Brush Size Bracket Keys Stop Working After Property Change

Report · Aug 10, 2017

I searched for this problem unsuccessfully so I'm posting anew. My problem does not occur with the paint brush. It occurs with the Blur/Smudge tool (possibly others that I don't normally use). When I first select the Blur/Smudge tool, the brush size keyboard controls [ ] work fine. But when I change the mode property Darken/Lighten/Normal, the keys [ ] do nothing - no effect at all. After struggling with this for quite some time (having to use the slider control), I accidentally discovered that if I set the property, to darken for example, then clicked on a different tool, paint brush for example, and then back to the Blur/Smudge tool, the [ ] keys work fine. So now it's just a minor annoyance. But it's clearly a bug and Adobe needs to know about it.

Report · Aug 10, 2017

Try resetting the preferences:

Restore default preferences

Preference settings control how Photoshop Elements Editor displays images, cursors, and transparencies, saves files, uses plug‑ins and scratch disks, and so on. If the application exhibits unexpected behavior, the preferences file could be damaged. You can restore all preferences to their defaults.
Note: Deleting the preferences file is an action that cannot be undone.
Do one of the following:
Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Mac: Option+Command+Shift) immediately after Photoshop Elements begins launching. Click Yes to delete the Adobe Photoshop Elements settings file.
Go to Edit > Preferences (Mac: Photoshop Elements > Preferences > General), click the Reset Preferences on next launch button, and then click OK. When you restart Adobe Photoshop Elements, all preferences are reset to default settings.
A new preferences file is created the next time you start Photoshop Elements Editor. For information on a specific preference option, search for the preference name in Help.

from here:

Preference file locations for Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements

And if that doesn't work, file a bug report here:

Feature Request/Bug Report Form