*mark

Thanks for your patience and help everyone. I was clicking on 'no-fill' thinking it would uncheck and fill white. I associated the problem with the donut tool, as it wasn't doing 'no fill with outline' until I had experimented with the donut tool. I have no excuses 🤦🏻‍♂️ Appreciate your patience 👍🏻

This is the screenshot - the only thing I can do, is alter the stroke width and colour - of my transparent shape, which wasn't happening until I used the donut tool - and from thereon all I get is a transparent shape with an outline - I can't undo to achieve the usual filled shape as it is... normally...

Yes Bruce, as I've already said: I've tried the tool in other documents and its works fine. I saved and reopened the original document and I'm back to 'default donut on all shapes' - so I guess there must a setting somewhere (not obvious) to cancel 'donut' mode...

@psenda - You really don't have to guess or need a screenshot - all the shapes are donuts

Exactly as you're doing it. See where you selected the donut tool, then went to another shape, and it reverts to that shape. Well every option I use, I get a triangular donut, a tear shaped donut, a square donut etc... the tool won't go back to the normal shapes - everything is a donut! 😟 I've tried the tool in other documents and its works fine. I saved and reopened the original document and I'm back to 'default donut on all shapes' - so I guess there must a setting somewhere (not obvious) to cancel 'donut' mode...

I used the shape tool ONCE to create a donut. Now all shapes, all sizes, every time, are donuts. Can't see anything obvious to disable all shapes from being donuts and revert to being shape tool - I've tried severals searches but all I can find is how to create donuts and that seems rather easier than turning them off... Can someone enlighten me? Thx

I think my question got hi-jacked since I'm now getting notifications and answers to questions I never asked.... but getting back to the question, I don't even understand why Affinity/Serif would think that anyone using Photo would want to cycle through their tools? i.e. from erase, to background erase, to flood erase, to erase.... Really?? Cycling is really only helpful if you want to keep fit.. 😊 on the toolbar it can be something of a distraction.

No, I don't have cycle tools selected - although it still cycles anyway, which is irritating as I'm alway on the wrong tool (if I can selectit with the shortcut) Yes, I am using text layers - why would this make a difference to selecting alternative tools?

I'm moving around from the marque tool, to brush, to erase, move, erase etc, but in order to move from one tool to the other I'm having to either click the layer again, or the image, or on the tool itself in the toolbar... Usually I click on the shortcut letter and it moves immediately (admittedly from time to time it decides to cycle through all brush or erase options, but generally when I press the letter on the keyboard it swaps tools. Is there a reason I now have to re-click the on layer, image or tool bar to activate the tool to swap to another tool, from one to the other?? thanks

Hi Callum & Garry P Thanks for the nudge. Just typed in the long answer, clicked 'cookies' prompt and got my answer completely deleted.... Short answer: The problem arose working with multiple files - dragging and dropping layers and selections between them for half a day, and whereas to replicate it, I could open up multiple files and close them, I couldn't really replicate half a days work, which may have caused the problem or some confusion when closing file without the prompt. I did the usual clearing out of caches, history, recent docs etc and it hasn't happened again, although I am considerably more cautious before closing each file now. Many thanks Mark

I've had his a couple of time lately, closed the wrong file and dumped half a day's work - but I'm wondering why I got no prompt to save. I click close in error and wham, its gone, just like that, no questions, no save in the background, no prompt... Have there been changes I'm not aware of?

I switched to the move tool to move the selection in precise increments, not something that can be done with the marquee selection tool itself, although I can click and drag, that's a bit too arbitrary for what I'm doing.

Walt, with respect - the selection made and the move tool activated on it, really does have to be then deselected (to select something else) If I don't deselect all I can do, is move the existing selection around - I can't do anything else until I deselect it or select another tool - deselecting it by default! I can't have two simultaneous selections working independently of each other (and in this example why would I??) R C-R - the answer is the letter v (shortcut for the move tool)

With respect Walt - as you now better than most - I'm not sure I can go from the move tool's active selection to the marquee tool without deselecting the move tool. Even if you select 'new' in the context bar of the marquee tool, once you move the selection, you're no longer on the context bar of the marquee tool - unless or until you deselect the MOVE tool or click on the marquee tool - the move selection 'marching ants' can't remain live, and another selection made with another tool at the same time... can it?? Correct me if I'm wrong, but irrespective of that, I'm trying to get to the bottom of the 'layer swapping' behaviour between tools and selections. 😊

Yes Alfred & R C-R, I thought I was talking about marching ant selections too. Except when the marching ant selection is moved, the move tool is necessary, and to go back to the marquee tool and make another selection, the current selection MUST be deselected, whereas you stated in the first instance it does not: "You don’t actually need to deselect the current selection before making a new one,"