ESC key not working outside PS in Vista...

[_Eli_Roth_]

This haunts our users since we migrated to Vista. When Photoshop CS2/CS3 is running under Vista the ESCAPE key does not work correctly with other programs. When PS is running, the escape key works only when pressing SHIFT+ESC together. This is extremely annoying when multiple programs are used, what could be the root of the problem?

Thanks!

[Chris Cox]

Tomas - I'm very sorry that you misread the posts in this topic and misunderstood most of what I've been saying.  And I'm sorry if I did not use the precise words you were looking for when trying to help people figure out what was causing the problem on their systems (when so many other users don't see a similar problem).

If you read the forums more closely, you will find that we investigate  reports of problems, acknowledge our own problems and get them fixed as soon as we can.  But what's left after that are problems that we cannot fix, things outside of our control -- and that's what most customers run into after we fix our problems.  So yes, many of the explanations are going to involve someone else's code - because that's the most common cause of problems (by a huge margin).  That does not mean that Adobe, or I, always blames others - it's just simple process of elimination that the external causes are the majority that remains.

[Noel Carboni]

Chris, has ATI ever said why they might want to absorb Escape key presses for certain applications?  Or did it just seem to be a bug in their Hotkeys implementation?  Notably Hotkeys were not even enabled by default, at least not on my setup.

-Noel

[Chris Cox]

We didn't get a response with any details, unfortunately.

We think it was just a bug.

[KJones1975]

Chris,

I have a brand new Sony Vaio laptop using an Nvidia GT 520M graphics card, and yet I am experiencing this exact problem with my Esc key. This clearly isn't an ATI issue in my case.

I'm using Windows 7 64-bit and Adobe Photoshop CS4 64-bit. If I close Photoshop normal Esc key functionality returns... that points to Photoshop as being related to the problem. You can try to shift the blame to other parties if you want, but you can't deny that the Esc key works perfectly when Photoshop isn't running.

[Noel Carboni]

Perhaps the upgrade to CS5 would be worth buying, if for no other reason than to just no longer be frustrated by this particular system integration bug.  And it's not like Photoshop CS5 doesn't bring other value to the party.  I couldn't live without Content Aware Fill.  It's saved me countless hours of cloning.

While we hope that Adobe does the best they can to make their products work well on the most possible systems, the responsibility for making things from different vendors work on our systems is ultimately ours.  This is the price we pay for inexpensive mix and match hardware and software.  You may not think that Photoshop is inexpensive, but a few hundred dollars for a product that's a result of man-centuries of work is cheap indeed!  And how much did you pay for your ATI video card, hardware, software, and all?  Less than a hundred bucks I'll wager.

-Noel

[_elipsoid_]

I have no Catalyst drivers or software, but I have this problem on Vista Business and PS CS3. When I remove all my plugins (incl. the orginal ones) from the PS folder, the ESC functions normally. Any solution?

[Chris Cox · Accepted solution]

elipsoid - figure out which of your third party plugins is messing up the escape key...

[_Brian_Tao_]

Normally, the Escape key works just fine for me in 64-bit Vista with Photoshop running. The exception is when Photoshop is busy running an action or script (e.g., any batch action, Image Processor, etc.). Now the Escape key seems to be swallowed by Photoshop, whether or not it has keyboard focus. This has happened to be with XP and Vista, with CS3 and CS4 (I forget if I had this problem with CS2 and earlier).

Sending a literal Ctrl-[ keypress (also ASC 27, same as Escape) works for me. No issues sending Ctrl-0 either.

[_elipsoid_]

Chris Cox: Both the original plugins that came with PS as well as additional third party plugins. I've tried clearing the folder and adding plugins one-by-one, starting with the original ones. It worked when there was just the "Import-Export" folder present.
It looks like if there is a plugin in the Plug-Ins folder, the ESC doesn't work.

[Chris Cox]

elipsoid - but that doesn't happen to most other users. I still strongly suspect that this is due to a third party plugin.

[_elipsoid_]

Chris Cox - I did a full reinstall, could there still be a conflict with third party plugins?

[Guest]

Why should a re-install affect third party plug-ins?

[frax_-L75d7K]

No third-party plugins here, and I can confirm that the problem goes away if there are no plugins in the folder, but it seems it doesn't need many of them (tried folder by folder) for the problem to manifest itself. It may have to do with the plug-in interface.

Here is an AutoHotkey script/routine for a workaround:

ESC::

 ifWinExist, ahk_class Photoshop

 {

  IfWinActive ahk_class Photoshop

  {

   SendInput {ESC}

  } else {

   SendInput +{ESC}

  }

 }

return

[Chris Cox]

The Photoshop plugin interface doesn't even touch event handling (which is what it would take to interfere with key presses).

[Delichon_Urbica]

It's not just Vista - I get the same with PS CS4 on XP. Fresh install, too, so unless some plugins crept in there without my asking for them then that's not the issue either.

