Adobe CC and Ctrl-Shift to move layers

[eschelar]

So I've been a long term Adobe user, but I'm opposed to the CC model, however I have a bit of work on a local office machine using PS CC.

I've always used the keyboard shortcut "ctrl-shift" and click to move layers around. Usually, this works with any tool selected, just as the space bar does. However, in CC, it goes absolutely bonkers, changing the selected layers and stuff instead.

I don't know what this tool is, but I know what layers are and I know what layers I am working on. Why does the tool want to change the layers selected? How do I get rid of this ridiculously anti-logical "feature"?

Also, I never use the "move" tool, never have. Literally not even once in the 15 years I have been using PS have I ever found a cause to use that tool. But when I google this, those are all the results I can find. Is this just Adobe engineers trying to make useless functions relevant again, in the process adding previously unnecessary clicks and slowdowns to everyone's workflow?

Anyhow, I'd appreciate a bit of guidance on this. It has been well over a decade since I learned this shortcut and I don't recall the details of whether or not it had a special name, just like the space bar key allows moving around... I don't know if it has a special nomenclature, but it is definitely counter-intuitive as heck now. Do the developers not ever move layers around in projects? Or do they just think it's not something that is done very often?

[Francesco Della Peruta]

Please take a look here:

Photoshop CC - Cannot control + click to select a different shape while using the pen tool?

The new Direct Select Tool by default is set to "active" layers. Switch it to "all layers"

[eschelar]

Thanks for responding so quickly Francesco.

Not sure what you're talking about though. I'm talking about using Ctrl-Shift with a specific tool. I use ctrl-shift with any tool selected and I can move the layer around. This is something that I use a *LOT*. Especially on complex images with many layers. The image I was working on just now is a simple image with only about 25 layers, 15 of those in groups of various sizes to create some "drawn artwork". I am about to build a series of more complex images, each with probably 50-60 layers with groups and each likely using variations of the drawn artwork, brought from one image to the other and having smart objects changed in size using the transform tool.

I have no idea how to do this efficiently, so I might actually have to bring my laptop to work and use my old personal copy of CS6 to work on these images... I'm not sure the wall is strong enough to support this level of head banging...

I have never used the direct select tool, nor would I use it? Why would I change the tool I am using just to move the layer when I have never had to do that over the past 15 years?

Much of my work is done using layers with the brush tool or with the marquee tool. Ctrl-Shift with either of those tools selected will allow me to move all of the layers I have selected with a ctrl-click and drag, or with a ctrl-shift click and drag. I learned to drag layers across into other images by using ctrl-shift-click and drag, so that's my habit, but I haven't honestly fiddled with functionality for more than a decade, so I'm assuming that both work just fine.

However, right now, when I do ctrl-click and drag, it changes the layer selections. This is basically unusable. The only way I can move multiple layers around currently is to use ctrl and the arrow keys for nudging. If I use a mouse-based move, it changes the layer selection. So how exactly do I work on large complex files and bring over groups of layers without having the layer selections randomly changed when I try to do the actual move??

I find this very confusing. How did anyone approve something like this? Heck, how did anyone even suggest making a change like this?

And how is it that you can put a link to a post with other people asking the exact same questions, flabbergasted at pointless, unnecessary changes being made that disrupt normal workflow established over many years for no reason... without having the awareness to say "oh yeah, this is a part of a bunch of really annoying changes that Adobe has made that the users didn't ask for and generally loathe and we really should get this fixed instead of just pretending it's an answer"???

[davescm]

With the move tool selected , go to the options bar and uncheck "Auto Select"

Dave

[eschelar]

Nope, that changes nothing when I have the move tool selected. I turned that off ages ago.

Also, I have now completed my 60 layer image for the afternoon and found a few workarounds, including linking layers and fiddling with the marquee tool and move tool.

The move tool is somewhat passable, except that it has this odd behavior added on to it, where it decides on its own to add layers to the selection Just awful. I had annoying, unexpected or inexplicable behavior about 40 times during the 1.5 hours I was working on it. It was really really fun. Also, not actually fun.

[davescm]

Hi

I can't replicate that here unless I check Autoselect as described previously.

At any stage have you tried resetting the move tool or resetting preferences?

Dave

[eschelar]

I have done nothing special. It's a fresh install on someone else's computer where I am working as a medium term guest.

