Photo: select only via layers panel

[AndyQ]

Hello again peeps, another Q: is there a mode for Photo whereby selection with the move tool can be disabled - i.e. only allow selection of layers via the layer palette? This would be akin to the Photoshop default (in pShop you have to enable "auto select" in order to change selection interactively in the image area). The selection mode as it stands is dandy, but I'd like to be able to do things both way (and probably more often in the Photoshop default manner). When I'm trying to move/transform tiny objects I keep selecting and moving other layers. As an alternative some quick toggle to "lock" the layer selection would be handy, and I don't meant the "ALT-Click" isolation mode, which hides everything else as I need to retain the visual context. 

I also note there's still some bug with "locked" layers whereby a pixel layer that was a background is still selectable even when locked or invisible or both. 

Finally: UI suggestion: please allow toggling of locked state on the layer itself rather than having to select the layer then go up to the layer header to click the "lock" icon (i.e. do this the same as per the visibility checkbox). Not only that, but allow both the visibility and lock states to be toggled by a swipe down through the layers in those columns, so you can toggle visibility/lock for a range of contiguous layers without having to do a crazy amount of clicking (trying to swipe at the mo' just picks up the first layer and moves it).

[Old Bruce]

You can set a pair of keyboard shortcut to toggle the Lock Unlock behaviour in Photo's preferences.

[AndyQ]

8 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

You can set a pair of keyboard shortcut to toggle the Lock Unlock behaviour in Photo's preferences.

Not quite sure what you mean but I'll look into it. I thought one could only lock a single layer at a time but I'll check it out. Thanks

 

[R C-R]

9 hours ago, AndyQ said:

UI suggestion: please allow toggling of locked state on the layer itself rather than having to select the layer then go up to the layer header to click the "lock" icon (i.e. do this the same as per the visibility checkbox)

In the Layers panel right-clicking on one or more selected (highlighted) layers pops open a menu. One of the items on that menu is "Lock." Ticking that item locks the selected layer(s), unticking it unlocks them.

You can also remove individual layer locks by clicking on the lock icon next to the layer name.

You can set a pair of keyboard shortcuts like @Old Bruce suggested in Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts. Set the first popup to "Photo" & the second one to "Layer," then scroll down until you see the Lock & Unlock items. (The first popup selects the persona & the second one selects the shortcuts available for that persona. The first group of items in the second popup selects items found on menus, so setting it to "Layer" shows all the shortcuts available in the Layers menu. Within the list, the order is the same as on the menus.)

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

In the Layers panel right-clicking on one or more selected (highlighted) layers pops open a menu. One of the items on that menu is "Lock." Ticking that item locks the selected layer(s), unticking it unlocks them.

You can also remove individual layer locks by clicking on the lock icon next to the layer name.

Having selected one or more layers, you can also lock or unlock all of them at once using the lock icon at the top-right of the Layers panel.

[AndyQ]

7 hours ago, R C-R said:

In the Layers panel right-clicking on one or more selected (highlighted) layers pops open a menu. One of the items on that menu is "Lock." Ticking that item locks the selected layer(s), unticking it unlocks them.

Ah.... thanks muchly, that's handy, in fact handier as it allow for non-contiguous selection;  although from a UI perspective I'd still add the visible toggle and swiping behaviour. 

[AndyQ]

There's some handy info here, but the basic question was "is there a mode for Photo whereby selection with the move tool can be disabled - i.e. only allow selection of layers via the layer palette?" - i.e. similar behaviour to PShop, so when you've selected a layer there's no way you can accidentally select something else when working on the image. I'm presuming there's not from what I've seen - I've been through the preferences system quite a few times.

[walt.farrell]

20 hours ago, AndyQ said:

I also note there's still some bug with "locked" layers whereby a pixel layer that was a background is still selectable even when locked

That's not a bug, but the way, but an intentional design decision.

