"Could not move selection because selected area is empty"

[sandral18706]

I am trying to make a photo collage. The instructions (on YouTube video) say to create a circle, then fill it with a foreground color (on its own layer). Then keep the circle selected, add a new layer, right click on it and select Stroke. Every time I right click on it to do the Stroke thing, it says "could not move selection because selected area is empty." I tried googling this and came up with a number of different answers.

Can anyone please tell me why this isn't working for me? I have deselected and selected, deleted the new layer and tried to create a new one, and so on.

Here is a screenshot. I'm working with the purple ellipsis in the center.

[Bojan Živković]

What is your goal? Are you trying to add a stroke on a separate layer using the Edit > Stroke option or the right-click > Stroke command? It works for me without any issues. The only suggestion I have is to reset your preferences, as this situation seems a bit unusual.

Edit: I was able to reproduce the situation. By switching to the selection tool, such as the Rectangular Marquee Tool, before right-clicking, the error message will disappear.

[sandral18706]

I tried to switch to the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and now it won't let me fill in the oval, much less select it so I can add a stroke to it. Also, every time I want to switch marquee tools, I have to go to the Help menu and search for the tool I want. I can't get them all to show up under the Marquee Tools; I only see them one at a time.

I have not used this version of Photoshop and so I am having a difficult time. I usually work in PSE. However, I don't see a way to set up two columns and two rows in PSE so I am working in PS.

[sandral18706]

Yes--I am trying to add a separate layer, then add a stroke by right-clicking. The tutorial says to leave the oval active with "marching ants" and then right click to add the stroke.

[Bojan Zivkovic · Accepted solution]

Proceed as you normally would, but when you reach the final step (Stroke), switch to the Marquee.

[Bojan Živković]

The above is my response from a secondary account.

[sandral18706]

Thanks very much! I finally did get it to work.