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Earthcharm
Jan 17, 2026 8:59 PM UTC
Question

Photoshop Elements 2025 Clone Issue

My 2025 Photoshop Elements was working fine for all of 2025, but recently I can’t use the Clone or Healing Brush tools.

I've tried rebooting Photoshop Elements 2025 and going to Edit>Preferences>General> and choosing “Reset Preference on next launch”.

After exiting the program and relaunching it, I’m still not able to use the Clone or Healing brush tools.

6 replies

Peru Bob
Community Expert
Peru BobCommunity Expert
Community Expert
Jan 20, 2026 12:53 AM UTC

Try turning off caps lock.

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    Jeff Arola
    Community Expert
    Jeff ArolaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Jan 19, 2026 6:50 PM UTC

    In PSE 2025 does the Alt key work for other keyboard shortcuts like Enhance>Convert to Black and White

    Ctrl+Alt+B?

     

    Did you try the Alt key on both sides of the keyboard?

     

    Perhaps another recently installed or updated software is stealing the Alt key shortcut.

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    Glenn 8675309
    Glenn 8675309
    Legend
    Jan 18, 2026 12:12 PM UTC

    A partial screenshot like that really is not of much use- we need to see the entire program.  Why?  Users often leave out critical information- and like in this case- extra "back and forth" is required because we couldn't see something as simple as not having the correct layer selected.

    The image is the highway tunnel they dug in Seattle a few years ago- 200 feet below the surface and enough room for two levels of lanes.- 57 feet feet wide. 2 lanes north, 2 lanes south.

    Below is an example of a full screenshot. 

    875152i38846B1CB358917F.png

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    EarthcharmAuthor
    Jan 18, 2026 7:24 PM UTC

    Thanks, Glenn. Sorry about that. I'm not an expert by any means. I attached a PDF screenshot which I hope is readable. I tried to attach a Word document containing the same screenshot, but your system wouldn't take it. 

    I still can't use the clone tool.

    Appreciate your reply.

    Sue McCloskey

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    Sue Mc
    Glenn 8675309
    Glenn 8675309
    Legend
    Jan 18, 2026 10:11 PM UTC

    Sounds like you might be a bit confused how the clone tool works.  You first have to select an area you want to clone to begin with.

    To use the Clone Stamp tool in Photoshop Elements, select the tool (found in the Enhance section or Toolbox), set your brush size/hardness in the options bar, then Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) on a source area to sample it, release the key, and paint over the area you want to cover, effectively copying pixels from the source to your target area to blend or remove imperfections. 


     

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