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Selection brush not working correctly in Photoshop web version

Forum|Forum|9 hours ago
August 4, 2026
4 replies
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Yesterday morning it was working just fine at first, but by about the 10th photo I was editing, the Selection Brush’s add more setting stopped functioning. It performs like the add less. The add less works correctly. I cleared my browser cache, restarted my browser, tried a different browser, restarted my computer, and none of those helped. I asked the built in AI and they advised trying in an incognito window incase it was a plug-in interfering. Still no difference. I tried a different image, thinking maybe that was the issue. No change. The AI said that it is most likely a bug on your end, so here we are.

Note: No, I do not have the ability to install the desktop version on this particular PC.

Correct answer yerdonsm

@Sameer K

Well, I still don’t know what caused it or why, but it seems to be working again. Is there a shortcut that I could have accidentally used that would have caused it?

yerdonsmAuthorCorrect answer

Participant

@Sameer K

Well, I still don’t know what caused it or why, but it seems to be working again. Is there a shortcut that I could have accidentally used that would have caused it?

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @yerdonsm,

Thank you for following up, glad to hear it resolved on its own! To answer your question: yes, a keyboard shortcut could have caused this.
Here's the most likely scenario: The Alt/Option key toggles the Selection Brush between Add and Subtract modes. If the key state gets "stuck," which can happen when the browser loses focus momentarily (e.g., a Windows notification, a system pop-up, or switching tabs briefly), the tool can behave as if Alt/Option is being held down even after you release it. This would cause "Select More" to act like "Select Less" exactly as you described.

If the key-up event isn't registered (because focus shifted away from the Photoshop canvas at that moment), the web app continues to think the modifier is active until the state resets, which might happen on its own after a period of time or when you perform certain actions.

If this happens again, try this quick fix: Tap the Alt/Option key once (press and release). This forces the browser to register a fresh key-up event and resets the modifier state.

This is more effective than restarting the browser since it directly addresses the stuck modifier key state.

Regarding the earlier question about Object Selection enabled, I guess Sameer was referring to the Detect objects toggle in the Select panel (shown below).

Thanks again for the update!

Best,

Anshul Saini

yerdonsmAuthor

Participant

@Sameer K

I’ve been using it for months and only started having the issue yesterday.

To answer your questions:

Windows 11 Pro
Typically on Chrome Version 150.0.7871.182 (Official Build) (64-bit); I did also try on Edge Version 151.0.4129.59 (Official build) (64-bit)
No, I was only working in one tab at the time
I’m unclear on what you mean by if it’s enabled. I had literally been using it on the image directly before; Saved the image; Closed it and opened the next one, and it stopped working. So it never got turned off as far as I know.

I wish I could, but I do not have the ability to at work.

Thank you!

Sameer K

Community Manager

Hey, @yerdonsm. Welcome to the Photoshop Community. I'll help you figure this out.

I've tried to recreate this with continued use, but I couldn't. Could you share specifics such as:

Operating system that you’re working on
The browser, the exact version of the browser (Have you tried any other browser?)
Are you uploading documents to work on in different tabs?
Is Object Selection enabled?

Could you record a video of your workflow?

Thanks!
Sameer K
(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

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