P: Spring-loaded tool feature is misbehaving

[leosn56185363]

Hey some of us had sound out this issue almost 2 years ago with the "feature" on the original feedback forum that had now been closed. Almost a year had past since one of your colleague claimed to have put in a "feature request ticket", and there are still no fix nor update on the progress. 

Again I want to emphasis that this is no longer a feature request (that your colleague had suggested) but a bug as it's not performing in the way it's supposed be.

For a quick reminder to the problem. It's way too sensitive, I estimate a rough 20-30% of the time I switch to another a tool, the feature will activate, and without me hitting the shortcut key, the tool will switch back to the previously used tool. 

In the time since I noticed this issue, I had change and tested with 3 different keyboards, changed my PC, upgraded the hardwares, and move from Windows 7 to 10. Gone through all the photoshop updates, and yet nothing had change, the issue stayed. 

And meanwhile photoshop had introduced plenty of features in between but there was not a single update concerning this issue. So for god sake, can you guys do something about it? 

[leosn56185363]

I actually tried different timing, from the recommended 100-300, to 1000-3000, even 10000

Nothing work, it still spring back to the previous tool completely randomly. I am gonna start a new thread, as this thread is currently marked as "fixed" and probably wouldn't get attention from Adobe's staff because of it

[TheCraigist81]

Are you all updated to 23.4.1? I just noticed this appear as available and will skip it if this is the case! 

[TheCraigist81]

Just noticed I'm still on 23.3.2 and 23.4 claims to have a 'fix' for spring loaded key problems. Could be the source of new problems. https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/fixed-issues.html "

• Spring loaded keyboard shortcuts get stuck and don't return to the previous tool

[leosn56185363]

Mine just auto updated, and all the spring-loaded issues started returning again...

[TheCraigist81]

Did you try disabling the manual fix entirely and then restart PS? If that doesn't work then what happens if you reset preferences and restart it again?

[leosn56185363]

Yah, I read that update too. And seriously hope that, it's not some engineer rolling back the fixes for this issue, to fix the other issue. This is just lazy, we spent years trying to raise concern, and just as we thought we finally get a decent fix, this happened. 

Anyway I started a new thread here for the new issues, considering the issues we brought up here was considered "fixed", so these new issues should be consider a new set of bugs. So pile in there and rise the awareness again. This is getting ridiculous and I am glad I haven't recommend photoshop to any newcomers to the digital painting field recently.
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-bugs/spring-loaded-tool-feature-is-misbehaving-ag...

[blobtheblob]

Yikes, glad I blocked auto updates years ago. Thanks for making a new thread, I ll follow.

[W4tsup]

23.4.1 on normal photoshop, 23.5 also has the issue as well in beta.

[Rajneesh Chavli]

Please try the following new control to customize the spring-loading sensitivity time as per your use-case:

Photoshop Preferences > Tools > Spring-loaded Tool shortcuts

• Check if the checkbox is unchecked
• The time value above reflects the time for which a key needs to be pressed to enable the spring-loaded feature
• Keep the time value above to a large value (e.g. 2000 which means that a key needs to be pressed for 2 seconds for spring-loading to activate for it)

Unchecking this checkbox will completely disable the spring-loaded tools feature.

Using this you can have the capability of a more fine-grained control over the spring-loaded feature from the UI itself, and you can also modify it within the same Ps launch itself.

Please let us know the behaviour after performing aforementioned changes. Thanks.

[W4tsup]

Wow thank you so much, can't believe I missed that it was added into the preferences menu. Worked perfectly after I adjusted it up from the default, having no issues now!

[leosn56185363]

Wow, I didn't even know this was added into the preference!

Thanks I disabled it, and it work fine now. 

[blobtheblob]

Awesome, thanks!

[DeadlyNinja]

Finally! Now i can turn this awful feature off and be done with it forever

[27shutterclicks]

I had this annoying issue on Windows 10 Pro 21H2 19044.1889 and Photoshop 23.4.1 release and managed to fix it.

Most commonly, while on Move tool, I couldn't switch to the Text tool by pressing the T hotkey. Every time I would press T, it would revert back to the move tool after a fraction of a second. To actually use the Type tool, I would have to select it by clicking the type tool icon in the toolbar on the left, or by double clicking the Type layer.

The confusing part was that it would happen often, but not all the time. Sometimes, the spring-loaded feature worked fine. I now think I know why, see below for a possible lead.

To fix the issue, I went to Preferences > Tools > Spring-loaded Tool Shortcuts and changed the Timing Sensitivity value from 200ms to 300ms. Everything works normal now.

I verified that was indeed the issue by changing the value back to 200ms and the problems reappeared.

POSSIBLE REASON: I wonder if this could be related to the performance of the computer which may need that additional time to switch to or load all the type tool options specific to a font. 

For example if I leave the Timing Sensitivity to 200ms (which causes issues for me) and then in the Type tool options bar at the top I select a font that only has one style available, everything works fine.

But if I select a font that has multiple font styles, like Segoe UI with 12 font styles (Light, Semiligh, Bold, Italic, etc.), the problems reappear. So by increasing the timing sensitity value by a 100ms, I am giving the computer that small additional time to load everything it needs. It's possible you will need to experiment with a higher value, depending on your specific scenario (computer speed/performance and number of fonts and font styles).

[Tomek Fryszkiewicz]

There's an easy fix I came up with.
Just go to Photoshop --> Preferences --> Tools 

and you should see a feature called Spring-loaded Tool Shortcuts towards the bottom of tle list.

Just change the Timing Sensitivity from 200 to 675 miliseconds and you should be good to go 😉 

It worked for me and it's been driving me nuts for a while.

Hope it helps! 😉 

[Jacqueline23996656dxov]

For everyone where  a simple unchecking didn't help:
Go to Edit>Keyboardshortcuts> Under the Keyboardshortcuts tab remove the hotkey B or E for Eraser and Brush tools you dont use.
It wont switch again now. 

[defaultbpududhyvs0n]

Thank you so much for sharing! This problem has been bugging me for ages. 

[nathans14137222]

Thankfully they implemented the ability to turn off spring loaded tool in version 23.1 — about 2 years after I posted the thread here.

I believe that an issue with the laptop keyboard was contributing to the problem. It seamed like everytime I typed a vowel, it would double type. Apple knew of the problem — the keyboards on that generation were very thin and any debris/dust etc would cause this. They offered a fix even if Applecare had lapsed. It did get better for me when they replaced the keyboard along with the top board and speakers on the laptop. 

[nathans14137222]

I see I'm logged in with my work account. WildOGpizza is my personal account btw.

[MicahBurke]

It somehow just got turned on recently for me.  Been bugging the bejeebers out of me! I never wanted this functionality.  Trying to edit type and it pops back to another tool... ARRRR!  Thanks you made my day.

[Studio Monnikenwerk]

Tomek, I can not express how helpful your easy fix is. But on behalf of my sweet dear keyboard and all people in a range closer than 200 ft. of my workspace that I have been blaming for this tool-change-horror I say: thanks! You made my day (and that of my sweet dear keyboard and all people in a range closer than 200 ft. of my workspace) Kind regards,

Job - Studio Monnikenwerk

[Miker2426]

Thank you so much. This has been bugging me for quite a long time. I can't adequetly express how grateful I am for this fix! Thank you, Tomek!!!

[Tomek Fryszkiewicz]

Happy to help! 🙂

[Tomek Fryszkiewicz]

I know your pain! 🙂 It's been driving me crazy too! Glad I could help 🙂

[Tomek Fryszkiewicz]

Yeah, it's been sooo frustrating for me too! Glad my comment helped you out! 🙂