Lasso Tool cancels selection when switching windows

[Alex Vivaldi]

Hi,

So, the issue is something simple, but I can't find a solution for it, nor any thread opened anywhere else...

If I have the Lasso Tool open, and I start making a selection, while selecting, if I Alt+Tab, or I switch the window, or I press anywhere outside Photoshop it cancels my selection. I looked through all of the settings and couldn't find any setting that would be related to this... A friend of mine said he never had this issue before, he can always Alt+Tab and his selection stays there. And I had this issue on 2 different devices, with 2 different Photoshop licenses(so, bought 2 different subscriptions). I tried resetting my settings to factory, reinstalling Photoshop, nothing seemed to fix this. I wonder if anybody has this issue or not...

[Michael Bullo]

Based on what you've written I can't tell if you are completing your selection before you Alt + Tab away.

A couple of menu options that you could double check are...
View > Extras
View > Show > Selection Edges

[Alex Vivaldi]

Ty for your reply. No, not completing the selection. If you complete it there's no issue. But I mean, while you are still selecting

[Michael Bullo]

No worries. Thank you. I'm not entirely sure you've got a problem. If I've partially made a selection, jump into another program and come back I lose any selection that I had made.

Are you sure your friend is using the same method as you to make a selection? There's like a thousand different ways 😉

[Michael Bullo]

You said you were using the Lasso Tool but the straight lines in your image suggest you might be using the Polygonal Lasso Tool. That is unless you are holding down Alt/Option while drawing. Could you please clarify?

[Alex Vivaldi]

Yes, my friend uses this exact method. I mean, I asked him to come and do something for me in Photoshop. And he came and he was using this exact same tool, Poligonal Lasso Tool(sorry, I am used to calling this one as the "Lasso Tool", cuz I never use the actual "Lasso Tool" xD. I just have straight lines to make almost everywhere). And now I checked it as well in the normal Lasso Tool, and... yep it has the same issue, while you are selecting, if you Alt+Tab, etc., your selection is cancelled. I think this may be the standard, for the Lasso Tools to act like this when you Alt+Tab, etc. But then I'm curious how can my friend have his Lasso Tools work even when he switches windows... I actually didn't see him work, so Idk if the Lasso Tools actually don't get cancelled when he swaps windows. But I guess... since he said so... 😕

[Michael Bullo]

Perhaps have your friend confirm how the tools are acting on their machine?

[Alex Vivaldi]

Well, I asked him a few times and I showed him clearly what I meant and he said that it doesn't happen to him. So I guess it really doesn't happen to him

[CoryShubert]

Hi @Alex Vivaldi 

Let's make sure we're in a default state and there are no stale settings somewhere: 

Restore your preferences using this manual method:  

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#Manually  

Does it work correctly? 

If that doesn't solve it, you can quit Photoshop and put the Settings folder back. 

It may help if we could see your Photoshop System Info. Launch Photoshop, and select Help >System Info...and copy/paste the text in a reply.