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

Report · Feb 24, 2020

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.

Report · Jul 20, 2020

Window 10

Report · Jul 27, 2020

Windows 10

Report · Aug 21, 2020

Hello everyone. I would like to voice my vote for Adobe to add the option of turning on and off the "Spring-loaded tools" function.

I am a semi-veteran digital painter in the games industry (13 years or so) and have used Photoshop for most of the duration of that time. Upgrading to CCThis new feature is not bad, but occasionally becomes a nuisance. The simple solution would be to make it a setting you can turn off or on.

I believe Adobe should allow people to turn off and on all new features unless there was some sort of industry shifting standard, and the addition of the on/off toggle of said feature would be too time consuming/costly.

Thank you.
-Jae

Report · Aug 27, 2020

Hello! I'd also like to express my desire for having the spring loaded tools having an disable option.

I've had this bug for quite some time and It is increasingly frustrating having to fight with the software when I'm trying to produce work, and it hampers my productivity significantly. I don't think the feature is bad for everyone but it'd be a big improvement for me and i imagine many other digital artists if the feature were to have an option to be disabled.

Thank you.
Best regards,
Sam

Report · Sep 11, 2020

I updated to the most recent Photoshop version and this feature has been destroying my workflow.

I see you telling people "this has been here for a decade" and asking why they are having a problem with it now and I think I have an answer for that:

The issue is (for me anyway) the spring loaded swap appears to have different "timings" now. When I'm painting I will hit my button RIGHT before I start a new stroke and about 50% of the time it will revert to brush when I wanted to stay on the eraser. Photoshop was thinking I was pressing it and holding it when I was just doing multiple light quick strokes with a hotkey tap in between. This did not happen as recently as 6 months ago. I'm not sure why it didn't happen if it's been in forever, but the way it works now is breaking workflow badly.

I was using this feature with the rotate tool and had no issue with it since hitting rotate is more deliberate, but with brush and eraser this is very intrusive.

I would appreciate a way to completely toggle this feature off for brushing and erasing (maybe a per tool basis toggle) as I find myself having to undo between half of my painting and sketching phases, and losing a lot of my flow. I understand it's working as intended how it is, I just think it's not how I'd prefer it to function.

If you need to see a video of it happening I can show you it, but I don't think it's very easy to replicate:

If you press the E button before the stroke starts and then let go after the stroke has started while you are still making the stroke, it will always revert to the brush.

This is the problem, we are quicker with our drawing hands, which means we "release" the e button slower than we start the brush stroke. So I'm drawing and make a mistake and quickly tap the e button while I'm still in a drawing motion and it thinks I'm trying to spring back to my old tool because I was holding e for .01 seconds after I started my next line.

Why it's different now: I think the functionality it had previously was that it would swap back if you held down the e for the entire usage of the tool and then took the pen off of the canvas, the swap back only happened when you help down your tool for a significant amount of time.

How to fix it: Ideally, a toggle to disable the functionality for specific tools. Another way to fix it would be to force people to hold it for a certain amount of time to measure intent. Springing on the eraser and brush only trigger when you hold down the tool you are swapping to temporarily for 0.5-1 seconds so that you know they are holding down the tool to use the spring function.

I've never had this problem when I was taking it slow, when I'm deliberately trying to use the spring I always hold it for the entire stroke, but when I'm going quick and clearly not trying to use the spring shortcuts and just tapping to swap, it messes me up frequently.

A lot of the reason I enjoy using Photoshop for my sketch and painting stuff is because it lets me work quick, so I really appreciate a lot of these features - this one just needs to be tuned a bit, I think.

Report · Oct 12, 2020

This kills my workflow with a Wacom Tablet, and it definitely seems new, or its behavior was changed such that it happens all the time now. I switch between brush and eraser frequently, and never ever ever intend to use spring-loaded shortcuts. It only means 20%-50% of the time I switch, I accidentally erase when I meant to draw and vice-versa. Ctrl-Z, try again, oops, spring loading still brought me back, ctrl-Z, wait, breath, deep breath, now go, okay. It's completely aggravating hitting this feature bug day after day after day, when there was definitely a time when I never encountered it.

Report · Oct 12, 2020

*James Silva

Yeah, this has essentially been the impact on my workflow, I attempt to explain how it changed since I have 20 and 21 both installed and they definitely don't function identically.

Report · Oct 13, 2020

*James Silva so true! i keep both versions installed just in case that they fix it by some magic but ive lost hope. With each update the problem is still there and the new version is basically unusable, while the old one has other bugs (half of my brushes have their flow bugged for some reason so they dont work properly) . This problem exists for so long its funny the dev's still havent addressed it.

Report · Oct 13, 2020

@mikalscott well put! I wish the devs would listen, because ive been hoping for a fix with each update for over a year now but i just get disappointed when i update my PS and i still cant use the new version (Im using the previous PS version because it doesnt have this bug)

Report · Oct 13, 2020

I'd wager not many of the devs are illustrators or they don't have a lot of illustrators that have a workflow that swaps quickly between brushes and erasers or they would notice this issue immediately.

