CTRL + Z stops working all of a sudden???????????

[nikola43]

like it says in the title, after a while (usually 5-20 minutes of working in PS CS4 registered version) CTRL + Z keyboard shortcut stops working  (instead of doing the usual UNDO it changes image to CMYK mode) as well as ALL OTHER KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS (for example bracket keys [ and ] dont increase/decrease brush size, they just dont do anything).

All of this happens randomly, but never since the beggining of work, always somewhere after 5-20 minutes, probably after a certain operation in Photoshop, applying some filter effects or similar.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Any help is appreciated!

[the_wine_snob]

I do not recall ever having read of this problem, and have never experienced it myself.

Hot-keys can be touchy subjects, as many different programs map them differently. However, that said, Ctrl-Z has been a very common hot-key with Windows and Windows programs for some time now. I would find it highly unlikely that any Windows program nowadays would map it to anything else. Still, some programs are rather rogue, so it would not be impossible to imagine that something is re-mapping the key-combo, and maybe sometimes after you have started PS.

What I would also look into would be your memory/resources, and maybe their being filled up. PS offers the ability to Purge Memory. I'd try that, and see if things get back to normal. Obviously, you will lose that last Redo, in the process, but you should then be able to check things out, with the next Redo.

Good luck, and hope that someone has a real cure for this - just because I know nothing of this behavior doesn't mean that there isn't some Bug, lurking just below the surface, and I missed it.

Hunt

[fooee]

I am glad to see that I am not the only one that has the same trouble. The exact same thing happens to me and it can be very frustrating and you stated it never happens when you first start useing photoshop same here. Most times I have to reopen photoshop to right it but it then reverts back. I never had this trouble with CS3. I just like to add that I also have Elements 7 and the same thing happens so it must have something to do with adobe as I have no trouble with other photo software.

By the way how do you purge the memory?

[Guest]

You might like to try Alt-Ctrl-z - it (is supposd to) steps back through your History essentially giving you multiple undo's

Miker

[fooee]

Thanks Miker, Have just tried that (I should have known that shortcut) but it did not work. It is not just the shortcuts not working, the adjustments do not revert back when you have finished using them thy stick at the last usage than after a time the shortcuts start working again. It's weird!

Fooee

[Guest]

I've been luck that way.

The only time I had a keyboard problem was a year or so ago when I switched to a wireless keyboard and mouse. I had so many problems I switched back.

Sorry It wasn't more help.

Miker

[the_wine_snob]

OK, the keyboard shortcuts are not working. What happens when you go to the History Palette and choose to Undo that way? Do you get the reversion to a previous state, like you should with the variations on Ctrl+Z? Might be more going on, than just the keyboard shortcuts.

Also, in Edit>Preferences, what are your settings for History? Just curious if there's something there.

Good luck,

Hunt

[nikola43]

Yes i get reversion to a previous state by going to the history palette and i can reverse to all previous states with no problem but CTRL + Z cant do it neither the ALT CTRL Z.

As u might recall i told you that CTRL Z shortcut is not the only problem, ALL OTHER shortcuts stop working completely exept CTRL Z who has rather strange behavior (switching image to CMYK mode).

thanks for the effort guys, hope we gonna find a solution soon

[SusanSherman]

Nikola, have you tried using a different keyboard with the computer?  I usually wear out a keyboard after about 15-18 months of use (about the same amount of time as it takes for the letters/characters to be rubbed off the keys).  More frequently used keys will wear out first - and it you do a lot of keyboard shortcutting, your ctrl key will be susceptible.

Just a thought.

[nikola43]

History settings:

I like to have history states as much as possible, wonder if that has something to do with this shortcut issue.

[Guest]

Try a history state of 20 to see if it clears it up. 999 looks way too high. You may have to restart Photoshop to take effect.

[risottodirk-btOqLf · Accepted solution]

do you have foreign languages in use? It happended to me a couple of times. I'm using a german keyboard and german version of WIN and PS. There is a(windows) shortcut to change the language of the keybord. the "z" on the german keyboard is placed where the "y" is on the english keyboard and vice versa. I don't remember the windows shortcut for the change, I think it was "ctrl shift"

[steveng15089533]

Thank you so much risottodirk! that's exactly what the problem was for me, I almost feel silly for not figuring this out myself when the answer (as so often) was so obvious and simple.

[nikola43 · Accepted solution]

hiya, i ve just recenty rememered this old thread and i thought to stop by and resolve my own issue:

The problem was in the language options, to be more exact, in keyboard shortcut to switch between input languages in XP {ALT + SHIFT} which i was accidentally pressing thus changing from ENGLISH to CYRILLIC which caused Y and Z to change places, so when i pressed CTRL + Z it didnt redo, it changed between CMYK and RGB which is CTRL + Y shortcut's purpose, glad i finally solved this, it was bugging me for years.

risottodirk wrote this solution above, and i cant belive it i havent read it, or maybe i did but didnt get the point back then.

[the_wine_snob]

Nikola,

Thank you for stopping back by. It will very likely help others in the future.

Glad that you got it handled, and your comments are appreciated,

Hunt

[WebdesignDD2]

This is THE answer.

[Rubens63]

Unfortunately I'm also looking for an answer for this. As soon as i started Adobe Design Premium CS5 for the first time, my Ctrl-Z won't work anymore. Probably I lost some other hot keys, but undo is what I use most. And nobody so far could give me a solution. Well... good luck for all of us.

[SusanSherman]

Susan Sherman

<<embarassing details removed>>

[Sammtheman]

Nicola and risottodirk are correct. XP's language switcher was the one causing this problem in both CS4 and now CS5.

Bought a new USB keyboard since the older one needed an adapter to plug a PS/2 keyboard into a USB port, and i thought that might have been the source. Guess what, it still didn't work!

I read this thread and finally solved it by going into the control panel > Regional and Language options > clicking the language tab > then clicking the details button. Once in this menu, on the bottom you will see a list of installed services. Remove all of the non US/English ones.

Problem now solved! Thanks guys.

[jesseislil]

I've had the same problem for the longest time, it was driving me nuts! You guys are correct, I was pressing alt+shift which switched the languages and messed up my shortcuts. I disabled alt+shift in the windows control panel to solve this issue.

Thank you all so much for finding the solution. Makes a world of difference to me. I appreciate it!

[zhuhui]

lz,thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[defaultqd1wuvbzmaj4]

it also happens to me, among many other bugs

Adobe went downhill since Cloudification

Many things that could have been perfected, got stuck in time, at the expense of useless cloud features

good for adobe, yes, stock price goes up, as it's a cloud stock, but not for the user. Time wasting, distracting, now we have a salesman embedded in a tool that is supposed to be for focused work only

so many features have not evolved since early versions, and many things that should have been polished remain this way

[defaultqd1wuvbzmaj4]

now they gave me a badge for posting on the community

clown world

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, so it was the Windows shortcut that interfered in your workflow? I fail to see the link with Creative Cloud...

I strongly suggest to post your feature requests, suggestions (split them to one idea/topic per thread) in the relevant forums here, and vote on existing threads.

If you peruse that forum, you will notice that many of the suggestions have been implemented. (not all of them are feasible, or would have a huge impact, one can't please anyone)

[quentinj45646102]

Happened to me as well. Didnt even bother to try to understand why adobe painter decided to be in a different key system than windows, changed the shortcut to Ctrl + W and actually trying to forget 15 years of basic CGI reflexes not to lose half an hour fuguring out why my good ol CTRL+Z became hostile ...