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mikes98032507
Participant
March 3, 2025
Question

Photoshop on Mac Mini M4 — Shortcuts Only Work After Manual Tool Use

  • March 3, 2025
  • 7 replies
  • 731 views

Using a Mac Mini with the M4 chip with an Apple monitor (both new). Latest operating system and latest vesrion of Photoshop. 

When opening an image, no keyboard tool shortcuts will work. You have to manually click on another tool with the cursor then from that point on all keyboard shortcust will work. Or if you happen to be on a particular tool like brush tool, if you brush a line in on the image, then undo, everything will work after that. I have spoken to about 12 different Adobe agents over a month. They have taken control of the computer, tried all sorts of fixes. Nothing has worked.  My colleague has a simliar problem, he is using a wired in keyboard and I am using a wireless keyboard. The problem occurs on  both. We both use a Wacom tablet, but even when getting rid of thsi and using a mouse, the problem occurs. Must be a bug that stops Photoshop talking to the computer effectively. 

 

Might be something to do with full screen mode. If I press 'f' it will go to full sreen, then the problem occurs and I can't select any other tool with the keyboard. However, if I dont go to full screen mode, keyboard shortcuts seem to work until I go to full screen then the problem occurs. 

    7 replies

    CMass
    Community Manager
    CMassCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    June 26, 2025

    Hey everyone! We have not been able to reproduce this in-house on our end, so I'm moving this back to discussion. Please share any information that might be able to help us pinpoint the cause of this issue. 

    Trevor.Dennis
    Community Expert
    Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 27, 2025

    I've been noticing shortcuts not working unless a document window has focus, but I can't remember if it has always been that way.

     

    I never use the default workspaces, but for the sake of testing, I set and reset Essentials, and restarted.  About half the time Ctrl n will not bring up the new document panel with the current beta.  It always works with the release version.

    I have also noticed the move tool refusing to react to the V shortcut unless I click on the document window, but that is also with the current beta, and never with default workspaces, so it could be me.   Always with the Home screen enabled (because I love it).

     

    My gut is telling me that this is recent., but it's the usual problem. We do this stuff so much we don't think about it, so can't be sure if this is new or not.  

     

    P
    precise_future6C12
    Participating Frequently
    June 23, 2025

    I'm having the same issue, this is with version 26.8, just recently updated on a Windows 11 box with 64GB of RAM. I've tried switching between various tools with standard short cuts, V for the move tool, B for brush, S for stamp I've restart Photoshop a number of times but about anywhere from a half hour to an hour it starts glitching out again. It's getting a little frustrating.

    S
    Steve K Walker
    Inspiring
    June 6, 2025

    I have the same problem — for at least 2 years now. Unsolvable.
    Sometimes they work ofr short periods.
    Immensely frustrating !!
    Anyone with any other insight — I've tried all the obvious solutions.
    And it happens on both my iMac and my Mac Mini.

      MarekMularczyk
      Community Expert
      MarekMularczykCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 14, 2025

      Sorry to hear that. It does sound odd.

      You mentioned in your post that Photoshop works fine if you don't go to Full Screen mode. Is this still the case? Maybe that's your "solution" for now? 😉

        

      Adobe Community ExpertAdobe Certified Professional
      M
      mikes98032507Author
      Participant
      March 4, 2025

      Hi Marek. If you try to clear a mask using Command Backspace, this wouldn't work either. Not until I use the cursor. Then the keyboard will work again. Yes we've tried various fixes like resetting preferences. It is intermittent which is the most annoying part. Adobe took control of my computer and renamed a photoshop folder in library adding '.old' then it seemed to work OK. But today, back to the same problem.  

      MarekMularczyk
      Community Expert
      MarekMularczykCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 4, 2025

      Is it only the tools keyboard shortcuts that don't work?

      Have you tried resetting Photoshop preferences?

        

      Adobe Community ExpertAdobe Certified Professional
      nikunj.m
      Community Manager
      nikunj.mCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      March 3, 2025

      Hi, thanks for reaching out! I just tried reproducing this behavior but wasn't able to. Are you and your friend both using M4 Mac Minis? 

      Please go to the Help menu in Photoshop, then System info and copy the text. You can either paste the text here as a reply or in a text file and share the file with us. 


      Thanks,
      Nikunj

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