[_Pavel_Pola_]

I have the same problem with a completely new installation of Photoshop CS4 on Vista 64-bit. When I remove all plugins, it works fine. But it's quite stupid to do it that way, isn't it? This is a complete list of my plug-ins, so you can check there is no third party

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\3D Engines\Photoshop3DEngine.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\ADM\ADMPlugin.apl
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Automate\CropPhotosAuto.8LI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Automate\HDRMergeUI.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Automate\WIASupport.8LI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Effects\Filter Gallery.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Extensions\FastCore.8BX
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Extensions\MMXCore.8BX
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Extensions\MultiProcessor Support.8BX
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Extensions\ScriptingSupport.8li
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\BMP.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\Cineon.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\Dicom.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\FilmStrip.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\FXG.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\GIF.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\IFF Format.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\OpenEXR.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\PBM.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\PCX.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\Pixar.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\PNG.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\Radiance.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\Targa.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\U3D.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats\WBMP.8BI
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Average.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\ChannelPort.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Clouds.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Color Halftone.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\CropPhotos.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Crystallize.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\De-Interlace.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Displace.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Extrude.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Fibers.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lens Blur.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lens Correction.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lens Flare.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\LightingEffects.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Liquify.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Mezzotint.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\NTSC Colors.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Pinch.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Pointillize.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Polar Coordinates.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Radial Blur.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Ripple.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Shear.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Smart Blur.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Solarize.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Spherize.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Tiles.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Twirl.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\VanishingPoint.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Wave.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Wind.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\ZigZag.8BF
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\2 O'clock Spotlight
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Blue Omni
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Circle of Light
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Crossing
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Crossing Down
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Default
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Five Lights Down
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Five Lights Up
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Flashlight
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Flood Light
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Parallel Directional
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\RGB Lights
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Soft Direct Lights
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Soft Omni
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Soft Spotlight
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Three Down
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Filters\Lighting Styles\Triple Spotlight
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Image Stacks\statistics.8BA
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Import-Export\Paths to Illustrator.8BE
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Import-Export\Save for Web.8BE
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\Measurements\MeasurementCore.8ME

[_Pavel_Pola_]

Maybe I have found where is the problem. If there is ANY plugin within \Plug-ins\Extensions\ folder, the ESC key is not working outside Photoshop. If you remove all plugins from this folder, it seems to be ok. But the plugins names seem to be quite "system level" so is it a goog idea to remove them?

FastCore.8BX
MMXCore.8BX
MultiProcessor Support.8BX
ScriptingSupport.8li

And is there a chance to solve the problem? It is 100% NOT in third party plugins, but it seems to be in the core of Photoshop.

[BedtymeBear]

Pavel- what processor do you have?

also, to clarify, if you have, for example, only the the MMXCore plug-in in that folder, the problem occurs? Basically, the test is: can you put one in at a time, restart Photoshop, and see if you can use ESC.

[_Pavel_Pola_]

Here is my System Info. My Processor is Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3,16 GHz

Adobe Photoshop Version: 11.0 (11.0x20080919 [20080919.r.488 2008/09/19:02:00:00 cutoff; r branch]) X64
Operating System: Windows Vista 64-bit
Version: 6.0 Service Pack 1
System architecture: Intel CPU Family:6, Model:7, Stepping:10 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2
Physical processor count: 2
Processor speed: 3172 MHz
OpenGL Drawing: Enabled.
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series
Video Mode: 1920 x 1200 x 4294967296 colors
Video Card Driver: atidxx32,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atiumdva,atiumd64.dll,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver Version: 7.01.01.821

I have tried to have only MMXCore plug-in in Extensions folder and it doesn't work. It seems to me that if ANY plug-in is in Extensions folder, the ESC key is blocked just for Photoshop.

[gener7]

Same here. Intel Dual Core 1.73 GHz, Vista 32bit SP1, Intel 965 chipset,GMA x3100.

Only by emptying or placing a tilde in front of the folder do I get the ESC key back.

[_Jacek_Verp_]

I do have the same issue with ESC key not working, but the suggestions above either hardly work (the small program seems to get stuck after few hours) or do not work at all (removing plugins).

I've spent quite a bit trying to figure out the solution, but there just weren't anything working, so I did some reseearch on my own - I installed a fresh copy of Vista x64 Ultimate SP1 (Polish) on my PC, then I installed Photshop's trial... and guess what - ESC key worked fine on this setup.

But since it was a mint installation I wanted to try what would happen if I installed drivers. I tried the display driver first - newest version availabe of ATI catalyst and ESC key stopped working outside PS. I know that Catalyst drivers tend to be crappy and have their stupid hotkeys enabled, but that wasn't the case here as the hotkeys were off.

I googled that some other guy found the same issue and ATI's support said something about permissions and that it isn't their fault or something.

Majority of other people I googled and contacted with had ATI 4850-4870 cards and a few were using laptop x3100 (intel) or 8400m (nvidia) chips. Most were on 64bit Vista's, but the 8400m guy used 32bit.

I have no clue what is wrong :(

[frax_-L75d7K]

Friends,
Please report the problem here: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Be extensive in describing the problem, and please refer back to this thread.

[_elipsoid_]

Another observation: when I am editing a text field in PS, the ESC key works in other programs. As soon as I finish editing the text, it stops working again.

[_Pavel_Pola_]

I had some troubles with ATI drivers so I needed to uninstall all ATI stuff - and voilá, ESC key is now working fine outside PS. So I believe there is definitely problem with Photoshop running on machine with ATI Catalyst Center.

[_milosh6_]

I just discovered that last ATI Catalyst v. 08.12 does not cause the problem with ESC anymore. Now I can run Photoshop while having Catalyst center running as a background process and everything works well.