Photoshop 23.4.1 switching tools randomly doesn’t work [Mac 12.4]

[LarryK_95]

Since updating to 23.4.1 this morning now my tools will randomly not switch using the keyboard shortcut. Like if I have the Marque tool active, and then press S for the Clone tool it will switch, then immediately switch back to the Marque tool. Sometimes it will happen 30+ times in a row, sometimes just once, sometimes not at all, and happens with any tool combo. Manually selecting the tool in the tool bar with the mouse cursor still works normally.

Things I’ve tried:
-A fresh computer restart and opening just Photoshop
-Turning off Use Graphics Processor
-Turning off Multithreaded compositing

Photoshop 23.4.1
macOS 12.4
Mac Pro 6.1

[Myra Ferguson]

You might try resetting Photoshop's preferences:

• Preferences - Reset Photoshop preferences

[LarryK_95 · Accepted solution]

After doing more research here it turns out it was the spring-loaded tool feature that was causing it. Turning that off and everything is back to normal. It never happened before 23.4.1 which is lucky I guess but at least it can be disabled, which is what the default should be in my opinion.

[27shutterclicks]

Actually, you can try re-enabling Edit > Preferences > Spring-loaded Tool Shortcuts and setting a slightly higher Timing Sensitivity value. So, if yours is at the default 200ms, try increasing it in small steps (like 100ms at a time) until tool switching works normally. For me, increasing from 200ms to 300ms fixed my issues.

I previously posted this solution here: P: Spring-loaded tool feature is misbehaving