Photoshop eraser shortcut (E) opens Edit menu?

[wakenthedead]

Every now and then I press E to get the eraser tool on, but sometimes it'll to go the top menu navigation bar and open the Edit menu. Is there a way to disable shortcuts of this top nav bar?

Providing a screenshot in attachments.

A short fix for this, is to alt+tab to another program and then alt+tab back to photoshop, but it's a bit silly to do that for a shortcut, which it's purpose is to save time to being with.

[Guest · Accepted solution]

Hi

Pressing the ALT key will toggle the shortcuts on and off

[jane-e]

Adding to what Ged said, it’s part of the Windows operating system and has been at least as long as Windows 2.0 (my first version). It is not part of Mac OS, so it does not happen there.

[wakenthedead]

It would make sense if this solution worked, but I tried to ALT when this happened again but it didn't solve it. Pressing E would only open the Edit menu, no matter how many times I pressed ALT.

I'll look for a way to disable this menu altogether, thanks though.

[jane-e]

Hi wakenthedead​

Tapping and releaing Alt in a Windows program is a documented way to underline the one-letter shortcut to bring up the next menu command. Once you get into the Edit menu, for instance, if you tap Alt again, it will underline the next selection of letters for the commands inside the Edit menu.

You might ask on the Microsoft forum if it can be disabled within the Windows application.

You might also try pressing Escape to see if that clears the underlines.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12445/windows-keyboard-shortcuts

What you are saying is that sometimes when you press E, the Edit menu opens, so somehow one of your two Alt keys is getting activaed. Annoying, to be sure! Tap each Alt key to make sure it’s not stuck. If you can, try another keyboard. And watch for user error, just in case, and make sure you are not tapping and releasing Alt (I don’t think this one is true, but it can happen.)

When you are doing the Alt+Tab, it may be unsticking the Alt key for a short while if that’s what the issue is.

Please post back.

[wakenthedead]

Hi Jane.

I fixed it with AutoHotKey. Added a line of code to my custom shortcuts script:

~LAlt Up:: return

[jane-e]

Oh, good!

Just curious, is that working across all Windows programs or just Photoshop?

[wakenthedead]

AutoHotKey is a super low memory script that can change default OS shortcuts that Windows wouldn't let you change by default, so it works on all Windows apps.

For instance, before this, I already had it because I prefer using Ctrl+Q instead of Alt+F4 to close all my apps in Windows, so I added the extra line of code to it for the Alt deal.