Transform box around image larger than canvas does not show on pasteboard

[Rick Meikle]

Once upon a time, If you wanted to transform an image that was larger than the canvas area, the transform box would show on the pasteboard. Somewhere along the way that stopped. Searching for clues hasn't turned up anything useful. Anyone know about this? (Running Photoshop 25.11 on Mac mini M2 Pro)

[Bojan Živković]

Can you post a screenshot that shows the entire window with the Layers panel expanded and visible? Please enter Free Transform first, then capture the screen.

[Rick Meikle]

The first screenshot shows a single layer with a sunset sky on it. The sky is larger than the canvas. I hit Command-T to scale it down. Only the center control point is visible. The rest of the Transform box, which falls outside the canvas (but is smaller than the visible pasteboard) is not shown. Historically, it used to be. It disappeared in some recent update to Photoshop. (Recently, meaning within the last year or so. I've used Photoshop since the early '90s.) The second screenshot shows the same sky image scaled down enough that the entire Transform box is visible.

[jane-e]

@Rick Meikle 

Your first screenshot shows 100% scale with W: 6000 x H: 3001, while the second screenshot shows that you have scaled the image to 25% and is 1500 x 750.

When the image is still at 100%, can you zoom out a few more time to see if the transform handles appear after you use Cmd+T? Your zoom is 66.67 in both images, and Photoshop should be able to zoom out lots more than that.

Jane

[Rick Meikle]

No, I appreciate your interest, but it is easy to see that the handles in the first screenshot are not there. Just the center spot. Apply some logic. 4x the 25% image is obviously larger than the canvas. All I did was scale it down to 25% to show the handles. This is not my first rodeo. Clearly, no one in this community that has seen my post has any idea about it. Strange. It's the kind of thing that would usually bring up a chorus of users.

[jane-e]

Hi @Rick Meikle 

I'm not saying that my guess is correct, but could you humor me and zoom out as far as you can? Instead of 66.67%, try to get to 5% or smaller.

A second thought is to look in the View menu. I'm positive you know that Cmd+H is a shortcut to hide/show "Extras", but many people don't realize that what it really does is to hide/show everything that is enabled in the "Show" menu just below the Extras command. Can you look in View > Show to see if anything fits your situation?

A third thought is to go to Image > Reveal All. It's not what you are asking for, but it will make the canvas large enough to reveal the entire image.

You are correct that I haven't seen this before, but maybe someone else has and will jump in. These are just some ideas that may or may not help you, but are worth trying.

Jane

[Rick Meikle]

OK, this is it, though. If you want to explore it further, you should do similar test yourself. Can you see handles on the pasteboard? If yes, then there's something about my setup. If no, then this is a problem that somehow has gone unnoticed. (I didn't post back when I first noticed it. All to often, posting ends up going around in circles.)

[jane-e]

Hi @Rick Meikle 

Your zoom level is now 100%, not the 5% I asked for. But I'll step aside and let others answer your question since I don't appear to be helping.

Jane

[Rick Meikle]

I know that you were looking for handles to appear if the zoom was small enough. (They don't.) That was already shown in what I posted. My third screenshot shows the image when it is too wide for the canvas, but not too tall. The handles on the canvas are visible. The handles at the ends of the image are on the pasteboard and are not visible. Yes, it is time to bark up a different tree. But thanks for the consideration!

[Jeff Arola]

For an image that is bigger than the canvas as in your screenshots, if you select the Move Tool with Show Transform Controls checked, does tha show the transform controls?

[Rick Meikle]

Yeah, wish it did, but no. However, Chuck (in the next post) is onto something.

[Chuck Uebele · Accepted solution]

I'm on windows and don't have that issue. I know you're an experienced user, but have you tried resetting your preferences? 

[Rick Meikle]

Should have done that already. I admit that I shy away from deleting settings (nee preferences) because there are so many and it is a royal pain-in-the-patootie to reconstruct them. I was hoping there was a solution short of that. So, yes, the transform box shows on the pasteboard when using default settings (screenshot attached). The center control is missing, though. It can be brought back in the Tools settings, but it is different. It doesn't even look like just another control point (second screenshot, with gray pasteboard instead of black). Now I need to reconstruct all my settings and check the Transform box along the way. That's for another day, but I will post what I find. (And thanks, Scott. I guess 😉

[Chuck Uebele]

Yea, it is a PIA to reset everything!!! Unfortunately it has time be done, sometimes. 

[Rick Meikle]

The culprit is the "Use Graphics Processor" setting in Performance. Turning it off, which I did a while ago for at least two reasons that I don't recall offhand, kills the Transform box if it falls outside the image area. It has been years now since Apple spun its own silicon, but Photoshop still doesn't play nice with the onboard GPU (or, in this case, without it). I remember the day when Adobe was all about the Mac. Oh well. Now I have to rediscover the reasons for turning it off, then decide which compromise is worse. My bet is that the problematic Transform box will be easier to live with.