Quick Tips

The Reappearing/Disappearing Brush Tip

This one gets more people because it's a feature that acts like a bug. Has this ever happened to you? You're working in Photoshop, you're using the Brush tool (B), and everything seems fine. But a little later in your session, you get the Brush tool again, and it no longer displays the size of the currently selected brush tip. Instead, it displays a little crosshair cursor. So you go to the Preferences menu and choose Display & Cursors, and sure enough, you've got Normal Brush Tip chosen as your preference, but for some strange reason, it's not showing your brush size; it's showing that stupid crosshair. Here's the problem: Check your Caps Lock key. It's turned on, and turning it on changes your Brush cursor from displaying brush size to displaying the crosshair. This is actually a feature to be used when you need to see the precise center of your brush. The problem is it's assigned to the Caps Lock key, so every time you turn on Caps Lock when you're working with type, you just temporarily switched your Brush cursor (or any cursor for that matter). Does Adobe need to find a better key for this feature/bug? You betcha! Will it happen? Not as far as I know.

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13 comments

  1. Kim 4 August, 2008 at 17:28 Reply

    Thank you so much for that tip. I have had that happen a few times and wondered what I did to make that happen. You’ve just made my DAY!

  2. Emmy 15 October, 2008 at 00:23 Reply

    Thanks a bunch for writing that!
    I was going nuts trying to figure out what was wrong in Photoshop.
    Thank God for google and thank God for your site and your contribution!!!

  3. Andrew 27 February, 2009 at 13:26 Reply

    Seriously, I think I was restarting Photoshop every time that happened. I’m glad that I looked this up, but I’m especially grateful that you posted this. Thanks friend.

  4. SBBurnette 22 March, 2009 at 14:00 Reply

    Thank you so much!

    Now I understand why restarting my computer seemed to be the only thing that fixed this every time it happened =)

  5. Judy 23 September, 2010 at 00:56 Reply

    Wow Wow Wow I have searched and searched and searched and just scrolled down the page and saw something about the caps lock being on and I hit it and zippidoooodaaaa there is my circle brush I have been searching for for God only knows how long………this is amazing ……..I just want to thank you so much don’t know who you are but you sure are awesomeeeeeeeeeeeee………….thanks judy

  6. picna domer 10 October, 2010 at 16:22 Reply

    thanks, i gone crazy cause of this stupid problem, your really helped me, i thought some problem with ps and had restarted ps several times, nyway thanks… 🙂

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