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.

18 Comments

1. Cypherpunk said on — May 13, 2008 @ 6:07 pm

   This problem has been bugging me off and on for a while now. Good to know it’s just the caps lock key.

2. Matt said on — June 1, 2008 @ 10:32 pm

   Holy #@$%, thank you so much! It’s been driving me insane.

3. Rachel said on — June 3, 2008 @ 1:36 pm

   Thanks so much. I have opened and closed photoshop 6 times now, and I couldn’t figure out why it was doing that. You are a genius!

4. rahulsid said on — July 1, 2008 @ 5:07 am

   Thanks a lot buddy you have solved my problem. This S*%tty crosshair was driving me insane. Thanks a billion.

5. Jake said on — July 1, 2008 @ 8:50 pm

   Thanks so much this has puzzled me for months now. The Caps Lock key is too close to the shift key which I often use so I think Adobe should change it to something else. But at least now I know the cause of the problem so it shouldn’t really matter.

   Cheers.

6. Wooly said on — February 1, 2009 @ 3:52 am

   Thanks! I’ve been going round in circles trying to figure this one out!

7. Neil said on — December 3, 2009 @ 3:49 pm

   Thank you so so much. Every time this crosshair thing has happened – and its been happening for long time – its driven me nuts opening and closing the programme, looking here there and everywhere trying to figure out why it has happened. Thank you!

8. Ueki said on — March 2, 2010 @ 1:52 pm

   Thanks mate, I had this but no longer have it, but I have been wondering what was that , xD

   thanks agian ^^

9. David p. said on — March 8, 2010 @ 2:17 am

   Thank you so much… I drove me nut…until I found this tip…

10. craig said on — October 30, 2010 @ 12:09 pm

    5 years of using photoshop and i find this out now

11. caloi said on — December 20, 2010 @ 9:28 pm

    thank you so much for this. it’s been sooo much hassle before!!!!

12. Ali Smith said on — April 7, 2011 @ 4:49 pm

    Thank you so much! This was driving me nuts, and what a simple fix!

13. Sebastien said on — May 19, 2011 @ 8:18 pm

    I kept rebooting thinking it was a video card or driver problem. That was driving me nuts! Thanks buddy!

14. Zubair said on — July 30, 2011 @ 3:19 pm

    Thankyou! I was looking for all options in photoshop to fix it hahah

15. Brett Gilmour said on — August 17, 2011 @ 6:37 pm

    Thanks for solving this 13 year mystery. I’ve spent hours trying to fix this bug over the last decade. Adobe support has never figured it out when I’ve called them.

    So happy you posted this, thank you.

    Brett Gilmour

16. Lorraine said on — August 19, 2011 @ 12:28 am

    Thank you, thank you, wonderful tip!

17. Jennifer said on — November 6, 2011 @ 8:47 am

    Thank you!! it really is the little things!

18. Andy Martyr-Icke said on — November 7, 2011 @ 4:22 pm

    WOW!
    Thanks for this! I’ve been getting puzzled, frustrated and annoyed with this issue since Photoshop 5!
    Cheers

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