How do I scroll faster when cropping an image in PS Elements 2021?

[vicviper001]

Here's the scenario. You've taken a photo of a DVD case and want to crop everything else out so all you see is the front cover. You want to be very precise, so you've zoomed in 600-700%. You selected the cropping tool. Finally, you click-and-drag a pixel-perfect selection from the top-left corner, with the intention of selecting everything down to the bottom right of the DVD case.
 
When I do this, the screen scrolls down at an AGONIZINGLY SLOW pace. It takes me like 5 minutes to scroll my cropping selection box all the way from left to right... and ANOTHER 5 minutes to scroll from top to bottom.

 
Is there ANY way to make the screen scroll faster when selecting a cropping area?

[vicviper001]

I crop things daily. I previously used PS CS2, but it constantly crashes with Win 11 and is unusable for me. I CANNOT  use Photoshop Elements for any serious use, due to agonizingly slow scrolling speed when cropping images. I doubt I'm the only one who's annoyed by this problem. Has anyone found a way to speed up scrolling speed when cropping images?

[MichelBParis]

I doubt I'm the only one who's annoyed by this problem.

By @vicviper001

Well, reading your first post, I really wondered if it was a joke, and I apologize for that. You don't state very important info which @Greg_S. is asking for you;  especially the original scan settings and image dimensions and the specs of your monitor. They may be an important factor to explain the scrolling slowness.

However, when you say you are zooming 600-700% and you want to crop with a 1 pixel precision, I really think that you may be the only one:

- to need a 1 pixel precision (I am curious to know why)

- to believe that zooming above 100% will help. Only multiples of 2 like 200, 400, 800 can really show you each pixel, other ratios will kind of 'blur' the displayed image.

Oherwise, I was believing that the CS2 crop tool (April 2005) was the same used in all subsequent versions of Elements (PSE4+); actually, the automatic crop suggestions mentioned by Greg should be disabled. Really, you should not be surprised not to get answers with the issue. I don't see any reason you should not get a fast, precise crop with 'normal' settings like 100% view on a 'normal' display and a 'normal' sized file in pixels.

[vicviper001]

Since I fiddle around a lot with pixel-art from retro games, I decided to include a better example of my problem by including a youtube video. In my video, I'm trying to crop a tiny area in the upper left corner of a large image. As you will no doubt see... When I drag a sclection box around what i want to crop, the screen scrolls at a VERY slow speed. THIS is what I am having problems with, and what I want to speed up.

[MichelBParis]

Since I fiddle around a lot with pixel-art from retro games, I decided to include a better example of my problem by including a youtube video. In my video, I'm trying to crop a tiny area in the upper left corner of a large image.

By @vicviper001

Now I do understand what you mean by 'pixel' precision. The pixels are the original squares in the original scanned image, nothing related to your file size or screen size/resolution. As you have suggested elsewhere, cropping in two stages or only a tiny portion of the upper left corner should solve your speed problem with the best realistic crop precision... provided you don't zoom at more than 100% pixel size.

The idea is to zoom so that only a little more of the expected crop fills your editing window. Whether you crop a tiny part or most of the original, the precision will be more than adequate.

(Unfortunately I don't know how to create a video to illustrate this.)

[Greg_S.]

I have never experienced anything close to what you are describing.What version of Elements are you using.  What are the specs of your computer? What is the size of your monitor?  What is the resolution of your photo?  All of these variables may make a difference.

Have you  tried making an initial rough crop of the image at the original fit-on-screen display size, and then make your fine tune when zoomed in?

Does it make any difference if you were to use the marquee selection tool to select the case, and then use the Image>Crop menu command to make the crop?

Do you have your mouse wheel set to zoom (in Edit>Preferences>General).  That may make it easier for you to zoom in and out as needed.

Added:  Actually, the first thing you may want to try is turning off Enable Crop Pre-selection in the Edit>Preferences>General dialog.

[vicviper001]

I’m using PS Elements 2022. CPU is Ryzen 7 5000 series, GPU is RTX3070, 32GB of ram. Monitor size is 16-inches at 2560x1600. In other words… not a potato PC. Resolution of the photo is 4110x5136?

I have tried making an initial rough crop of the image, but still face slow scrolling when cropping out the excess pixels.

Using the marquee selection tool to make a selection is also slow. I have the mouse wheel set to zoom. I already had “Enable Crop Pre-selection” turned off.

Jeff Arola suggested holding down shift which DOES increase scrolling speed, but I just now remembered this is actually just the keyboard shortcut for making sure your selection is a perfect square.

I have uploaded a video showing the slow-scroll problem that I’m having. I want to crop a small area in the upper left corner, but selecting it is very slow...

[Jeff Arola · Accepted solution]

Press the Shift key while scrolling.

[vicviper001]

Thank you, that's it. Scrolling is MUCH faster with the shift key held down.