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unwanted changes

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
December 4, 2023
4 replies
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I’m constantly bombarded by alerts saying I have updates to be installed and every few months I surrender to them and apply the updates. They rarely say anything more than “bug fixes and performance enhancements” yet they often contain unexplained (unwanted) changes which drive me crazy.

Today while editing a photo, I accidentally entered into something unfamiliar. The toolbar changed to only 7 tools and moving around the image would roughly select individual objects. I could not find ANY way out of this. Undo failed to take me back to normal photoshop, nor did the history pallet and no menu showed an exit. I had no idea the purpose of this mode or how I arrived there. I ultimately quit without saving and lost my work.

I’d like to know how others are dealing with these unwanted changes that are imposed upon us. Is there some resource I’m unaware of that explains what has been added and how to use it? Clearly these are more than “bug fixes and performance enhancements”. How can we get a detailed explanation of what has been added, removed or changed? Thank you.

macOS

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Correct answer jane-e

jane-e, you are spot on! “Select and Mask” is the trap I fell into.
By @--rick_D

You may have accidentally used the shortcut: Cmd + Option + R (Mac) or Ctrl + Alt + R (Win) for Select and Mask when you were trying to do something else.

I usually make a selection first, then enter the Select and Mask Workspace to clean it up and examine it against the layer underneath, black, white, etc. I never start there.

The Select and Mask Workspace has been around for a few years, so many of the tutorials may be several years old. I think the addition of the Object Selection tool may be one difference. (That's what you had when it started selecting things — that must have been baffling!)

Start here:

Help:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/select-mask.html

Jesús Ramirez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyUqVF4hsjw

Colin Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIvNoCMBRZA

Jane

jane-e

Community Expert

The toolbar changed to only 7 tools and moving around the image would roughly select individual objects.
By @--rick_D

The Contextual Task Bar changes depending whether you are working with text, an image, etc. It does not close the main toolbar, which you said happened.

If you entered the Select and Mask workspace, you would see only seven tools and would need to Cancel or click OK to exit. The other menus in Photoshop would be unavailable until you exited this dialog with Cancel or OK.

If you enter Type, Crop, Vanishing Point, Filter Gallery, et cetera, you also need to exit or accept.

My gut feeling is that you entered Select and Mask and were using the 4th tool (Object Selection tool). This situation best matches your description of what happened.

Jane

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--rick_DAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks again to everyone for the info and detailed explanations. I had no idea the quick mask had a preference setting. Curious how my setting became switched since I did not know it existed. Perhaps an update changed the default.

I appreciate Conrad C’s advice and link to the October 22 list of features which is very helpful and will motivate me to learn the tools through trial and error. Although I still wish Adobe provided more detailed demos. In years gone by, Adobe would create videos, usually featuring Russel Brown, explaining all the new features and how to use them. These videos were very inspirational. I’ve been using PhotoShop for decades except I recently went 7 years using the same version because my computer was too old to support the latest version. Now that I have a new computer (and new PhotoShop), I have A LOT to catch up on.

jane-e, you are spot on! “Select and Mask” is the trap I fell into. Don’t know how I got there, perhaps accidentally clicked the button on the toolbar or invoked a key command if one exist. Don’t know how I failed to see the cancel button, guess I was in a panic. It seems like an intersting new feature if I can figure how to work it. So far I’ve been unable to make a selection which can be used for editing an image but I’ll keep playing with it.

jane-e

Correct answer

Community Expert

jane-e, you are spot on! “Select and Mask” is the trap I fell into.
By @--rick_D

You may have accidentally used the shortcut: Cmd + Option + R (Mac) or Ctrl + Alt + R (Win) for Select and Mask when you were trying to do something else.

I usually make a selection first, then enter the Select and Mask Workspace to clean it up and examine it against the layer underneath, black, white, etc. I never start there.

The Select and Mask Workspace has been around for a few years, so many of the tutorials may be several years old. I think the addition of the Object Selection tool may be one difference. (That's what you had when it started selecting things — that must have been baffling!)

Start here:

Help:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/select-mask.html

Jesús Ramirez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyUqVF4hsjw

Colin Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIvNoCMBRZA

Jane

AxelMatt

Community Expert

... Is there some resource I’m unaware of that explains what has been added and how to use it? Clearly these are more than “bug fixes and performance enhancements”. How can we get a detailed explanation of what has been added, removed or changed? Thank you.

By @--rick_D

See here: New and enhanced features in the latest release of Photoshop (adobe.com)

My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI

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--rick_DAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks to everyone for the info, suggestions and the link. The video on the linked page addresses only a single change and does a terrible job demonstrating it. I’m puzzled by its complete lack of audio.

I very much want to find a resource which details ALL CHANGES. For example, there was a recent change to Quick Mask mode. After decades where areas in red were NOT the selection, they have now reversed that. I honestly feel this is how it should have been all along but I have been trained to always invert before exiting Quick Mask and even though I now know this has been changed, it is very, VERY difficult to unlearn what I’ve been doing for 20+ years. But what frustrates me most is they unleashed this change with no mention of it.

There should be a video or bullet list identifying ALL the changes to each new release so we can adapt how we work and take advantage of new features. As mentioned above, I lost work as a result of an undefined change, but if I could learn how that feature is meant to work, it may prove to be useful. For adobe to dump these changes on us with no explanation is nothing more than a waste of their time and our money.

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

@--rick_D "I very much want to find a resource which details ALL CHANGES"

I agree, that would be very useful

neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

D Fosse

Community Expert

That's the new contextual taskbar. No, I don't want that either. You can disable it completely by clicking the three dots and "Hide". Then you won't ever see it again.