The bucket tool is not working properly

[Mara99]

Can someone explain to me why the bucket tool is not working as usual and how I can fix it?

I wanted to fill just the inside of the circle, but instead it fills all the workspace except the draw already existing.

 

  

[Sameer K · Accepted solution]

Hey, @Mara99. Welcome to the Photoshop Community. I'll need more info to help you figure this out.

Is the 'All Layers option' selected for the Paint Bucket tool? Try this:

If this does not help, ensure there are no stale preferences in your Photoshop. Go to the location of the preference folder below and rename it to backup.

• Windows 10/11: Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop [version]/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings
• You can press Press the Windows key > Enter 'Run' > Enter %APPDATA%\Adobe
• Rename the Adobe Photoshop folder by adding a .old at the end. (Adobe Photoshop 2024 > Rename > Adobe Photoshop 2024. old), you can later restore these preferences if needed.(https://adobe.ly/4860qM9)
• Restart the computer.

These changes will give a fresh start to Photoshop as a fresh install. Let me know how it goes.

Thanks!

Sameer K

(Use '@mention' to tag me when you reply)

[Mara99]

Hi, thanks for the advice was really useful. I was using the tool in the same layer, so I really don't know what was the issue. I asked for help first to Adobe Care in X (twitter) and they told me to reset the tool, which worked. So I think your suggestions would worked as well. I take note for the next time, thanks!

[davescm · Accepted solution]

@Mara99 Go to the options bar, for the paint bucket tool, turn on Anti-Alias and then adjust the tolerance value until you get the result you need

Dave

[Mara99]

Hi, thanks for the advice was really useful. I asked for help first to Adobe Care in X (twitter) and they told me to reset the tool, which worked. So I think your suggestion would worked as well. I take note for the next time, thanks!

[JohnnyScience]

Where is the options bar at to adjust this?

I'm having this issue too and it's very frustrating.

I don't know why they messed with the paint can tool, it was very easy and simple to fill in areas when you needed to before this.

[davescm]

The options bar runs along the top of the application window - just under the menu bar.

Dave

[jane-e]

@JohnnyScience 

In addition to what Dave said, if your options bar is not showing, you can enable it from the Window menu. Most if not all tools have options that can be set.

Jane

[JohnnyScience]

I'm still not able to use the paint bucket to fill in areas

I checked the option bar at the top and everything seems selected

I am trying to fill in the white letters in the words at the bottom - specifically you can see the O in Creations - I used the paint bucket tool, but instead of filling it in like normal that I've done hundreds of times, it is just outlining the inside of the O in Creations - you can see a very small purple outline

What am I still doing wrong that this paint bucket isn't working like normal?

For 20+ years the paint bucket tool has always filled things in for up until the last couple of weeks.

[JohnnyScience]

Anyone?  I'm still stuck on this and not having the fill ability is really messing up my images.

Thanks.

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

@JohnnyScience 

Change the Mode from "Color" to "Normal"

Jane

[JohnnyScience]

That worked great, THANK YOU so much!!

[jane-e]

You're welcome @JohnnyScience, and I'm glad it's solved for you now.

For trivia, the enclosed area of a letter has a name. It's called a "counter". 😊

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter_%28typography%29

Jane