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airup's picture
22 pencils

F the key problem and solution

I've been checking into this site for a bit for a while, and would like to share my favorite problem that nobody seems to be able to solve.

First off, in Photoshop's full screen mode (if you don't know what this is, open a .psd and then hit the "f" key). Priceless if you don't use it. I also tend to get rid of my toolbars by hitting the tab.

So here is the problem:

Fullscreen mode, toolbars hidden, edit a textbox that you have already created. Change the spelling of a word. Now change to the arrow tool.

That is it, simple huh? Try it out.

What usually happens, because of the hidden toolbars and menu's, is the only way to get out of the text selection is to hit escape, undoing what you just did. Very annoying thing to happen to you when you just typed a large bit of text, or got the kerning just right. So the challenge is to get out of the text selection without erasing your changes. Try it and see if you can figure it out (don't look to the end of the post and cheat just yet).

To make you feel better (or cocky) I have tried this out with about 25 designers, and only 2 have been able to do it. Not all of you will be able to do it, to the best of my knowledge.

So what is the answer? Well, if you are using a windoze machine, you are pretty much SOL (please correct me if I am wrong). I have found that ibooks and powerbook users can hit the 'enter' button right below the period on their keyboard, and the problem is solved. I have contacted Adobe directly complaining about this, suggesting the programming of a f4, but to limited response.

Has anyone else had this problem? Any other solutions?

-Andrew D. Hyde

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JimD's picture
2617 pencils

Uhhhh... all you have to do is hit the enter key on the numeric key pad. It's always been that way – Enter key commits the text changes, works on Windows too (though I believe you have to have the NumLock key invoked).

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Visit The Graphic Mac for graphics and Mac OS tips, reviews, tutorials and discussion.

airup's picture
22 pencils

I was surprised testing this out. When I was using a lot of PC's with Photoshop CS or 6.0, the enter key would not commit, but instead inserted a break (with or without the num lock on). Interesting (and good) to hear it worked for you.

Billwhit's picture
136 pencils

The enter key worked for me on a Windows machine, but it is a mac keyboard. :D

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