Keyboard shortcuts stop working in Photoshop

If your keyboard shortcuts don't work in Photoshop, try one or more of the following solutions.

Solution 1: Restore Photoshop preferences

See Preferences in Photoshop for instructions on how to back-up and restore Photoshop preferences.

Solution 2: Quit other open applications

Sometimes the way other applications use keyboard shortcuts can interfere with how Photoshop uses them. Quit or Exit other running applications one-by-one until the keyboard shortcuts work in Photoshop.

Customers have reported keyboard shortcut issues when running these applications with Photoshop:

• 1Password: Update 1Password. Older versions have affected keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop.
• Chrome: Update Chrome. Older versions have affected keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop.
• Notability: In Photoshop, you receive the message "Could not place because the Postscript data is empty or invalid." To resolve this issue, uninstall the Notability app. If you don't have the app installed on your system, but had it installed once, ensure that all parts of the app have been successfully removed.

Solution 3: Disable all third-party utilities and drivers by restarting in Safe Mode

Sometimes third-party extensions and other utilities can interfere with Photoshop’s operation. In Mac OS, Safe Mode disables all third-party extensions and startup items and only runs required kernel extensions and Apple-installed startup items. On Windows, Safe Mode starts Windows with a limited set of files and drivers.

To start your computer in Safe Mode, use the following links for your operating system:

• macOS
• Windows 10 & 11

Customers have reported keyboard shortcut issues when running these utilities:

• Default Folder X utility: Disable or uninstall this utility. You can disable Default Folder X by selecting the Disable button in the Default Folder X system preferences. Or contact St. Clair Software for any available updates.

• MagicMenu utility: You can disable MagicMenu by selecting the Disable button in the MagicMenu system preferences. Or contact MagicPrefs for any available updates.

• Comcast/Xfinity utilities: Contact Comcast/Xfinity for any available updates, or instructions on how to disable or uninstall the utilities.

• BetterTouchTool: Disable this utility or contact BetterTouchTool for troubleshooting or any available updates. 

• Webroot Antivirus: Contact Webroot for troubleshooting or any available updates. 
  

Solution 4: Update your Wacom tablet driver and restore Wacom preferences

Make sure that you have the latest Wacom driver and restore the preferences to their default to see if the problem goes away.