P: Spring Loaded shortcuts more sensitive - Turn off toggling between tools

[FalconX444]

If you switch from a tool to another while holding the tool's shortcut button (i.e : switch from brush tool to eraser tool with a shortcut, but holding the "e" key while erasing something) make photoshop toggle between those tools. Some people may make use of it, but not me. In addition, the keyboard shortcut often lag, making photoshop do the toggle out of nowhere. It's really frustrating especially for Illustrators since I change the brush and eraser tool often. Please do something about it.

[David Mohr]

Howdy Farhan,

What you're encountering is the Spring-loaded Tool shortcuts.  Those were added on purpose for people who want to use a different tool really quickly, but then return to their previous task.  If you want to change tools, just press and release the shortcut.

As for a delay in switching tools, that's news.  Which tools, specifically?  What else is going on?  How frequently does it happen?  When I change tools, it's instantaneous and snappy.  If you're not seeing that, there might be a problem with your setup.

Thanks,
David

[HarlequinsDen]

Seriously, could we please get this as an option to toggle between and let users decide whether they like to use this for themselves?

While I can see that some people might utilize this, like Farhan Purwanto said:
as an illustrator I tend to switch back and forth between brush and eraser very quickly via hotkeys.

Here I need full and immediate control over which tool to use and having Photoshop dictate when it wants to jump between brushes is extremely annoying and unnecessary. 

"Just pressing and releasing" a key, at least at the speed witch the key is being activated during painting, only gives one stroke of the desired tool before automatically jumping back to the previously used one. 

This continues to mess with my workflow to a point where I'm getting really frustrated with Photoshop as a tool for digital illustration because now I'm forced to either slow down significantly or fight the software itself.

- Michael

[Guest]

Just use the ~ Tilde key to switch the Brush Tool between painting and erasing

Paint and erase with the same brush

Use the ~ tilde key (below the escape or Esc key) to toggle between painting and erasing with the same brush tip.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/whats-new/2020.html

[HarlequinsDen]

Thank you for the advice, but aside from this not working on a technical level, properly due to using a German keyboard layout, I use different brushes for painting and erasing most of the time.

[matth82139050]

that requires holding the tilda down. you can do same by holding E down. That isnt a solution though. Its been drawing with fingers on B and E keys for 22 years, its is insanely frustrating to have my tools revert without me telling them too. 

Is there any way to get these hotkeys to behave like they always had? im at my whits end here. 

[David Mohr]

Howdy Matt,
The ` key to switch the current brush from paint to erase is new, but spring-loaded shortcuts have been around for at least a decade or more.  Are you seeing different behavior now?  The tools should change is you press-and-hold a different tool shortcut.  Not all are valid -- it's a limited subset, based off your active tool.  Are you not seeing this or would you like this changed?  Do others agree with Matt -- THIS IS WHERE YOUR OPINIONS CAN BE HEARD ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

Thanks,David

[David Mohr]

Hi Michael,
You're the second German user who's said this shortcut doesn't work for them.  I tried it before (and again just now) and it's working for me.  Where is your shortcut located on your physical keyboard?

Thanks to COVID I'm stuck at home with my only physical device a Mac Book Pro, but on that if I try the ` key (to the left of the #1, below ESC and above TAB) in either English or German PS with either an English or German keyboard, I get the correct results, that is my paint-brush becomes an "eraser-brush".  When I've tried VPNing into my Win10 machine, I see the same results with the same key in the same location.

What are you seeing?
Thanks,
David

[matth82139050]

It is a new behavior to me. i just got CC2020. Its only on the eraser tool switching from brush. pressing E switches, but just for one stroke, then back to brush.Holding E works, but  I dont have to hold B for brush for instance. It is absolutely maddening. I figured many people had their left pointer finger on B and ring finger on E and switched tools on the fly like that. I can speak to at least 10 folks that have begrudgingly just learned to deal. but I CANT lol. 

Thanks david!  

[David Mohr]

Hey Matt,

Wait, something ain't adding up here.  If you have the Eraser tool active, B will switch you to the Brush tool EITHER a) as long as you hold it down OR b) forever if you press and release it.  E shouldn't do anything with the Eraser tool, except SHIFT+E should switch to the other tools in the Eraser group (Background Eraser, Magic Eraser).  Is this not what you're are seeing?

