Moved to Photoshop forum.

Just a tip... For the blend modes in the Options bar and Layers panel, you can press Shift and + to advance to the next blend mode, or Shift and - to go back one blend mode. These shortcuts also apply the mode so you can instantly compare the visual changes with each keypress.

This is actually faster than the arrow key method, because it lets you skip the step of grabbing the mouse and positioning the cursor at the blend modes menu. You just go straight to the keys. Also, it can help to learn the shortcuts for each blend mode; for example, it's handy to quickly reset to Normal by pressing Shift+Option+n.

Note that if you're on a tool with blend modes, shift+ will cycle the tool blend modes instead of the layer palette.

Change to the move tool or something without it's own blend modes.

conroy wrote:

 

That could be because some readers are blinded by the white background and shiny badge of MVP and Staff posts.

 

If not, then it's strange that nobody is interested in working out why the OP has the problem or how to restore correct behaviour to his/her installation.

SeventhSwami wrote:

 

how can i get the same kind of control in the layer styles window?

I don't think you will, unfortunately. I think the Shift+/- shortcut applies only to the Layers panel and the Options bar.

It all goes back to the basic difference between pop-up menus in OS X vs drop-down lists in Windows. Mac pop-up menus don't support using the arrow keys to apply next/previous menu items like Windows does, and it's not clear if Apple ever will change that. Because this is system-wide OS X behavior for that type of menu, it isn't an Adobe bug to fix since Photoshop is apparently following the guidelines for the operating system.

While it's technically not a bug from an OS point of view, we know Adobe is open to modifying that, so you can certainly make a feature request: You can ask Adobe to implement their custom Shift+/- blend mode shortcut wherever a blend mode pop-up menu exists, or ask Adobe to implement their custom menu that does allow using the up/down arrow key to apply other menu commands, like they do for Font and Size. Of course, they'll prioritize that alongside everything else that's being requested or fixed, so no guarantees on how soon it would happen.

In the meantime, the only workaround I can suggest is this: In the Layer Style dialog box, select a blend mode from the Blend Mode pop-up menu but do not move the mouse. To try the next blend mode, click the mouse (which should still be over the pop-up menu), press the down arrow key, and press the Return key. It isn't elegant, but it's the best I can think of.