Participant

Question

Shift key is acting like its stuck

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 4, 2020
17 replies
13187 views

When use Photoshop my shift key is acting like its stuck, im sure it isnt a keyboard issue, ive got a new keyboard but it still happens.

Photoshop 2019 vision 20.0.9

Windows

indrel34711463

Participant

Turning off sticky keys solved this issue for me.

chappz180

Inspiring

Thought i'd add in here - have been experiencing this problem for a really long time. Have been a long time Mac user and recently switched to PC (only 18 months of using PC)

After about 2 hours, it CAN randomly go into 'SHIFT' mode.

No it is not caps lock.

No, any sort of preferences changing does not turn it off.

No, it is ONLY Photoshop and no other programs which are freaking out.

Even if you try and save your file, it thinks you are clicking SAVE AS so I would have to save it as XXXX or something then force quit photoshop and come back to it.

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TLDR

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I unplugged my Wacom tablet, it was literally only hanging in with a HDMI port, no power, no USBC, nothing. I heard it disconnect, and

PROBLEM SOLVED

Didn't even have to restart Photoshop.

THIS IS THE FIX. DISCONNECT YOUR TABLET.

T

tommySteenrod

Participant

Just chiming in that this is still happening randomly in PS version 25.3.1. All hotkeys appear to have the shift key pushed down when it is not pushed down, and capslock is off. The only way I've found that fixes it is to restart PS. I have a Wacom tablet plugged in, a bluetooth Logitech keyboard, and a wired mouse.

It appears to happen randomly when I'm using a lot of hotkeys in succession. It does not affect any other programs, and I can type normally. There doesn't appear to be anything specific that triggers it. It has happened only a few minutes after opening PS, and also when PS has been running for a few hours.

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Community Expert

@tommySteenrod what happens if you leave the Wacom disconnected?

T

tommySteenrod

Participant

I just encountered this issue again. After working on a file for a few hours Ctrl+T started to act like Shift+Ctrl+T. My Wacom was plugged in. I saved my work using the File drop down menu, then disconnected my Wacom tablet. Doing that seemed to fix the issue; shift no longer appeared to be stuck. I plugged my Wacom back in and it works normally and the issue seemingly was resolved. I did not need to close PS.

So for anyone who has this issue and is using a Wacom tablet, try disconnecting and reconnecting the tablet.

This doesn't fix the underlying issue of PS not functioning as expected 100% of the time with a Wacom plugged in, but at least you don't have to restart PS.

S

sebastianx10690740

Participant

Thought I solved it, but has started happening again. Anyone know of fixes?

W

wtfbingo

Participant

Nope. I came here today to see.

This is apparently an issue that everyone has trouble-shot and have made very clear that there is no specific way it starts and no specific way that it gets fixed (though people have found work-arounds, it only alleviates the symptom, but never cures the problem).

Apparently Adobe has nothing to say about it except that it's not a bug at all and imply that none of us are running any troubleshooting or trying any fixes (we are).

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Community Expert

@wtfbingo are you running Photoshop 2019? Have you gone into Preferences (Settings)/Tools and turned off "Spring Loaded Shortcuts"?

The issue is this is not consistent and cannot be recreated by most. Example - there have been other posts solved already where users had a third-party keystroke app or peripheral affecting their keys. Not saying that is the definitive solution, but it helped some. Others may have a conflict with something. This isn't a wide-spread issue for all users, so blaming it on the software is an easy cop out.

Chiming in to complain but not give any meaningful feedback or information to help assist does nothing.

J

james28839348dbiz

Participant

This has happened to me intermittantly for at least a year now. Restarting seems to fix it when it's stuck like that but it's driven me pretty crazy in the past. Can't type anything in, like if I type 1800 for pixels it'll show !*)).

R

rgeone

Participant

was looking to see if this bug was fixed and found this thread. Anyway, I always have this bug happen and found that if I go into another app and type a few keystrokes (ex. in the search bar of chrome or a blank notes window or somehwere) it goes back to normal. doesn't permanently fix it but an easy workaround.

A

Aj5CC3

Participant

yeah, that is also how I handle the problem. I just do alt+tab twice and
its gone(no need for keystrokes). Doing that is like also part of my
workflow now lol as it became a habit

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

hello, @rgeone and @Aj5CC3

In order to fix the problem, one might need to repeat it, or to find the same conditions: is a graphic tablet involved?

Is there a trigger? @residentninja mentions transform, do you notice an common event for when that issue happens?

Do you have third party plugins, or other programs running?

Finally, please post the contents of Photoshop's Help>System Info... menu, so that we get to know your OS, its version, the exact version of Photoshop you are running, the date of the GPU driver, etc.
If your post disappears, do not repost it, as it might need to be approved by a moderator. As an alternative you can save it to a .txt file on your computer and attach it on your answer via the forum. (attachments do not post from e-mail)

residentninja

Known Participant

I also experience this issue and have for quite a while (over a year at least). It's rather annoying and occurs at least several times per week. It hits me most often when I am transforming things--suddenly "Ctrl-T" becomes "Transform Again (Shift+Ctrl+T)." At that point, shift is now being added to everything. I go to save (Ctrl+S) has become "Save a Copy (Shift+Ctrl+S). I usually have to save, quit and restart Photoshop.

It is not sticky-keys; nor do I have any other keyboard enhancement software installed.
It's not caps lock.
I get no OS-level warnings, dialogs, or alerts. Photoshop just suddenly starts adding Shift to everything.
It affects both my laptop and desktop.
No other applications other than Photoshop seem to be affected.
Just restarting photoshop and doing nothing else "fixes" it.

I don't know of a way to reproduce it.

Currently on Windows 10 Pro 21H!, Photoshop v24 for my desktop. Laptop also runs Windows 10 and current version of Photoshop.

S

Shaun25015963sqm2

Participant

I am having the same issue. It is only affecting Photoshop (Windows) and all of the tools.

It is making anything brush based unusable.

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

Which troubleshooting steps did you perform so far?

Did you try to move the preferences files to the desktop to see if new ones fix the problem?

Also, are you using a graphic tablet? Did you check its drivers?

A

Aj5CC3

Participant

I have never experienced this problem before, I've been experiencing this problem since last week. For example, when I'm using brush.. I always use the shortcut (b) for it but when I press b, it keeps switching tools because the shift key is somehow enabled?? (shift+b)

This only happens on photoshop, and it happens very often which is annoying now because I have to restart photoshop everytime to fix it. Please if you know how to fix it, I'd be really happy to hear it ^^

D

defaultpkwy3g1dny3s

Participant

This happened to me and I think I might have figured it out.

Try this:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Tools

2. Uncheck "Use Shift Key for Tool Switch"