I have however checked on a few other computers using Adobe CC and they all seem to work the same way.

Are you saying that you had the move tool selected and you used ctrl-click and drag to move multiple objects on multiple layers - and you also tried again with the marquee tool selected and you got the same results?

The behavior seems to be related to when I don't click on the exact pixel occupied by a layer, so if for example I have 3 text layers above an image layer and I have ONLY the text layers selected in the Layers panel, then I click to drag and move and do not click on the text itself, it looks like it will add the image layer below it to the selected layers, which is of course deeply insane. I select layers in the layers panel, not by clicking stuff in the image. How could anyone possibly work on a complex image like that?

[davescm · Accepted solution]

Hi

That is exactly what I am saying.

So with Autoselect in the move tool unchecked :

3 layers, cursor not over any text and the marquee tool selected

Ctrl + drag temporarily switches to the move tool and  moves only the 3 selected text layers and does not touch the layer (s) below

Only by switching to the move tool and checking Autoselect does the behaviour of Ctrl+Drag switch to the background layer

Again marquee tool selected

Now Ctrl+Drag switches to layer below and moves that , as is expected by the Auto Select setting:

In summary - the move tool AutoSelect setting carries into the temporary switch to the move tool with Ctrl+Drag. If yours acts differently try resetting the tool and if that does not work, reset preferences.

Dave

[eschelar]

Makes sense.

I tried this in the program and it changed nothing, however, I didn't turn off the program and re-start. After re-starting, it appears to be working predictably.

Like so many other things, it feels like Adobe has just created a sideways "development" in their program, then set a counterintuitive default which has the intent of letting people see how the tool is used and has changed, but also has the unexpected result of ticking users off and wasting a bunch of their time as they pursue frustrating conversations like this.

Thanks for sticking with me though Dave.

In all the years I have been using Adobe and these forums, I think this is the first time I've ever seen fast, accurate responses.

[eschelar]

And now I'm understanding why it was so confusing.

Although it was working fine for a couple of days, I'm working on a batch of images today where I'm dragging across a simple watermark from one image to another again and again.

I just noticed that when I hold ctrl, when the move tool is highlighted, even if the tool itself is set to not auto-select, the tool then changes to auto-select is checked. And then a few minutes later, it starts working normally again.

I have no idea why sometimes it decides to change itself. I can hold ctrl, uncheck the box, then use the move tool. However, there's no way to do this when I'm using a different tool. The end result is that I'm right back to the beginning with unpredictable behavior of the tool, adding more clicks and actions to do the same work as before.

Not sure if this is a bug or if some misguided individual in Adobe thinks it's a genuine bit of progress.

[davescm]

Hi

For clarity:

If you have another tool selected (not the move tool) and press Ctrl and drag then the tool is temporarily switched to the move tool and the auto-select behaviour is whatever you previously set in the options bar. When you release you go back to teh normal tool and the auto-select for the move tool is unchanged.

However , if you have the move tool selected and press Ctrl then this temporarily flips the state of Auto-Select to on/off. The normal option is resumed when you release

Dave

[eschelar]

Thanks again Dave.

This does match the experience I am seeing. It's just so illogical that I find it counterintuitive and since the behavior is different from CS6 and doesn't appear to be documented, it's rather frustrating. I think in the entire 15+ years of working with PS, I've wanted to use a "select layer by clicking on the picture" function maybe 3 times. I've probably used the "ctrl-click and drag" function several hundred thousand times in that same time.

I guess nobody actually asked the question "why" when they decided to make the tool behave so oddly. It would make far more sense to preserve the normal behavior of the tool, but add a new tool called "layer select tool" in the same tile as the move tool, much like they have done for the variety of stamp tools, the dodge and burn tools etc. Then, people could choose which of the variants of the tool they preferred to use. You know, logic...

The very idea of working a seldom used function of the move tool into the default function and giving it these odd behaviors without explaining it is one major reason why I am ethically opposed to CC and the unusual set of "improvements" that have occurred which appear to be rooted in functionality decisions designed for people who seldom use the product, designed by people who seldom use the product.

I'm just really glad that I am not paying for CC and I have opted to boycott Adobe entirely by my wallet until such a time as they abandon the CC fiasco. It is just disappointing to me that there is a total disconnect between users and developers (and presumably management), although I do appreciate you taking the time to assist with this.