how come I cannot freeform the crop tool anymore?

[DVDmike]

I typically do not maintain a fixed aspect ratio for the cropping tool in Lightroom (2014).  But I needed to change it to a fixed ratio temporarily to crop to some print sizes.  But now, the "Custom" aspect no longer works.  Every time I try to crop anything, it reverts back to "Original" and I cannot change it.  After selecting custom, as soon as I start to drag an edge or corner to crop, the aspect reverts back to "original".

How do I fix this?

[Bob Somrak]

Which version of Lightroom are you using  (2014 as you listed is NOT a version).   There were LOTS of bugs in the crop tool in early versions of Lightroom 5 and this one sounds familiar.  The latest version is 5.7.1.  If you have the latest version than there are other things to try but there is no sense trying to debug an old version.

[THG_BO · Accepted solution]

Hello,

check if the lock is un-locked.

[DVDmike]

Thank you.  I never noticed that lock before.  That was it.  I unlocked it after selecting custom and all is well...

[dj_paige]

If the custom numbers you type in give you the mathematically identical aspect ratio to the original aspect ratio of the photo, then Lightroom will change your custom back to "original". As I recall, sometimes if the numbers are really really close to the original aspect ratio, this will happen. No, I can't quantify what "really really close" means.

Can you give an example where this happens to you? What is the custom aspect ratio your are typing in? What is the original aspect ratio of your photo?