Tilde key for clear mode when drawing with pencil?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 22, 2025
2 replies
232 views

When drawing with the Brush tool in Photoshop, I constantly use the tilde ~ key shortcut (i.e. hold the ~ key down to activate Clear mode while drawing, release to switch back). I rely on this a lot as it's quicker than switching back and forth to the Eraser tool and I can draw and erase more intuitively as I work.

I need to use the Pencil tool for some specific linework and expected the shortcut to be the same but it's not working. Have I set something up wrong or does the shortcut just not apply to the Pencil?

I'm using a Mac, running Photoshop v26.2.

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

macOS

davescm

Community Expert

As far as I know the tilde key shortcut has always been for the brush tool only ( I went back and checked v24 and it was the same). You could raise it as an idea, as it does seem a sensible request.

Dave

A

AwnenAuthor

Participant

I might do that, thanks for checking!

Rene Andritsch

Community Expert

There was a question from another user regarding this functionality and reassigning the shortcut. The solution described in this forum thread should also work with the pencil as it shares the same mode options: https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/re-assign-tilde-key-brush-clear-to-different-key-in-photoshop/td-p/14697389

For users with a German keyboard the key to get to the “Clear” function is the “Smaller than/bigger than“ key by the way.

A

AwnenAuthor

Participant

Thank you for the quick reply, I'll try the custom shortcut!

Alternatively, the only reason I'm using the Pencil tool is because I want to use an imported brush that's preset as a pencil (circled in red)

Is there a way to just resave this preset as a brush (like the one below in green) so I can use it with the Brush tool? All of the functionality/characteristics would need to be the same.

Rene Andritsch

Community Expert

Yes you can do that. If you want to use the red one with the Brush tool, first switch to the Brush, then with CMD+OPT (Mac) / CTRL+ALT (WIN) keys held down click the red brush shape. Once selected save out a new preset for the Brush with this setting if you use it more often.
A similar request was solved in this thread: https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/can-you-change-a-brush-to-a-different-kind-of-brush-for-example-change-a-smudge-brush-and-make-it-a/m-p/11487943

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