Report · Oct 13, 2020

To be honest, I have started looking at other programs because of how long it take them to fix this. Not funny at all

Report · Oct 13, 2020

my thoughts as well 😞 Ive been using PS since i could 'walk' and this is the first time im considering a change because i see no light at the end of the tunnel.

Report · Nov 14, 2020

got on this thread while looking for a solution to the problem, it is amazing that adobe ignores the fact that their software is used by a huge number of illustrators. This "spontaneous switching" of instruments annoys me as well.

I would just like to disable this feature, because for me it is not only useless but also annoying.

I don't remember a single Photoshop release in which everything would work as it should, every time they bring in something that becomes a problem and needs fixing : )

Report · Nov 17, 2020

I'd like to add my input here: This feature has absolutely put a huge hamper in my ability to continue my artistic career, and is easily the most frustrating thing Adobe has ever introduced to Photoshop.

The fact that they so smugly say "We think everyone will like this so there's no way to turn it off" is even more infuriating.

I swap tools a lot, I illustrate comics and constantly clean up my lines with the eraser while inking with the brush, and it'll be like:

Brush Stroke > Brush Stroke > Brush Stroke > E to swap to Eraser > Eraser Stroke > Brush Stroke!?!?!? > Brush Stro-- SON OF A... Ctrl-Z > Ctrl-Z > E TO SWAP TO ERASER > WAIT > ERASER STROKE > ERASER STROKE > B TO SWAP TO BRUSH > BRUSH STROKE > ERASER STROKE!?!?!? > ACTUAL STROKE IRL

I hate this feature, I hate it so much, it's not good, it's literally nothing but frustrating and is absolutely murdering my enjoyment of my own artistic career.

Please, PLEASE, for the love of GOD, Adobe, PLEASE give us the ability to toggle this god-awful useless feature off and preferably make it off by default, for the sake of my blood pressure

Report · Nov 17, 2020

@Jay Van Esbroek ive been on the ends of my wits as well with this to a point i just have to stop drawing sometimes because it gets too annoying ._.

Report · Nov 17, 2020

I think the most frustrating part is that Adobe straight up stopped replying to this thread 5 months ago, and still hasn't implemented a toggle switch for this god-awful feature. They added "Legacy Ctrl-Z Settings" and "Legacy Free Transform Settings" when they changed those out of nowhere, but when they add a feature that cripples illustrators and adds 257 more "Ctrl-Z" presses per hour of inking, and people in their forums consistently demand the ability to turn it off, they save face for about a month going "Does anyone else agree with this person? This is where you can make your voices heard!" and then stop replying 5 months ago without ever implementing the toggle.

Report · Nov 17, 2020

What is worse this bug exists for more than a year 😕 ive had this bug briefly two years ago on my work computer, then it 'magically' resolved , then i started getting it again last year followed by my personal computer..

Report · Nov 18, 2020

I've entered a feature request to allow users to disable Spring-Loaded Shortcuts.

Thanks,

David

Report · Nov 18, 2020

That is quite amazing! Please keep us updated.

Much appreciated, David

Report · Nov 18, 2020

Finally! Any chance it will be applied to versions that are supported by Windows 7?

Report · Nov 18, 2020

I use windows 10 for my computer.

Report · Nov 20, 2020

oh finally ! Thank you this was such a frustrating feature i reverted to an earlier version to be able to work , tried 2021 but i couldn't work at all with this problem.

Report · Nov 22, 2020

This is so frustrating. I can't believe it's been so many months of people saying how aggravating this issue is but there is still no option to just turn it off. It was frustratingly over-sensitive, similar to how it currently is, when the feature was first added to photoshop years ago, then it mercifully was toned down (though it took a long while). I requested the option to disable it all those years ago too with no response.

Report · Dec 06, 2020

Please do not use this forum as an advertising platform for your personal services.

Report · Dec 31, 2020

Hi David!

So, it's been a month, and there's been I think 2 updates to CC 2021 since you submitted this feature request, and I wanted to know if there's any way we can receive an ETA on if and when this could potentially be implemented?

While the spring-loaded tools haven't completely crippled my ability to earn a living via my artwork, I've been combating endless stress fits over constantly having to Ctrl-Z when I accidentally erase or create a stroke because the tool spring-swapped back to the previous one, or even more annoyingly, when I'm zoomed way in to do detailing work and then I make a stroke and accidentally zoom waaaaaaaay out of the picture because it spring-swapped back to the magnifying glass.

I've already voiced how annoying this feature is, and my desire to have it toggle-able, and I'm not trying to be impatient, but simply hearing "I've entered a feature request," while giving hope we'll eventually see it, still leaves us up in the air about the "When?" of it.

I don't know what the ETA between feature request and implementation usually is, since I've never requested a feature or seen a requested feature get implemented before, so, thought I'd ask to get some clarity.

Thanks,

Jay