Alt + Scroll activates menu in CS5? (Windows)

Hello,

first Iwant to thank you very much for working on this, it is a real shame that this issue got past the adobe developers.

This question might be better suited for the illustrator forum, but I'll give it a try here anyway. Is there any way to get the same script to work with illustrator? Again thanks so much

For me this is a very devastatingly annoying bug in SC5

To reproduce the problem. Make several changes and try to multiple undo (Alt + Ctrl + z) then (Shfit + Ctrl + z) and it will simply not work. In order to work you should press the keys carefully in this order (Ctrl + Alt + z). And it is not limited to this but in all hotkey that includes the Alt key - if you press Alt first you are screwed and to resume you have to press Alt again to toggle back and try again. This was not a problem with the previous versions and the hotkey combinations using Alt always worked as long as all keys are pressed regardless in what order. Now when using hotkey combinations that include Alt, I always have to send a look at the main menu to make sure there are no underlined letters by accidentally pressing the Alt key first.

By the way, regarding zooming, I like the new (Ctrl + Space bar + drag), great for my Wacom pen. It is also much more speedy and precise than mouse scrolling which zooms only at predefined steps.

I've just tried using Alt + Scroll Wheel in CS5 12.0.1 (i.e., after the update), and I don't quite know whether this behavior has been changed, but I'm not seeing any problem continuing to work after the Alt-mouse wheel zoom operation.   The File menu gets highlighted, but I seem to be able to continue editing as though nothing has been interrupted.

Unfortunately now I don't have a pre-update copy to test with, so I can't quite say whether anything subtle has changed.

So...  Try the 12.0.1 update.  See if it helps with what you're doing.

Remember to close Photoshop after starting the updater and before proceeding with the update.

-Noel

I discovered a temporary fix.  This has only been tested on Windows XP SP3.  Apparently Photoshop CS5 has an issue with the physical Alt+MouseWheel, however a workaround can be executed by blocking the actual input and re-sending the Alt+MouseWheel signal using virtual keycodes.  Since this is non-destructive (the input received is simply re-sent), its a safe redirection, and should not only fix the CS5 bug, but also be compatible with just about any other program you may run, without the need to start and stop it constantly.

Here's how I did it, hopefully it helps somebody else (and hopefully Adobe fixes this soon):

1. Download and install AutoHotkey: http://www.autohotkey.com/
2. Create a new AHK script (Right Click > New > AutoHotkey Script) and name it something like CS5_Workaround.ahk
3. Right-click the new script and select Edit Script.  It should open it with Notepad.
4. Copy and paste the following text into the file:
   • !WheelUp::
   • Send !{WheelUp}
   • return
   • 
     
   • !WheelDown::
   • Send !{WheelDown}
   • return
5. Save the file and close Notepad.
6. Double-click the script file on your Desktop.  You should see a new icon in your taskbar's system tray.
7. Make sure that the Photoshop CS5 option Edit > Preferences > General... > Zoom with Scroll Wheel is UNCHECKED.
8. Now you should be able to use Alt+MouseWheel to zoom without the annoying activation of the File menu.

Hopefully somebody finds this useful, even if a bit cumbersome.  Adobe, please fix this soon!

Figured as much, just quite disappointed at this flaw that seems to have been introduced.  Yeah, I'll probably have to end up re-learning it, but I do a lot of touchup for catalogs and such, using portrait-oriented photos, so the vertical scroll & zoom both on the mousewheel is very handy.  I have turned in a bug report.  Would really like to see Adobe get on top of this.

The issue is that the Alt key is invoking keyboard accessibility features (namely, prepping the system to take another character to select a menu).

And yes, it's been noticed before, and I for one consider Photoshop CS5 slightly less integrated with Windows because of it.  Fortunately, I personally have not become used to using the Alt key as a modifier for general operations.

Your only workaround at present might be to try to retrain yourself to use the Photoshop interface a little differently (e.g., set the preference to have zooming be the default scroll wheel operation, or learn to select the zoom tool).

You might want to report it to Adobe here:  https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

-Noel