P: Pen Tool Not Working as it should

[David_Jacklin]

I have just updated Photoshop to v22.3 (10 March 2021). When I try to use the Pen Tool it puts the nodes in but doesn't create a linking line. I have closed everything and re-started my PC but the error still there. I've been trying to find a way to report this to Adobe but this is the only feedback area I can find. I have been using Photoshop for over 20 years and using the Pen Tool all that time. I need to complete a job but I'm now stuck as I need this tool.

Can I uninstall this update?

Anyone else having this problem?

Do Adobe monitor this feed?

[ReneDamkot]

Might be a good idea if a mod stickied the workaround, so it's less easy to miss.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

The workaround has been posted in this thread many times. Create a work path and leave it in the path list. All other paths will behave normally with a work path present in the path list. 

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

You need to create another work path with just a point or two, and leave that work path in the path list. You can then work on your named paths normally.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

You do not need to work on the Work Path, you just need to keep a work path in the path list. Once there is a work path, you can add paths with + and work on them normally. If you open a file with existing named paths, just click in the image with the pen tool with no paths selected to create a *dummy* work path, and you can then edit any existing named paths. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

It seems it is predictable and it appears if there is NO Work Path. 

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Yep - I updated to 22.3.1 yesterday but still no good! Have reverted to previous version for now.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

And again: 

Maintain a Work Path, then you can work on named Paths as expected. 

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Thanks, @kerrymaxwell that WAS the tip of the day.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

No, you can still work on named paths, as long as there is a work path present. Create a work path, and leave it in the path list, then you can create a many new paths as you like and work on them normally. There is no need to revert to an earlier version.

[Ozzie Ciliberti]

Thanks again...much appreciated

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Something I just noticed is that if you go back into a completed and re-named path, it will show the bug again. So I guess the moral of the story is either back-date to earlier version of PS until this bug is fixed OR make sure your path is 100% complete and needs no further edits before you re-name it.

[Ozzie Ciliberti]

Thanks
I'll give it a shot.... right now I have down graded PS and it works perfectly!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Create a work path by clicking in the image with the pen tool with no paths selected, and leave it in the path list. You can then create new paths and work on them normally, and the connecting path between points will show. 

[ReneDamkot]

Sadly, no. Still need the workaround mentioned above.

[davidt3027049]

Woow... that's disappointing.

Thank you for telling us. I will skipp this update to.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Dear Adobe, 'Thumbs Down/dislike'

[joyfer]

Thanks for taking one for the team K8T.

I appreciate the time you all put into figuring out the work-around but I'm still going to hold on 22.2 until they get it right. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I haven’t updated yet, so thanks for the heads-up. 

Yeah, it is disappointing that the bug was not fixed with the very next dot-release after being introduced. 

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hi Guys I have just updated to the new update 22.3.1. thought they might have sorted the bug out.

Guess what! the pen tool is still not working. Come on Adobe get it sorted!

[Ozzie Ciliberti]

As well, I've been using PS since the very beginning, and it seems that they are just rolling out updates and not checking what they have broken...... really sloppy!

[ReneDamkot]

Agree. I've been using PS since PS 4.0

PS CC 2021 crashed on me three times this week alone, that was enough for me.

Now I've (again) gone back to using PS CC 2019, since that's the only version on my system that more or less works as it should and is stable.

I'd very happily fork over a few hundred $ to Adobe, if that provided me with a perpetual licence for a stable, bug free version of PS. So I could use that for a few years to get more work done with less frustration and less 'updates'.

If I didn't work in an industry that expects me to use PS, I'd been looking at other software by now (but obviously, 25+ years of experience with software also has you kinda 'locked in').

[Angus_Hume]

Agreed. I've used Photoshop since the beginning. It is really dismaying to see Adobe dropping the ball on established workflows. This is just one of many, many issues. I would guess Adobe is eying new lucrative markets rather than older customers. A lot of my customers have fitted out their marketing staff with the Creative Suite, and newer features and marketing certainly seem to be selling the idea that anyone can be a creative expert with a couple of clicks. Even at this one company Adobe now has at least 10 subscriptions vs one designer. Not hard to see where the money trail leads. Likewise products like Dimensions which is eating into the 3D side of my business. Of course when you are as deep in the Adobe fold as some of us long term users it can be more difficult to migrate to other tools. But every time they break another workflow they make it easier. Now I'll just get back to renaming all my Jpegs and PNGs that have "copy" tacked on the end.

[jgraston]

*kerrymaxwell

The workaround is in no way complicated or time-consuming. It's one more click of the pen tool to create a work path. 

I think the majority of the frustration coming from participants in this particular thread is not coming from the hassle of an additional click of the pen tool in order to create a work path as you've otherwise pointed out is not complicated or time-consuming. In my case, the frustration was and still is the fact that I spent hours trying to figure out why my muscle memory with the tool was failing me.

Once a user has learned by habit how to accomplish a series of tasks and can do so without thinking - a certain amount of trust is then baked into every user session thereafter. Although it may be a trivial thing to you or an Adobe programmer to add or remove a click to tools or workflows here or there - it is by far a short sighted perspective and lacks the professional user empathy we pay for.

We expect our payments to Adobe and their programmers to be of fair enough trade in value for maintaining a consistent bug free software environment. The payments are made with an expectation, agreement and condition that we're able to use the software as experienced at purchase time - and not on the condition or promise from Adobe that they would eventually deliver bugs into tool functionality that initially existed as bug free, and or introduce useless new features that inherently crowd the essential toolset and introduce inconvenient marketing noise into application startup with every new update. I can understand over-hating or over-doing the complaining if this were open-sourceware or freeware but it is not that. Not that at all.

If you're paying for CC and you're not frustrated with the state of affairs in updates and bugs by now - perhaps this 'unknown' additional click in creating a work path with the pen tool gets you thinking about the value exchanged for your monthly payment to Adobe.

[ReneDamkot]

Ah. Thanks to kerrymaxwell for clarifying the workaround. This helps.

Mainly because the issue is not fixed in the latest update (22.3.1 on OSX)…

[c.pfaffenbichler]

*borky 

also, its not very obvious you DONT work for adobe when u defend everything they do. you're paying for a service, they aren't providing it. its as simple as that

Am I marked as an Adobe Employee on this Forum? No? Then I am obviously not an Adobe employee. 

And are you deliberately angling for a Forum-ban with language like

stop bootlicking for a company that doesn't give a rats crusty butthole about you.

?