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Participant
August 7, 2026
Question

Why zoom doesn't work with Rectangular Marquee tool, Brush tool and Erase tool?

  • August 7, 2026
  • 7 replies
  • 49 views

I just switched from Photopea to test Photoshop (again after few years).

 

Rectangular Marquee tool:
I’m working on sprite sheets with pixel precision. I need to select some things and I need to be pixel-perfect. In Photopea I can just start selection zoom out and zoom in the different part of canvas and just end selection there. In Photoshop when I zoom out tool already lost my selection starting point because CTRL+ALT+scroll down moves my selection in different places. I can’t even zoom in somewhere else because with this tool I can zoom in and zoom out in the same place without moving.

Brush/Erase tool:
When I click brush/erase in one place and zoom out and zoom in somewhere else and I click with shift - there is no straight line, just another brush/erase point. Why?

In my workflow dynamic zooming in and out is very important and it makes my work much faster.

I just installed Photoshop and I have default settings.

    7 replies

    Participant
    August 8, 2026

    If you got the solution tell me too.
    i am also facing this 

    Jeff Arola
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 7, 2026

    If you have a standard mouse with a scroll wheel and have Zoom with Scroll Wheel checked in Edit>Preferences>Tools, then you should be able to zoom in and out while the left mouse button is still depressed by using the Scroll Wheel.

     

    Still experimenting with a trackpad/touchpad to see if it works in any kind of way.

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 7, 2026

    I tried it with an Apple trackpad and at first, I thought it worked…I could pan and zoom with one hand while the other hand was holding down the mouse button in the middle of dragging to create a selection marquee.

    But then I noticed that during the trackpad pinch zoom gesture, the selection marquee did not stay locked to the pixels it was in the middle of selecting; Photoshop let the canvas slide out from under the uncommitted selection marquee. That would not meet the goal of precision that the original poster asked for, so I decided not to offer a trackpad as a suggestion.

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 7, 2026

    If you mean zooming magnification while already holding down the mouse button in the middle of drawing a selection, the standard Photoshop shortcuts don’t seem to be able to do that. Photoshop seems designed to allow zooming only when another mouse operation is not already in progress.

     

    As a workaround, you can try other selection methods such as:

    QuickMask — Paint the selection area, change view as needed and continue to paint the selection area, when ready exit QuickMask to convert painted area to selection.

    Paths – Draw a path, change view as needed to edit the path, when finished convert path to a selection.

    Both of those let you freely adjust the view before you finish painting or drawing the selection area, because the selection marquee is not activated until you finalize the selection shape.

     

    The more interactive zooming you are asking for, including the part about the brush/erase tool, would be a good idea to submit in the Feature Requests section of this community, where other users can vote it up and if Adobe decides to implement it, they can publicly update its status until release.

    kwasowskyAuthor
    Participant
    August 8, 2026

    Thank you for your reply. For now I’m just using Rectangular Marquee tool - starting selection and go far over canvas screen so the canvas move it self and it’s not that slow move so it works for me. I just have to change my ways I guess. With this I can select what I want in the matter of 5 sec anyway.

    I’ll check out Feature Requests page, thank you.

    EDIT: By the way this shift+click feature with brush or pencil works with zoom but not with erase tool. That’s annoying.

    kwasowskyAuthor
    Participant
    August 7, 2026

    What an elaborate way to not solving my issue - sorry for sarcasm.
    I know how to zoom obviously I just need zoom while doing selection.
    Now I just move my cursor around while holding LMC to select so this isn’t big of an issue right now.
    I didn’t get answer about Brush/Erase tool clean line with shift bug.

    Srishti Bali
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 7, 2026

    Hi ​@Generous_heartd53b 

     

    Great question. This is a common point of confusion. The Zoom tool in Photoshop is a separate tool in the toolbar, so when you have another tool active (like the Rectangular Marquee, Brush, or Eraser), you can't directly zoom by clicking on the canvas. However, Photoshop provides several ways to zoom without switching away from your current tool:

     

    Method 1: Keyboard Shortcuts (most common)

    Action Windows macOS
    Zoom In Ctrl + + Cmd + +
    Zoom Out Ctrl + - Cmd + -
    Fit to Screen Ctrl + 0 Cmd + 0
    Zoom to 100% Ctrl + 1 Cmd + 1

     

    These work regardless of which tool is selected.

     

    Method 2: Scroll Wheel Zoom

    You can enable scroll-wheel zooming so that scrolling your mouse wheel zooms in/out without switching tools:

    1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Tools (Windows) or Photoshop > Settings > Tools (macOS)
    2. Check "Zoom with Scroll Wheel"
    3. Click OK

    Now your scroll wheel will zoom in/out while any tool is active.

     

    Method 3: Temporary Zoom (Scrubby Zoom)

    Hold down these keys to temporarily switch to the Zoom tool, then release to return to your current tool:

    • Zoom In: Hold Ctrl + Space (Windows) or Cmd + Space (macOS), then click or drag
    • Zoom Out: Hold Ctrl + Alt + Space (Windows) or Cmd + Option + Space (macOS), then click

    Note for macOS users: Cmd + Space may conflict with Spotlight Search. If so, go to System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Spotlight and disable or reassign the Spotlight shortcut.

     

    Method 4: Pinch-to-Zoom (Trackpad/Touch)

    If you're on a laptop or have a trackpad:

    1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Tools
    2. Check "Enable Gestures"
    3. Use a two-finger pinch gesture to zoom in/out

     

    Method 5: View Menu

    You can always use the View menu at the top:

    • View > Zoom In
    • View > Zoom Out
    • View > Fit on Screen
    • View > 100%

     

    Quick tip: If keyboard shortcuts aren't responding at all, check that your canvas/document window is in focus (click on the canvas once) and that you don't have a text field or dialog box active — keyboard shortcuts only reach the canvas when it has focus.

    Hope this clears things up! Let us know if you're still having trouble after trying these methods.

    Thanks, Srishti Bali | Community & Engagement Strategist, Digital Imaging | Adobe