P: Pen Tablet & Windows Ink

[philippev98610928]

Hello everybody.

With the latest Photoshop update (21.2.2), the fix we had  to get the pressure sensitivity back with the PSUserConfig.txt fix is no longer working.

This fix was necessary to work properly with a Pen Stylus on Windows, without using the Windows Ink features.

We are used to turn of  Windows Ink systematicaly when using a Pen Tablet because it causes a lot of issues. (Wacom and other brands)

Why Windows Ink is not suitable 

Windows Ink ON :

1-There is a 1 second delay with every new clic and drag before the cursor catches up with the stylus. It happens when dragging a window, using a slider to adjust a value (in photoshop or any other app), resizing a layer, and even when drawing. So the begining of each new stroke will freeze for 1 sec before catching up to the movement of the stylus. You can imagine the hell it can be when hatching, or doing fast repetitive movements/adjustements.

2-Certain applications, like Chrome for exemple, don't respond to the stylus for certain things. You can't move the chrome window around at all when windows ink is enabled. You can't drag and drop email in your inbox from one tab to another, some clics and double clics aren't registered at all ...etc.

3-Windows Pen & Stylus fonctionnalites are working against a fluid use of a Stylus. Especially the infamous "Press and hold" setting, that needs to be disabled systematically if you don't want this "mouse freezing blue circle of death" to appear each time you stop moving your hand for more than half of a second. (I suspect this functionnality to be responsible for the lag before each new stroke, even when you have it turned off)

4-Just while typing this post, I've discoverd a new issue. With Windows Ink enabled, it is impossible to select text by dragging over it with the stylus. I had to drop it and use my mouse each time I wanted to edit a sentence.

 Windows Ink OFF:

1-Everything works perfectly.

2-Pressure sensitivity in Photoshop is gone, and need to be reactivated with PSUserConfig.

These are all the reasons (I can think of right now) why we have no choice but to disable Windows Ink, and use the WinTab alternative to get the pressure sensitivity back in Photoshop.

I hope you now understand why enabling Windows Ink is not a solution.

We had a solution, please do not take it away from us.

I'm assuming that everyone would love to use regular settings, and not to have to tamper with this kind of work around, but unfortunatly that is not possible.

Again, using WinTab is not a choice, it is essential for any serious workflow.

I'm currently paying for the full Adobe suite, and not being able to work properly is a big issue right now. Not knowing when this will be resolved is very worrisome.

PS: "Windows Ink" or "Pen and Touch" drivers on Windows, are currently pushing for touch and tablet functionnalities. These are cumbersome and unfit for any professional Stylus use.

[Rinthe1]

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check that in windows settings and you can select text.

[philippev98610928]

It is checked, and not working.
I found out (while using a Microsoft Surface 7, so no other Tablet drivers installed) that those settings are pretty unstable anyway. As they seem to randomly ignore what is checked. Even unchecking and rechecking the boxes is not always changing those settings acordingly.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I'm having the same issues, and PS is pretty much unusable. It also won't allow me to right-click using the wacom stylus button, it makes various operations laggy and there seems to be no way to disable the yellow bubble messages every time alt/ctrl/shift is held. At least we had a workaround before. Will be rolling back to the previous version until this is addressed.

[AscaryLazos]

Please just let us use photoshop with windows ink off, is the easy way to avoid all issues. I had to come back to 21.2.1 to disable Ink and use the PSUserConfig trick to get a fluid work.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

All the same issues here. Reverted to 21.2.1. Also noticed with ink enabled, the clone stamp tool behaves strangely. The 'source' cross-hairs freeze on every stroke.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I have tried to turn on windows ink to fix the pressure issue and it didn't work either. My version of adobe photoshop is now pretty much unusable and is the primary art program I use for all my digital drawing. With the only known fix to this problem now rendered useless what am I suppose to do now?

[Geoff_MD]

Reporting the same issue here after Photoshop update (21.2.2), Windows 10 and Wacom Intuos Pro. When using the clone stamp tool the source point cross hair is frozen, and the healing brush tool lags. This "professional" software is unusable for my work now and hours wasted trying to fix it. Ridiculous situation.  Will try reverting to the previous version and again use the PSUserConfig work around.

[Gixxxa75]

I'm getting this as well, finding the whole Wacom , Adobe and Windows tedious repetitive  mess with this issues to be rather tiresome. One of them is going to have to go from my workflow.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Same problems here with windows ink and the last update Photoshop (21.2.2). Dual brush option is not working properly as before.
I cannot work correctly with photoshop right now and need to roll back to photoshop 21.2.1

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I have deleted PSConfig file and sensitivity of my Wacom pen came back. What's the magic?