If you don't want to be able to select it you can duplicate the Background layer and lock the duplicate.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, AndyQ said:

so when you've selected a layer there's no way you can accidentally select something else when working on the image.

That almost sounds like Isolation Mode might be relevant.

[AndyQ]

1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

That's not a bug, but the way, but an intentional design decision. If you don't want to be able to select it you can duplicate the Background layer and lock the duplicate.

That came up in a previous post of mine; I thought it was a bizarre design decision, but the "bug" then becomes that the duplicated version won't lock either (even if renamed from "Background")

[walt.farrell]

Just now, AndyQ said:

That came up in a previous post of mine; I thought it was a bizarre design decision, but the "bug" then becomes that the duplicated version won't lock either (even if renamed from "Background")

I've had no trouble locking the duplicate, but I'd need to see your file to understand why it's happening to you.

[AndyQ]

2 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

That almost sounds like Isolation Mode might be relevant.

I mentioned in the original post that the problem with isolation mode is that everything else becomes invisible, whereas I need full display for positional reference. It's also a two step process, whereas I'm looking for a modal switch as I'd want to work this way almost all of the time. I'd use Photshop's "auto-select" mode every blue moon - it's handy sometimes but mostly I don't want to be selecting layers when image editing. This is probably because of the type of work I'm doing, things like UI mockups and presentation slides where I have many hundreds of layers and lots of things are TINY, so trying to pick them up and move them results in accidentally selecting stuff near them. I'm sure if you're doing some photo editing with maybe a few big layers and some type overlays it's not a problem.

[AndyQ]

6 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I've had no trouble locking the duplicate, but I'd need to see your file to understand why it's happening to you.

The discussion on this is at 

. One of the support peeps said: "This is a known issue (already logged) that only happens when the pixel layer is located on the bottom of the layers stack. If you place any other object below it (or move it up in the layer stack) it will not happen."

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, AndyQ said:

One of the support peeps said: "This is a known issue (already logged) that only happens when the pixel layer is located on the bottom of the layers stack. If you place any other object below it (or move it up in the layer stack) it will not happen."

But in a later post in the same topic @MEB explained that it was the intended behavior, & why. If you want to avoid accidentally selecting this pixel layer on the canvas, a very quick & easy way to work around this is to add an empty pixel layer to the bottom of the layer stack. It does not have to be locked or hidden.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, AndyQ said:

The discussion on this is at 

. One of the support peeps said: "This is a known issue (already logged) that only happens when the pixel layer is located on the bottom of the layers stack. If you place any other object below it (or move it up in the layer stack) it will not happen."

But once you duplicate the Background layer, it is no longer the bottom of the stack. So if you lock it, it becomes non-selectable.

I did miss one thing: it seems you also need to Hide the original (bottom-most) Background layer.

[R C-R]

16 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I did miss one thing: it seems you also need to Hide the original (bottom-most) Background layer.

Or just add an empty pixel layer to the bottom of the stack like I mentioned above. At least on my Mac, it does not have to be hidden -- I assume because it has no content it can't be selected on the canvas. Does that not work the same way on Windows?

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

Does that not work the same way on Windows?

Yes, it's the same. I was not disagreeing with you, merely reiterating why my original suggestion (that AndyQ had objected to) would work.

Though, personally, I think it's (slightly) easier to duplicate the Background layer and Lock it than to add a new pixel layer and move it down. Plus, it conforms with what I've read is a common recommendation to always start by duplicating the background layer so you have it available in case you goof something up

[carl123]

17 hours ago, AndyQ said:

There's some handy info here, but the basic question was "is there a mode for Photo whereby selection with the move tool can be disabled - i.e. only allow selection of layers via the layer palette?" -

No, but you can add a white rectangle at the top of the layer stack, covering the whole of your canvas and set the opacity of this rectangle to 0.01%.

Selecting the layers below this rectangle will only be possible by using the layers panel (or by using a modifier key)