Thanks,
David

[whiteleyth]

Just updated to the latest Photoshop version and noticed this behavior and it's honestly making the workflow super painful, rather than deliberately switching to the tool i need and back in a very controlled and quick way now i have to worry about how long i press on E or B, please make it optional!

 It at least will take some time to get used to  for something that didn't really need to be implemented and was working smoothly already!

[David Mohr]

What kind of keyboard are you using?  This feature has been in place for about a decade and there have been no recent changes.  So, could it be your keyboard?  The spring-loaded shortcuts only work while held down -- could there be some latency in the responsiveness of your hardware?
Thanks,
David

[DeadlyNinja]

just wanted to chime in that this has been a problem for over  half a year for me. With each photoshop update the problem of shortcuts not registering properly still exists (altering between being spring loaded or press to switch at random). I keep two versions of photoshop for this very same reason, hoping that when it updates the bug will be fixed but it never is.

We need an option to disable spring loaded keys .

This is not a hardware problem because this VERY annoying bug doesnt happen in earlier versions of photoshop.

Ive resorted in using CC2019 over the 2020 version because of this.

[J453]

Are you saying the behavior for Spring Loaded shortcuts changed between 2019 and 2020? I'm not aware of any changes to this area.

[DeadlyNinja]

Something must have changed since in 2019 my shortcuts work(the same ones i use in 2020) while in the 2020 version they bug out. It seems like the spring loaded function had became much more sensitive in the newer versions, when you switch between tools rapidly by tapping two different keys (in my case Q and W for eyedropper and brush), sometimes the tool will change from eyedropper to brush, but sometimes it will just snap back to eyedropper or brush when i need the other, even if i am tapping the keys quickly,and not pressing down on them (which by logic should be the only time when the spring function should activate)

[matth82139050]

yes, the struggle is still real. i cant get so frustrated that i have to walk away from my work sometimes because i just keep getting an eraser when i start brushing again or vise versa. its absolutely infuriating. its been months and im glad to see that there are some suport guys at least looking in on this. 

[DeadlyNinja]

i know, right? I like to work fast and efficient, but this bug just makes me have to slow my work process and its really frustrating when i have to fight the software while working...I use 2019 but that one has some odd dual brush bug that i cant seem to get rid of which rendered half of my vfx brushes useless, so i keep switching between 2019 and 2020 depending on what i have to do in the illustration and its so annoying. 

[whiteleyth]

Hi , thank you for your reply! 

If you're asking about the language, it's french keyboard so AZERTY  and if it's hardware  it's a razer Ortana Chroma gaming keyboard, i don't think it's a latency thing because i was using it for  while and didn't feel any issue until i updated Photoshop.

I reverted back to  an earlier version 21.0 and i don't feel this issue is there , I wasn't even aware that this feature exists in earlier versions and never caused any issue before so not sure, i believe you when you say there was no change on it, so maybe there was some change that wasn't on the feature itself but affected it somehow?

The fact is that something definitely feels different with the last update ! what it feels like is as if the difference between holding and pressing a button got smaller, so much more often when i want to press i end up accidentally holding it or when i wanna hold it i end up pressing and that's what slows down the process.

Thanks again for your reply!

Cheers,
Oussama.

[J453]

Is everyone on this thread on Windows? Anyone on macOS?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I've been experiencing the same issue for months. And resorted to going back to CC20.

I'm just now learning that the spring-loaded shortcut was actually there in older versions of PS, but it was clearly never an issue. In CC21 there has been a change in how it works (I'm testing it as I type this): Before CC21, if you lift the stylus while still holding the tool shortcut (in my case "E"), the spring-load triggers; but if you release the shortcut while still drawing, it will not. (the second being, clearly, how most people here are used to do it, me included)

In CC21, it doesn't matter what order you do these actions, as long as the shortcut and the stylus are pressed at the same time, the spring-loaded shortcut will send you back to the previous tool.

A toggle option fro this mechanic would be great.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Windows here.

[leosn56185363]

Hi, is there a way of disabling the spring-loaded tools function.

 

Since I updated my Photoshop a couple of days back, the Spring-loaded tool function had gotten way more sensitive, and had being highly disruptive to my work process. I tried doing clean installation and rolling back to previous version, and even changing my keyboard, but the problem persist, my brush and eraser will keep switching between themselves randomly. Do get back to me soon.

And if it's not the problem with the spring-loaded function, can we get a fix?

[DeadlyNinja]

windows also

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Windows 10 here.

[leosn56185363]

Windows 7 here

[artemvodorez]

Window 10