Weird Response to Keyboard Tool Shortcuts

[hpg1]

I am running the latest version of Photoshop on a 64 bit Windows 10 machine and am getting weird actions from keyboard tool shortcuts.

If, say, I just quickly press B for brush, the tool doesn't change but there is something going on where the word Normal in the Mode field gets larger and covers the word Mode, but the tool doesn't change. If I hold the B key down it turns into a brush tool but goes back to the original tool as soon as I let go of the key. Oddly, I noticed today that if I tap the shortcut key twice in rapid succession (has to be rapid) the tool does change as expected

Any ideas as to what the issue might be? Thanks.

[hpg1]

I should add that if I left click on the tool in the Photoshop Tools Pallete the tool changes appropriately.

[daring_Ripple98BC]

I am having very similar issues, if I press and hold a shortcut key, it will change to the proper tool (brush, stamp, etc.) but it will switch back to the old tool as soon as I release the key. sometimes hitting the escape key first will fix the problem, but that is working less and less. And I can select the tool with the mouse in the panel normally. Were you able to fix your problem?

[Peru Bob]

Try resetting the tools and/or preferences.
To restore preferences quickly using a keyboard shortcut:

Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) or Option+Command+Shift (Mac OS) as you start Photoshop. You are prompted to delete the current settings. The new preferences files are created the next time you start Photoshop.
Note: Using the keyboard shortcut, preference files for custom shortcuts, workspaces, and color settings will also be reset to default.

from here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#restore_preferences

[hpg1 · Accepted solution]

YES!!!! And just recently in fact, after months of frustration. Turned out to be a simple Photoshop Preference issue. Go to Preferences>Tools and see if 'Spring Loaded Tool Shortcuts' is checked. When I updated at some point, this apparently became checked by default. If yours is checked, just uncheck it and see if it fixes your issue. It did for me!

Howard

[daring_Ripple98BC]

Thanks, that fixed it!

[hpg1]

Glad it did the trick!