What is a quick way to restore your 'selection brush tool' selection, after you have deselected it?

[cutout3]

Hello again. I knew it once but have forgotten it. It was a simple shortcut keystroke or two. Thanks in advance!

[NathanC]

Hi @cutout3,

'Deselect' counts as an action on the history panel, if you want to undo immediately after a deselect to regain your selection you can do this using the default 'Undo' keyboard shortcut, which is CTRL Z on Windows and CMD Z on Mac. Alternatively, you can do this directly via the Edit menu under Edit > Undo or via the 'History' panel.

[cutout3]

14 minutes ago, NathanC said:

Hi @cutout3,

'Deselect' counts as an action on the history panel, if you want to undo immediately after a deselect to regain your selection you can do this using the default 'Undo' keyboard shortcut, which is CTRL Z on Windows and CMD Z on Mac. Alternatively, you can do this directly via the Edit menu under Edit > Undo or via the 'History' panel.

Yes, Thanks. I think I had that one, discovered it and used it, it does work for this, for your last action only. You could do it several times, I guess, if your action was several actions ago. But say you don't want to undue those other actions, you just want your selection back?

I guess I was wondering if there was 'selection specific' shortcut that could bring your selection back, after many other keystrokes or actions have occurred? I thought there was one.

[NathanC]

2 minutes ago, cutout3 said:

Yes, Thanks. I think I had that one, discovered it and used it, it does work for this, for your last action only. You could do it several times, I guess, if your action was several actions ago. But say you don't want to undue those other actions, you just want your selection back?

I guess I was wondering if there was 'selection specific' shortcut that could bring your selection back, after many other keystrokes or actions have occurred? I thought there was one.

When you create your pixel selection you can save this selection so that it can be recalled later on via the 'Channels' panel. Within this panel there is a 'Pixel Selection' option at the bottom, if you have an active selection you can save this by right clicking Pixel Selection > Create Spare Channel. This will then create a 'Spare channel' showing your pixel selection area, which can be recalled at any point to be your active selection again by right clicking the spare channel > Load to Pixel Selection. I'm not sure about a keyboard shortcut for this, however.

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Panels/channelsPanel.html

[cutout3]

2 minutes ago, NathanC said:

When you create your pixel selection you can save this selection so that it can be recalled later on via the 'Channels' panel. Within this panel there is a 'Pixel Selection' option at the bottom, if you have an active selection you can save this by right clicking Pixel Selection > Create Spare Channel. This will then create a 'Spare channel' showing your pixel selection area, which can be recalled at any point to be your active selection again by right clicking the spare channel > Load to Pixel Selection. I'm not sure about a keyboard shortcut for this, however.

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Panels/channelsPanel.html

OK, thx again. Yeah I was reading something about that in the book, haha. That sounds like a little homework assignment! I will definitely look into trying to learn that. Thank you.

Still wondering if there is a quick 'shortcut', anyone else? Thx.

[carl123]

Select > Reselect will restore your last selection

[cutout3]

9 hours ago, carl123 said:

Select > Reselect will restore your last selection

Oh, very nice! Thank you Carl!

[cutout3]

On 4/27/2023 at 3:08 AM, NathanC said:

When you create your pixel selection you can save this selection so that it can be recalled later on via the 'Channels' panel. Within this panel there is a 'Pixel Selection' option at the bottom, if you have an active selection you can save this by right clicking Pixel Selection > Create Spare Channel. This will then create a 'Spare channel' showing your pixel selection area, which can be recalled at any point to be your active selection again by right clicking the spare channel > Load to Pixel Selection. I'm not sure about a keyboard shortcut for this, however.

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Panels/channelsPanel.html

 

On 4/27/2023 at 3:30 AM, carl123 said:

Select > Reselect will restore your last selection

Two good suggestions from you guys, above. And thank you! I thought I'd include you two gentlemen in another way to possibly get your selection back, if you have deselected it, many moves previously. I found this answer/option, from Ally Anderson, "Affinity Revolution" a YouTube channel for Affinity tutorials. She responded to me (my query)...

"As for the keystroke, you can hold down command on a Mac or Ctrl on a PC, and then click on a mask layer’s icon in the Layers Panel. That will bring load the mask as a selection. I hope that helps! 😊 " 

https://affinityrevolution.com/

 

Thanks again for the help!

[cutout3]

5 minutes ago, cutout3 said:

 

Two good suggestions from you guys, above. And thank you! I thought I'd include you two gentlemen in another way to possibly get your selection back, if you have deselected it, many moves previously. I found this answer/option, from Ally Anderson, "Affinity Revolution" a YouTube channel for Affinity tutorials. She responded to me (my query)...

"As for the keystroke, you can hold down command on a Mac or Ctrl on a PC, and then click on a mask layer’s icon in the Layers Panel. That will bring load the mask as a selection. I hope that helps! 😊 " 

https://affinityrevolution.com/

 

Thanks again for the help!

For the above to work, you have to, of course, give your 'selection' a mask. It's a good thing to know, i think. I will play around with it in the future.

I now know that if I do a fairly complex selection, one that I think I may need again later, I need to remember to give it a mask.

[cutout3]

On 4/27/2023 at 3:08 AM, NathanC said:

When you create your pixel selection you can save this selection so that it can be recalled later on via the 'Channels' panel. Within this panel there is a 'Pixel Selection' option at the bottom, if you have an active selection you can save this by right clicking Pixel Selection > Create Spare Channel. This will then create a 'Spare channel' showing your pixel selection area, which can be recalled at any point to be your active selection again by right clicking the spare channel > Load to Pixel Selection. I'm not sure about a keyboard shortcut for this, however.

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Panels/channelsPanel.html

This is very handy. Thanks again! Channels is a good study!

[cutout3]

Another way to restore your pixel selection would be thru the History. I think I'm discovering things as I go! View > Studio > History.