I have PS for Windows version 25.12 and the feature to hold the Shift key while closing one window (clicking the X) and it would close all windows has disappeared. I see there's an option in the File menu as well as Alt-CTRL-W to close all. But it was convenient when done with a batch of images to just Shift, Click-X to close them all.
I did a reset preferences. Without going back in to set them up, it appeared to work. After setting up my preferences again, it's not working again. It seems like it's related to that.
Update: It seems to be related to opening in tabs vs floating all windows. When I opened as tabs they all closed together, holding shift. When I floated them after opening as tabs, they would not. When I turned off opening as tabs in preferences and they floated, they would not all close. However, I've always floated my windows in preferences.
I don’t remember it ever being the Shift key that closes all windows. It seems like it’s always been Alt-click the close X button to close all windows, which is why the keyboard shortcut is Alt-Ctrl-W versuse Ctrl-W to close just one.
In fact I just did a web search, and I found someone’s keyboard shortcuts list for Photoshop CS6. It says Close All Windows is Ctrl-Alt-W. So, we know that it’s been Alt for at least 12 years (when Photoshop CS6 was released), and I’d bet it has always been the Alt key. And it might also be the Alt key in other non-Adobe software, if that’s an OS shortcut.
A coworker who is still in our old laptops (that was when I noticed this issue, after deploying a new laptop) had never heard of it before either. So he opened several images and did the Shift-X and it closed them all. That leads me to wonder if it's a Windows function change and not an Adobe function, as a possible answer. I've got it on a Mac at home that I should check tonight.
A Mac is my main computer, so I just tried it. On my Mac, Shift-clicking doesn’t close all windows, but Option (like Alt) does.
But it is possible that Adobe supports two ways. There are other examples of two shortcuts working. On the Mac, you can cycle through open windows using both the standard macOS shortcut (Command- `), and the original Photoshop shortcut from the 1990s (Ctrl-Tab). So maybe in Windows, Shift also works for closing all? But Alt-click is clearly the one that’s always been documented in help files and manuals.
Update. I had him pull out his new computer (same image as is on mine), and holding Shift while closing one of three images (the X) closed all three images. Now I'm wondering if I've defeated it somehow.
The feature to hold the Shift key while closing one window (clicking the X) and it would close all windows
works here on Windows 10 and Photoshop 2024 (ps ver 25.12)
After testing some older Photoshop versions on both Mac (Mac OS 9.2.2 and Tiger OS X 10.4.11) and Windows (Windows 2000 and Windows 95), it seems that since Photoshop 6 on the Mac side one Option clicks on the document window close button and Photoshop 6 on the Windows side one Shift clicks on the document window close button to close all open documents.
The above doesn't work on Photoshop versions older than Photoshop 6 on either Mac or Windows.
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