Participating Frequently

Question

Moving a selection while it's being drawn

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 5, 2019
10 replies
2717 views

A long time ago I was able to move a selection with the spacebar while it was being drawn. An example is while using the elliptical marquee tool I could hold down the shift key to constrain (works fine) and use the spacebar to move the elliptical selection to it's desired space. The shift key is still pressed down first and second pressing the spacebar to move the marquee. This worked great for selecting something as simple as a ball, as the starting point of the marquee could be moved while drawing to the desired ending point position. Is this feature gone? I now use Photoshop CC 19.1.8 on Mac OS 10.11.6. I have noticed this in the past with other versions of Photoshop and other operating systems. If this feature is gone is there a way to recreate it in prefs or tool shortcuts? Thanks.

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olvea30296313

Participating Frequently

Before I was able to move a selection with the spacebar while it was being drawn. An example is while using the elliptical marquee tool I could hold down the shift key to constrain (works fine) and use the spacebar to move the elliptical selection to it's desired space. This worked great for selecting something as simple as a ball, as the starting point of the marquee could be moved while drawing to the desired ending point position. Is this feature gone? I now use Photoshop 2024 - version 25.0.0 on a mac.

If this feature is gone is there a way to recreate it in prefs or tool shortcuts?

Thanks.

Ged_Traynor

Community Expert

@olvea30296313 it's working fine with Photoshop version 25.0 on Windows 10 for me, have you tried manually resetting your Photoshop preferences
https://helpx.adobe.com/ie/photoshop/using/preferences.html#Manually
Remember to backup your settings before doing the preference reset
https://helpx.adobe.com/ie/photoshop/using/preset-migration.html

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olvea30296313

Participating Frequently

Im having the same issue, hope there is a solution for this.

c.pfaffenbichler

Community Expert

What have you done for all-purpose trouble-shooting so far?
Restoring Preferences after making sure all customized presets like Actions, Patterns, Brushes etc. have been saved might be a good starting point:
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/basic-trouble-shooting-steps.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-gpu-graphics-card.html

Please read this (in particular the section titled "Supply pertinent information for more timely and effective answers”):
https://community.adobe.com/t5/using-the-community/community-how-to-guide-tips-amp-best-practices/td-p/11601738?page=1

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haomaru87

Participant

I have the same issue, too, on my MacPro2016. While drawing shapes or a selection, holding spacebar does nothing. I was hoping someone has a solution to this issue.

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robinr9891

Participant

I am on Windows 10 and having the same issue. Are you working on a desktop or laptop? Using any external hardware like a pen or a graphics tablet? I am on a laptop myself. I am wondering if this is part of why it is not working.

cosmicw82111559

Participant

I'm experiencing exactly the same issue and I'm really missing it from my workflow. Can anyone shed some light onto why this isn't working like it was? OSX 10.14.6 PS 20.0.5

I hope we can get this resolved

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

Does the space bar perform as it should in other respects? Does it bring up the Pan (hand) tool for instance?

Do you have any plugins loaded that might have stolen focus of the space bar?

Are you doing this with mouse or tablet? Or even trackpad? That might make a difference (it works OK with tablet Win10 here)

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Brad ChaplinAuthor

Participating Frequently

Trevor.Dennis, the spacebar works fine in all respects other than this. H works for the hand tool, but the spacebar does not work for the hand tool. The only plugins are from within Lightroom, and that is just Nik Effects. Lightroom and Nik Effects are not open. As I mentioned earlier I am using a mouse. Thanks.

meganchi

Legend

Yes, while drawing your circle or square marquee shape, before you release your shift key, hold down your Command key and space bar at the same time, then release your shift key to move it.

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Salma23304517zmay

Participant

Thank you , it's working now🙂.

jane-e

Community Expert

bradc18761857 wrote

No, it’s not gone. For a circle, it’s Shift + drag with the elliptical marquee, don’t release, and spacebar drag to move the selection.

If you accidentally release and drag with the spacebar, you will be panning instead.

For testing purposes, try without Shift and try other shapes.

What is happening when it doesn’t work? What does the mouse cursor look like? Or are you using a tablet?

~ Jane

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Brad ChaplinAuthor

Participating Frequently

Jane, I tried with other selection tools and it still did not work. I tried without shift and it does not work either. The cursor remains as a crosshair, which it should. I am using a mouse not a tablet.