Feature Request: Bring back "Show Transform Controls" to the top toolbar

[J-Bam]

In the latest update for Photoshop, the "Show Transform Controls" for the Move tool is now hidden behind a gear icon in the top toolbar. So, instead of one simple click, it now requires two clicks, slowing down workflow for those who constantly switch between seeing handlebar controls and not seeing them. There is plenty of real estate at the top of the toolbar to display all four options for the Move tool, so I'm not quite sure why this was removed in the latest update. But I sure hope the development team can bring it back!

[saml25]

Please bring this back. The extra step of having to click on the gear is so unnecessary and frustrating.

[Mod: Thread locked because double posting]

[Further discussion see here: SHOW TRANSFORM CONTROL missing at the top - Adobe Community - 14590583]

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

Agreed and voted!

[CPU2446171971nf]

So it's gone?!? Please put this back, the little radio box that allowed me to add/remove the transform controls, please.

[Journeyman05]

As we see in this screenshot, I have turned off the "Narrow" options bar. This would seem to suggest that I do not want all of the options for the tool to be compressed into a drop down menu. With that option selected, I do get more settings in the move tools options bar, but it seems that I'm doomed to get some of my options "narrowed" even when I ask for non-narrow options. Here's what I'm seeing in the latest Photoshop version:

As you can see I have miles of space remaining in my tools options bar, but a whole bunch of my options are condensed down into a little gear menu. The show transform controls option used to be on the tools options bar, but now it's an additional click away. In fact, I now have 2 different icons that both serve the purpose of dropping down a sub-menu of more options.

I am aware that I can press control T. I am aware that I can toggle the option and then use control H to show and hide the controls. The concern is not whether or not there are alternative ways to get one specific feature, but rather that the options that used to be displayed on a toolbar are now selectively and somewhat arbitrarily being moved to little drop down menus.

You'll note, for example, that all of the align and distribute options still have icons on the tool options bar, but the ability to select the target to "align to" requires me to click that little triple dot menu. Transform Controls and alignment hints require the gear drop-down menu. Items that used to be icons and drop-down options are now becoming meta icons with sub options and sub drop down menus. It is absurdly arbitrary that this one options bar has two separate icons for pulling up additional settings; that triple dot menu and the gear menu.

(As an aside, what was the logic there? Using the identical, generic 3-dot icon in multiple places in the software for entirely different purposes is a poor choice.)

If the concern is that we're getting too many different options and it's impossible to choose which ones should go and stay, Adobe should not make these arbitrary decisions, like having a duplicate of the alignment and distribute options as both icons on the toolbar and within a sub menu, while having various move options exclusively buried into a sub menu. Instead, you need to give us the ability to customize what goes on our tool options bar, similar to how we can edit the toolbar if we don't want our tools buried under that ellipsis button.

[Pete.Green]

Hi all,

I was part of the team that worked on moving show transform controls to the gear menu, and it's nice to hear this feedback that you'd like it moved back out of the new gear controls that now house many of the Hover layer bounds controls.

Generally, the gear menu is used for various tools to provide additional options for the selected tool. 

I realize this is a bit of a case of "who moved my cheese?" and am sorry that this change has proven frustrating for some of you. The intention was to move many of the Move tool configuration options into one place. 

One question I have around this is, would adding ability to customize a keyboard shortcut for Show transform controls satiate this desire? Or do you prefer it being available directly on the tool options bar?

Regards,

Pete

[saml25]

Both options would be very beneficial. But if we had to choose, I believe restoring the toolbar as it was would make more sense, as not everyone uses shortcuts.

[jane-e]

@Pete.Green wrote:

One question I have around this is, would adding ability to customize a keyboard shortcut for Show transform controls satiate this desire? Or do you prefer it being available directly on the tool options bar?

Personally, I am happy with it in the cog menu.

My question is:

If it gets moved back, how likely is it to cause issues for those with small monitors and use the narrow toolbar?

Jane

[Journeyman05]

Hi Peter, thank you for your reply and openness to feedback.

In this case, a keyboard shortcut would not do the job as effectively (I believe Cmd/Ctrl + T already accomplishes this task); I'll try to articulate the logic and some workflow situations.

First, that setting versus "the other ones": Placing settings inside the gear menu creates the need to make multiple clicks while moving the mouse around quite a bit. For many of the options, this is not a major hindrance; for Transform Controls, it is. This is because most of the settings are "passive." They control the overall workflow and expectations of the user. For example, it's quite rare that I would want to "show layer bounds on hover" for just one single layer one time while creating a document. It is very likely I'd want to set such a setting and have it remain for a portion of my work, so navigating to it once when needed isn't an issue. Conversely, the transform controls are often needed to perform a quick one-time action at many points throughout typical work, and need to be manifested and dismissed regularly. 

I believe this is a truer guidance to which settings should be at the top level of visibility (always) versus down a level or two. The comparison is "Activates tool" versus "activates background behavior"...

Or, more generally, whether the feature is intended to frequently temporarily disrupt the visuals with an immediate and interruptive UI to use then dismiss (like transform controls does), or whether the feature is intended to passively alter behavior that augments and supports other actions (like showing bounds on hover or alignment tools).

I understand the interest in consolidating the options, but I'd assume this is what the Workspace preference "Enable narrow options bar" is for. If I have the screen space, I want the options.

As a use-case: imagine you're working from a graphics tablet with a pen. It is trivial to move your hand a small physical distance to tap the option on and off when you need it. It is much more challenging to get the taps on the menu icon and sub-menu setting without hitting the wrong one. And, while using a tablet, impractical to have to push it away to go to a keyboard every time.

[Lumigraphics]

Pete, you know that no matter which option you have, someone isn't going to like it. I prefer the UI to be as configurable as possible but also understnd that is more code and more things to break.Changing things also involves opportunity cost where your development team could be doing other things.

In general, UI guidelines and common sense say that an application should be as discoverable as possible. Hiding controls makes that more difficult. At the same time, this is a somewhat niche feature and the UI is already packed.

My vote at this point would be, its done, tested, and anyone who needs this has other ways to get to it. Move on to other tech debt.

[Max2613267683ew]

Please revert back to how it was if at all possible. I toggle the "Show Transform Controls" option on and off literally every ten seconds for my line of work, and having it in a gear menu is extremely troublesome lol

[BC@MWECO]

Completely agree. Losing the transform control check box has been very annoying.

[Sun Pip]

Please just move it back to how it was. Moving it away was very unnecessary and extra. Please understand the average workflow of a long term photoshop user. 

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

This needless obscurification also happened in Image Size: