Resizing Text Using Command/Shift/Comma - works on one computer and not the other

[United By Water]

I'm scratching my head on this issue. I have Photoshop (25.7.0) installed on both my personal and work computer (both are Macs). My work computer I'm able to adjust the size of the text by using command/shift/comma but on my personal computer it doesn't work and I have no idea why and it's so annoying!!! Any suggestions??

[Nancy OShea]

Laptops or desktops? 

Which operating systems?

Keyboard shortcut conflicts - Apple Help

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-a-conflicting-keyboard-shortcut-on-mac-mchlp2864/mac

[United By Water]

Both are laptops. 

My work: Apple M1 Pro 2021 | 16" | OS 13.6.6

My personal: Apple M1 Max 2021 | 16" | OS 13.5 

[Trevor.Dennis]

We tend to think of these shortcuts as 'Shift Cmd <' and 'Shift Cmd >'  which sort of makes more sense from a bigger and smaller point of view.

OK, I've tried with Windows 11 and a MacBook Pro (M2 Pro) with Ventura and both worked.

Does Shift-Command-> work to increase text size?

Is this a new problem?  Or have you only just noticed it perhaps?

The problem with this is these are not Menu commands, so I was unable to find the function in Edit Shortcuts.  I tried searching for the shortcut without Photoshop to see if something else might be trapping the shortcut.  That happens with things like Nvidea GForce Experience, and I am guessing, with other 'Allways on top' apps stealing focus.

Try opening Photoshop on the problem machine while holding down the Shift key.  This forces all third party plugins to not open, so if that fixes it, you'd have to test them individually. 

I doubt it would be any different, but you could try installing the beta version to test, and the same thing with an earlier version.  22.2 is the oldest still available.

If you are still stuck after this, then it could come down to a) Resetting the Type Tool, or more likely b) Resetting Preferences.  We all hate doing that, but when things get really weird, it's very often the answer.

If you fix this or find the answer by yourself, please let us know, as it might help someone else going forward.

[United By Water]

Intersting news to share. Did a little more trouble shooting. I have a template psd file that I have been using for a couple years now and it looks like it's isolated within this specific psd. Within this file I can't use Shift Cmd < to increase/decrease the text size. I sorta can but for example, if my text is 66pt and I use Shift Cmd > the text jumps up to 376pt with one keyboard tap. Now if I open a brand new file, place a new block of text, I have no problems using Shift Cmd < or > on the text. Now, if I take the text layer from the "problem" psd file and place it in the new document I created I still have the same problem with the text jumping from small to big. 

Let me know if the link doesn't work for you. 

https://app.usebubbles.com/eQaMnjEAc8Sp2tgibo6DEs

[Trevor.Dennis]

Does Mac have an equivalent of the Windows Notepad?  (I am a very new Mac user)

What I am thinking is if you paste the problem line into a Notepad app, that strips formatting.  You could paste it back into Photoshop and reapply the formatting.  Of course, you could just remake the problem text from scratch, and either way, you are none the wiser about what is causing the glitch.

I tend not to obsess too much about Photoshop glitches.  I didn't write the code, I just use the app, so if resetting Preferences fixes an issue I am annoyed that I have to redo my preferred settings, but I gennerally don't care about what was broken.  Resetting Preferences does not just fix glitches, it also resets everything to defaults, so we should check the Options Bar, blend modes etc. before resetting Preferences, because that's how we learn.  I've seen Bert Monroy do this a couple of times in his tutorials after a tool or setting goes weird on him, and it always makes me smile.

[Lumigraphics]

The Mac has Notes and TextEdit, both support formatting including RTF. The best plain text editor, hands down, is BBEdit, which has been around forever and which has a freeware mode. I recommend that everyone with a Mac install it, just like I recommend Notepad++ on Windows.

[jane-e]

Does Mac have an equivalent of the Windows Notepad? 

By Trevor.Dennis

Here's the help file for TextEdit. You can change the settings to Plain Text (like I do).

https://support.apple.com/guide/textedit/welcome/mac

Jane

[Trevor.Dennis]

Thanks Jane.  I remember DaveM trashing Word in a Backroom thread because it inserts a bunch of hidden characters, so I tend not to trust the Ctrl(Cmd) Space trick for stripping formatting in Word.  So Notepad is my goto method when I need to be sure text is striped to the bone.  

I'm still having fun learning the Mac.  Jeff has coonvinced me that it is safe to update to Sonoma, so that is happening as I type this.

[Trevor.Dennis]

@United By Water 

Did you try stripping the formating from that problem text, and did it work?  We are interested to know who you got on?

[Conrad_C]

I use those shortcuts all the time. Do the Command and Shift keys work normally in other ways on the personal computer? If they do not, check System Settings / Keyboard / Keyboard Shortcuts / Modifier Keys, and make sure Command has not been remapped to some other function.

Another thing to check: Make sure both Macs are set to the same Input Source. This can be changed in System Settings / Keyboard / Text Input, click Edit button. If the personal Mac is set to a different Text Input such as a different language’s keyboard layout, some keys may work differently.

Finally, if you have already made sure Command-Shift-Comma or Period is not assigned to something else in System Settings / Keyboard / Keyboard Shortcuts, try to think of any background utility software you may have added to the personal Mac that might have keyboard shortcuts, such as window management, screen capture, or password manager software. If another program is running that uses Command-Shift-Comma/Period at the system level, that could override Photoshop.

[United By Water]

Hey Conrad, see my post from above or you can also see the problem here. It seems isolated to the one psd file that I have been using for a long time. It's still a head scratcher for me though and I'm not sure what characteristics are being carried around with this text layer. 

[Conrad_C]

I’m stumped. The only thing I can think of, which maybe you’ve already tried, is to disable the layer effects (e.g. drop shadow) on the type layer and see if it works differently, but I can’t think of why that should cause the standard shortcut to not work consistently.

And of course I guess my earlier suggestions aren’t helpful because they assumed the problem was always happening on a particular computer, because the shortcut seems to work fine in another document on the same computer.

If it was in one of my files, one thing I would experiment with is choosing File > Save a Copy to create duplicates in both Photoshop and TIFF (with layers) format, and see if it still works weird in the duplicate documents. If that fixes it, then saving a copy (rewriting out the document) might have cleared up whatever was weird. If it still works strangely in both duplicates, then we’re back to it being a big mystery…