Brush tool switches to eye dropper tool

One thing that everyone who has this problem should check for is something that would send an Option key press (macOS) or Alt key press (Windows) to the system. The reason is that the Brush tool always changes to the Eyedropper tool if you hold down the Option/Alt key.

So one possible cause is that some software is set to add the Option/Alt modifier key. It could be software that modifies input devices, such as BetterTouchTool. It could be software that assigns shortcuts to keys on a control surface, such as the configuration software for a Wacom tablet, Logitech mouse, LoupeDeck, or TourBox.  As an example, if Wacom software was customized to have the primary pen button on a Wacom stylus press the Option key (so that you could Option-click with the stylus), and a student wasn’t realizing their finger is pressing that button on the stylus as they paint with the Brush tool, it could be sending an Option key message to the OS, causing Photoshop to do the temporary switch from the Brush tool to the eyedropper color sampler.

Just for context, I'm running the current version of macOS (15.6.1), I have a Wacom tablet, and I don’t see this problem.

Hi, Peggy, and welcome.

To wich tool does it switch? Is it the same problem that Billy544645 ran into, the eyedropper one gets when clicking on the regular color picker?

Using the heads up color picker might help: Control + Option + Command -click (Mac)

other tips: https://jkost.com/blog/2017/05/tips-for-working-with-color-in-photoshop-cc.html 

Could you post a screenshot of your entire interface?

Nope, no caps lock on 🙂

Hello,

Yes, exactly 🙂