating Frequently
July 14, 2013
Question

PS CC - how do I select individual anchor points of a shape?

  • July 14, 2013
  • 5 replies
  • 17830 views

In PS CS 6 it used to be possible to draw a shape, like a rectangle, and then use the direct selection tool to select and move one corne of the rectangle. However, in PS CC this does not work anymore. When I try to use the direct selection tool, all anchor points remain selected and so I can't move a single point, just all of them at once. What might I be doing wrong? Did something change in the CC version?

Thanks!

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    5 replies

    Jasenk0
    Jasenk0
    Participant
    January 7, 2015

    I've experienced the same problem, not being able to select an anchor point with direct selection tool. Found out that if the "Extras" are hidden (in another words guides and so on), even though the right layer is selected Photoshop will also hide the anchor point.

    Try this:

    1. Select the shape layer
    2. Turn on the extras with Cmd+H (Mac) or Ctrl+H (Win)
    3. Select an anchor point with direct selection tool

    If you have a lot of guides in your project file and don't want to display them every time you edit an anchor point you can also use Shift+Cmd+H to only turn on/off "Target Paths".

    Hope this helps:)!

      C
      CalebEverett
      Participant
      November 3, 2013

      What worked for me was to right click on the Path Selection Tool and then select the Direct Selection Tool.

      R
      rgbcmyk
      Participant
      July 16, 2013

      Same observation Xarbrough! - maybe this is a "new feature" in CC but I found it annoying that there is a difference between editing a shape and path in CC (not in CS6).

      Noel Carboni
      Noel Carboni
      Legend
      July 15, 2013

      I seem to be able to use the Direct Selection tool to edit points, e.g., on a rectangular shape, to select one only and move it around.

      When I select the shape layer then choose the Direct Selection tool (white arrow), the path shows.

      When I click on the path all the points show, with "hollow" handles.

      When I click on only one point it turns black, then I can move it with another click and drag.  In fact, just one click, hold until the point turns black, then drag seems to work.

      Of course, you've got to be VERY accurate where you click.

      And Trevor, I seem to be able to drag a box around several points, then move them.  What am I doing right, accidentally or on purpose?  Is there some kind of bug being invoked in certain documents maybe that I'm not seeing in my testing here?

      -Noel

      Noel Carboni
      Noel Carboni
      Legend
      July 15, 2013

      As a follow-up, I just encountered a situation where I had the Direct Selection tool active, then clicked on one of the shapes in a multi-layer shape document.  All the points showed up as filled-in black, and I had to drag a box around one point to get it selected alone.  Then I could manipulate it separately.

      This happened with only one of 5 shapes in the document.

      Here's the document if you'd like to try with it...  It happens only with the blue checkmark.  The other shapes behave as I discribed in my prior post above.

      http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/temp/MultiLayerShapeDocument.psd

      -Noel

      X
      XarbroughAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      July 15, 2013

      I've gotten one step closer to the problem and there really seems to be something odd: I can only select one point and move it, if I use the Path Selection Tool (black arrowhead) to select the whole shape and then hold CMD (for Direct Selection Tool / white arrowhead) to select a single point and move it. After that, it works like it used to work in CS 6, just click and move points with the white arrowhead.

      It also works, if I have other tools active and select the shape, then hold CMD to move one point.

      Nothing else worked for me though. Especially, when I switch to the Direct Selection Tool, it doesn't respond without having to do what I described earlier.

      josephlavine
      Community Expert
      josephlavineCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 15, 2013

      If you click outside the Path once, and then back on the points it should work, and allow you to move a single point.

        X
        XarbroughAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        July 15, 2013

        I'm afraid it doesn't work in PS CC.

        It works that way in CS 6, but in the creative cloud version all anchor points remain selected no matter where I click, or whether I change tools or not. I've tried different documents and different shapes, but nothing worked. Selecting single points on an open path works, but not if the path is closed.

        Trevor.Dennis
        Community Expert
        Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 15, 2013

        You can definitely edit a shape in CC, pretty uch as before, but using the Direct selection tool, and holding down the Ctrl (Cmd) keys.  But I don't seem able to drag the Path selection tool around _some_ of the points in a shape, to select just them for deleting or similar.

        I didn't find the help file particularly 'helpful' regards CC

        http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/editing-paths.html

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