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Question

Crop Tool Malfunction

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
June 9, 2024
3 replies
1117 views

I have Photoshop Elements 2024. The CROP TOOL malfunctions. For example, when I begin the crop function, the dash line crob box jumps all over and will not retain the crop the I have drawn. I cannot pull the crop into the correct position using the crop handles. Sometimes the tool just crops the way it wants. Other times it doesn't crop at all but stays active even when click the green checkfmark.

To get it to stop, I have to close the image and exit Photoshop Elements and then reopen it, but sometimes that doesn't work either. I tried removing the program and re-installing it. No luck. Because I do work for a museum on vintage photos, I need this work NOW!

In desperation, I bought a new 2024 application and tried again. I am also having glitchy problems with the spot healing and clone tools, but that is another story.

Is this something that is a problem specific to 2024?

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Greg_S.

Community Expert

You are describing two entirely different issues.

Crop Tool Issue:

Do you have the correct Crop Tool selected and, more importantly, do you have the Tool Options set to No Restriction?

It is normal for the dashed and wiggling line (aka marching ants) to appear around the crop selection while you are holding down the mouse button. It only changes to a solid line with handles after you release the mouse button. You should then be able to modify the crop by clicking on a handle. The crop is made when you click the checkmark button.

Healing Brush Issue

Again, it is not clear what tool you are using and what settings you have. I am also not sure what your expectations are with these tools. I assume you are trying to get rid of the black punch hole in the clipping. But what are you expecting to replace it? I'm sure we would all love for the missing letters that were punched out of the obituary to be replaced by the actual type. But, the AI used by Elements is not going to make that happen. Here is what I accomplished, using a round brush and resizing it to just overlap the black hole. One click and voilà:

I suppose you could clone more complete letters from other parts of the document. But these would only require single clicks and would not involve any smearing:

If you still need more help with this issue, please give us a screenshot of your Tool Options settings. And am I correct in thinking that you are having this problem on two separate computers?

Greg_S.

Community Expert

For the crop problem, try going to Edit>Preferences>General and uncheck the Enable Crop Pre-Selection box:

It's not clear to me from your second screenshot what is happening with the Healing Brush or Clone Stamp tools. Can you show us a before and after example. Do you have the tool's Aligned box checked or unchecked? Change the setting and see if it makes any difference. Also, have you tried changing the size of the brush?

S

Siobhan1950Author

Participating Frequently

I apologize again for the delay.

As per your directions, I unchecked the Enable Crop Pre-Selection box, and I changed the selection in the aligned box. I am still having the problem.

I have attached an article (Obituary) before I worked with it. The next attachment is what happens when I tried to crop the greyed out sections of the article so that only the actual article remained. The Squirrel Mouse 2 is what happened after I tried to crop it. The crop tool does whatever it wants. What you can't see is what is happening while I still am holding down the mouse button on the section I have tried to crop. My finger is still holding down the mouse, and instead of a solid line around what I marked for cropping, the line is dashed and wiggling.

The third picture portrays the problem with the spot healing tool. In the original photo, notice the black dot along the left margin. As an experiment, I selected a small section of the black dot and clicked once with spot healing tool. I moved the mouse without keeping my finger down across the article to the right margin. You can see the smear running across to the right margin. Notice that it also placed part of the black dot in the middle of the article.

I then moved the mouse to the left margin, and you can see the tool moved part of the first and second paragraph to the far left part of the image.

To deal with this problem, I purchased a second copy of Photoshop Elements 2024. I changed mice three times. I followed the directions given to me by Adobe Community. I don't know what else to do. What do you think is happening with the program?

By the way, I can crop in other programs such as screenshot when I am selecting a section of something to save.

Thank you,

Pam

Glenn 8675309

Legend

Sounds more of a mouse problem. Is it a wireless mouse? A wireless keyboard can sometimes cause what you describe. Some screen shots would help.

S

Siobhan1950Author

Participating Frequently

Sorry I haven't responded sooner but I've been out of the country (really!!).

Your comment on the mouse gave me something to chew on. This is my travel computer, and I don't often use a mouse..just the touch pad, so I got a mouse and the same things happen.

I am attaching two screenshots which I hope will show you what I mean. I can't send you one with the crop border bouncing all over the place, but I can send you one that shows the crop tool has done what it wanted rather than what I want. Interestingly, when I made the screen shot with the rectangle tool, I had no problem cropping what I wanted to send you. It seems the crop problem only occurs in Photoshop Elements.

The second attachment is what I call the "smear". It happens with either the spot healing or the clone tool. I click on a spot to hill and then move to another spot. Even though I am not holding keys down, the tool continues to "heal" across the photo to the next spot. The exact same problem happens with the clone stamp. The clone continues to the new spot I need to work on in spite of me having released the key.

In my search on your website, I found the exact same problem with the crop tool that someone else was having. I found it Photoshop, so I don't know if the problem exists in both. I certainly hope this helps you understand. I really need to get this under control.

Thank you,

Pam

P.S. I forgot to tell you that when I use the crop tool, and indication that it is acting up is that the crop box ine is not solid. Instead, it is dashes, blinks and jumps around.

The only way I can fix it is to close any and all photos I have open and then reopen them or it again.

Glenn 8675309

Legend

Weak mouse batteries in a wireless mouse can cause this.

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