[philippev98610928]

Probably because your Wacom driver is now using the Windows Ink functionnalty.
And it is not a good news.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Now I restarted Photoshop and sensitivity is gone. 😞
Well, I think, I have to return to the previous version of the program... 

[feddark]

I agree with author of this topic!
Btw I stopped updating photoshop since 20.0.9 release and everything works fine. I'd like to update but unfortunately recent year or longer updates make more problems than advantages =(

[skimpaint]

With windows ink the cursor stays clicked in place often, and you can't use mouse when this happens.

Sometimes photoshop windows (ie - layers, history,  extensions like coolorus wont respond to clicks forcing you to restart).

I don't know why you guys would push out an update removing a solution to all these issues without extensively testing.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

With Windows ink ON, you can forget about using extensions like Coolorus, Magigpicker, Brusherator etc. As soon as you click on an extension panel, the pressure sensitivity is gone again.

[Kroute]

Yup.. I had to switch back to windows ink today because no pressure sensitivity whatsoever since the latest update was pushed.
Everything is soooo laggy, and I now have the obnoxious shortcut pop-ups under my cursor every time I press Shift, Alt or Ctrl...
Maybe I should just stop updating my Photoshop... it's always a sh*tfest for wacom users 😕

Please let our PSUserConfig file be useful again, as it had been for more than 5 years now

[philippev98610928]

[UPDATE] Other issues reported with Windows Ink enabled :
(reported by other users on different topics with the same complaints)

-Pen buttons not working as expected. right-click and double-click buttons don't work at all.

-Scrubby zoom bug

-Color wheel is sticky

-Resizing of the brush lag when using the Alt+RMB. Plus rezise brush not working when moving the pen only a small amount. Can't be subtle.

-Things like browser MMB scrolling with a Wacom pen doesn't work with Windows Ink enabled.

-Annoying Win-popups (Shift / Alt / Ctrl) under the brush.

-Dual brush resizing is broken

-Sliders are lagging horribly in LrC, Camera Raw & Photoshop

-Windows Ink randomly causes the brush tool to shoot off towards the top left of the screen while drawing.

-Big lag when using the move tool.

-Clone stamp tool and healing brush tool do not work correctly. The 'source' cross-hairs freeze on every stroke.

-With Windows ink ON, you can forget about using extensions like Coolorus, Magigpicker, Brusherator etc. As soon as you click on an extension panel, the pressure sensitivity is gone again.

-Sliders in the RAW converter can sometimes not be set

-The on-screen keyboard is always opened when input is required

[Renderluz]

Yeah, I have the same issues, its been like 6 or 7 years since this problem exists in Windows, I dont know why Microsoft does not add a toggle for the popups for alt shift and ctrl... the only reason I can think of is that the amount of people that use Wacom to draw must be so small in relation to the bulk of users that dont have this problem that they just dont care...and there's also the rest of the problems you described... its so odd that this has never been resolved properly in such kafkaesque amount of time.

[Renderluz]

Adobe may also be a bit tied as to what they can do, after all the popups are related to how Windows controls the tablet, tho removing the usability of the PSuserconfig file is something that also makes no sense, is like they wish us to use Windows Ink come what may, I for one dont care what driver is controlling the pen, what I want is for the pen to work well, and to no have those pop ups appearing each time I click to sample a color when painting.

[Renderluz]

In Microsoft forums across the web this popup problem has threads as old as 2016 maybe older than than that, and they ignore those just like this thread gets ignored, it really boggles the mind as to why. I will revert the update, as I cant work like this, but I also wish to have the updates because Im paying for them... and also because they do add new useful things with them...at times... this is really strange... best of luck to you all.

[Wazza999]

This issue is just crazy. It has been consistently annoying users for many years now. It's just sad, having to pay for legal versions of Windows and Photoshop and not getting the user experience or functionality that you want and need.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Disabled Windows Ink, rollback from PS 21.2.2 to PS 21.2.1 (Windows 10 v.1809) and WinTab works perfect with config file

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

The dual brush resize bug is quite glaring.. good list. Like everyone I rolled back a version to get wintab working again.

[Kroute]

Yea I just went back on 2019 tbh... less bugs to deal with, works like a charm, like it's supposed to.

[philippev98610928]

Yes, that's the only solution right now.