Can't select by clicking on object anymore?

[neonmamacita]

I've noticed that I can no longer select by clicking on an object in the image anymore. Now I need to go into the layers panel and select from there. The exception is auto-select, which lets me select the object by clicking on it. But I don't like auto-select, it too frequently selects the wrong object. 

Photoshop, please let us select from clicking again!

[Jeff Arola]

With Auto Select off in the Move Tool options and some other tool selected you

can Cmd-Option right click in the docment area to select layers/objects.

You can also Cmd right click in the document area and select the layer from the list that appears.

The layer your cursor is clicking on should be highlighted in the list.

[Conrad_C]

Jeff’s solution is what I also do: Leave Auto-Select off, but any time you do want to click to select with the Move tool, hold down the Command key on macOS (Ctrl key in Windows). Adding the right-click opens the layer select menu, but if you just want to select a layer by clicking then you only need to add the Command key.

Note that the Command/Ctrl key toggles the Auto-Select setting, so if Auto-Select is enabled, Command temporarily disables it; but if it’s disabled, Command temporarily enables it. It’s one of the keyboard overrides in Photoshop, similar to holding down the Control key to override the current snap setting.

In short, with the Move tool:

Click = respect the current Auto-Select setting.

Command-click = do the opposite of whatever Auto-Select is currently set to.

Right-click (or Control-click on macOS) = pop up a list of all layers under the pointer, so you can select one.

(I don’t think the Option key actually does anything here?)

[melissapiccone]

While I respect Jeff and Conrad's choices, I prefer to leave it set to automatically select my layers. 

 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Could you please post screenshots with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Options Bar, …) visible?