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Eraser no erasing in PS 22.5.1

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
October 26, 2021
4 replies
1075 views

I'm an old hand with Photoshop Elements and now I have bought a Creative Cloud account for PC and iPad. Some things work the same as PS Elements. I can used the magic wand tool to erase unwanted backgrounds, but when I switched to Eraser that tool would not erase. I saved my work and rebooted, but no different. I drag the Eraser (right-click on) and nothing is erased. If I use the Magic Wand, it selects a portion, but the Delete button does not delete. What am I doing wrong?

Windows

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Correct answer Bojan Živković11378569

Before reset press letter Q on your keyboard to exit quick mask mode (red highlight on layer and quick mask icon in toolbox is also highlighted) and try againg using Eraser although it is not best idea. Better use mask to hide pixels instead of deleting them. When using mask you can enter Quick Mask mode and to paint using Brush, not Eraser.

Philip in MelbourneAuthor

Participating Frequently

OK. I made it work, but I don't understand why. I created a new layer and clicked on it. Then I clicked on the original layer (with the image in it) and suddenly the Eraser is working. Is this normal?

Bojan Živković11378569

Community Expert

See my explanation above, on your screenshot you was in Quick Mask mode (letter Q) that is why Eraser didn't work, it requires mask and Brush tool to paint.

Theresa J

Community Expert

It's not clear if you are having this problem with Photoshop on your PC or on the iPad. What type of file are you working on? Have you unlocked the background so that it can have tranasparency. When you open a jpeg image the image layer is flattened without transparency, until you click on the lock icon to release it.

Philip in MelbourneAuthor

Participating Frequently

PS on the PC. I'm working on a PSD file creating from a JPEG. Yes, I unlocked it be double-clicking on the Layer and it switched from Background to Layer 0 (which is the way you do it in PS Elements). Maybe that's wrong?

Bojan Živković11378569

Community Expert

Can you post some screenshot with Layers panel visible? Just drag Eraser, no need for right click which should display context menu to choose brush.

When Photoshop starts behaving strange usually preference reset can help https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

Philip in MelbourneAuthor

Participating Frequently

Attached is a screen shot. I'll try that reset idea.

Bojan Živković11378569

Correct answer

Community Expert

Before reset press letter Q on your keyboard to exit quick mask mode (red highlight on layer and quick mask icon in toolbox is also highlighted) and try againg using Eraser although it is not best idea. Better use mask to hide pixels instead of deleting them. When using mask you can enter Quick Mask mode and to paint using Brush, not Eraser.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Which operating system do you have?

Typically, I make a selection and use the Backspace key to delete contents.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

Philip in MelbourneAuthor

Participating Frequently

I'm using Windows 10 up-to-date. I was only pressing Delete because that's what you do in PS Elements.

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