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jjrothdesign
Participant
January 31, 2023
Question

Eraser and Brush Tools Only Work with Single Click

  • January 31, 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 1951 views

I've had an issue with the brush and eraser tools since last fall. I've always been able to click and drag the eraser or the brush tool to erase/brush a line, but now the tools only work with single click. So every time I want to erase something, I have to keep moving the tool incrementally and clicking to erase. Same with drawing with the brush tool.

 

I've checked settings and Opacity and Flow are at 100%. The brush shape spacing is set to the default 25% (I even tried it at 1% to see if that would change anything).

 

I've tried closing and restarting Photoshop and downloading the latest version of Photoshop and none of that helps. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

    5 replies

    S
    Sara38441556vpxd
    Participant
    July 5, 2024

    Did you resolve your problem?  I have the same problem and can´t seem to find any answers.  I tried different smoothness, spaces, burshes, flows and all the other setttings.  I can only erase ONE CLICK at a time! Help. 

    T
    trevagriffo
    Participant
    February 2, 2025

    Same issue for me. I have been using the photoshop beta version since the ai generate was introduced and am using the most up to date version as of 2/2/25. I reset my tool presets by going to 'Windows' tab at the top, clicking Tool Presets, then clicking the menu on the top right corner of the toolbar window and clicking reset tools presets, and then quit photoshop and reopened. (I'm not wiz with technical terms but i added a screenshot to help). 

    It is extremely frustrating that seemingy every time adobe does an update it involves users having to go in and 'fix' things that were never broken in the first place. As mentioned I'm in no way an expert but surely they can provide updates without 'resetting' all of our apps. I don't want to even think of how many hours I've wasted trying to fix things back to the way I had them, and as I don't use this every day it takes me so much longer as I have to waste even more time googling or searching for solutions. 

    J
    jjrothdesignAuthor
    Participant
    February 3, 2025

    I still have the problem intermittently.  Most days it doesn't happen, then suddenly it will again. I was never provided with a solution, but the one outlined above it the closest I've come to a temporary fix as well.

    J
    jjrothdesignAuthor
    Participant
    February 6, 2023

    Thanks for following up.

    • I am not using a graphic tablet. I use a laptop with significant graphic design capabilities, with a logitech trackball that is just plug and play.
    • Photoshop opens and closes in a normal fashion. I don't run out of power and I don't have any third party tools in use. I use a pretty standard/basic configuration.
    • The only special preference settings are just display settings, such as which toolbars are open, docked, etc., and settings regarding opening in separate windows vs. tabs.

     

    These are the PC specs:

    Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz 1.99 GHz
    Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.8 GB usable)
    System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

    PECourtejoie
    Community Expert
    PECourtejoieCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 3, 2023

    Hi, @jjrothdesign 

    Fortunately for them, most users do not experience that...

    Out of the top of my head, here are some paths to explore:

    Do you use a third party tool that can influence the brush, such as Lazy Nezumi?

    Are you using a fancy gaming mouse, or a mouse that might have extended drivers and possibilities?

    Does Photoshop close normally or does for instance sometimes the computer run out of power? 

    I wonder if there is a configuration, such as a permission issue on your machine?

    You did not answer if you are using a graphic tablet.

     

    As for the prefs, if you followed the manual method, you can easily restore them (unless you never change exensively the settings, in that case, a preferences reset from the preference menu might be faster.

    I think that @Stephen Marsh has an action to save prefs, or even a script, maybe can he share it...

    J
    jjrothdesignAuthor
    Participant
    January 31, 2023

    I'm working on a PC running Windows 10.

     

    Restoring preferences worked, but from past experience, this issue will likely arise again. Do you have any insight on why this is happening when I never change the Brush/Eraser preferences other than to change size, hardness, flow or opacity?

    PECourtejoie
    Community Expert
    PECourtejoieCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 31, 2023

    Hi, are you using a graphic tablet?

    https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/tablet-support-faq-photoshop.html 

    Did you try to restore your preferences to the default using this manual method:
    https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#Manually it lets you keep a copy on the desktop that you can use to revert the process.

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