A very annoying problem has just surfaced in CS4. Anywhere I use the horizontal or vertical type tool to insert text, a small dot (just a couple pixels) appears at the point I’ll insert text. Any text entered appears the same size (extremely small), no matter which font name, style, size, etc. I select. Also, all text is underlined as it’s typed and there’s no way to turn it off — because underlining is already deselected as a font style.
The only FAQ I can find that mentions this bug recommends resetting all preferences and presets by holding down Shift + Control + Command + Option as Photoshop is being started. This did indeed reset everything, but the problem with the fonts remain. I’ve tried this a couple times with the same result, even though going as far as shutting down the computer and restarting after each reset.
The only other thing I could think to check were font settings for my iMac. I see nothing out of the ordinary. Other apps that might possibly depend on such font settings (like TextEdit), do not exhibit any problems so I think that rules out system-wide issues.
Thank you for the suggestion. I did try different resolutions, from a 150px X 150px images size and up with font sizes ranging from 10 to 72 with several different fonts, but the results are the same. A tiny dot where I begin to insert text, very small, almost illegible characters, and all text is underlined as it is entered even though underlining is not enabled.
This problem is killing me. A complete uninstall/reinstall of Photoshop appears to be the only option I have left but I am afraid in doing so we will encounter registration/activation problems; and with no guarantee it’s going to fix the problem I hesitate to go through a reinstall again.
Surely I cannot be the only person who has seen this bug?
Yes, you’re the only one who has seen this and not traced it to document resolution or type settings being not as expected (ie: 12 pixels instead of 12 points at 600dpi).
Sorry, check them for what? What would be a baseline for settings of image size & resolution, text size, etc., that does not produce the problem of underlined jagged impossibly small text for a given font of a given size?
I’ve reset ALL presets as per the Photoshop help and still have this problem. A new image using the Default Photoshop Size preset: width 7 inches, height 5 inches, resolution 72 pixels/inch, RBG Color 8 bit; Arial font – regular – 12px,
…. and I get tiny jagged underlined text. Set the font size to 72px and I get tiny underlined jagged text, same size as the 12 px setting.
changing the document resolution up or down, there is no change
changing the document size up or down, there is no change
There have been no changes to my Mac prior to CS4 going haywire. I haven’t uninstalled or installed anything. I’ve changed no CS4 settings. If I open older documents that did not previously have the problem and try to add more text at the same settings as existing text — the problem is still there.
Thank you for the tip Ramon. The problem persists though.
Photoshop chose "12 px" for me as a default when I reset all the preferences to the Photoshop defaults. I didn’t select that myself. I see no option to use "points" as a unit of measurement for text. I’ve looked through the various Preferences setups and don’t see a way to change units of measurement from pixels to points.
Also I’ve never before encountered the problem with the text tool that I get a tiny square dot wherever I go to place text, and the text I type is automatically underlined as it is entered from the keyboard. The underlining remains until I switch from the text tool to a different tool. I don’t know if this means anything but I’m trying to provide as much info as possible to find a solution.
I found the setting and made the change; I now see points instead of pixels as units but the text tool bug is still there.
I’ve posted some screen snapshots of the problem and the settings if anyone would care to have a look. This is turning into a very serious problem and I’ve obviously run of out possible solutions other than an uninstall/reinstall of Photoshop. Having reset all the preferences to the ps defaults already, I’m not confident a reinstall would help.
1.jpg is how any and all text appears, regardless of settings. 2.jpg is the image size dialogue for a new document with recommended settings 3.jpg are the text tool settings. Please note the small square to left of text, and underlining, which are displayed by the text tool and are not part of the document
Try the same experiment: but this time set the text as size "12 px".
Finally zoom-in on both of these last two images so that you can actually count the number of pixel-rows occupied by the glyphs ย from the bottom of the Descenders to the top of the Ascenders.
Thank you for the reply Ramon. Actually, the screen snapshot you mention isn’t normal text, that’s a 72pt Arial font in a very small document. Changing from 72pt all the way down to 6 or so, that text always remains the same size. Also the quality of the font is horrible compared to the results I’ve had in the past, and the appearance of the text doesn’t change at all if I switch fonts.
Please don’t think I’m being argumentative, because I really do appreciate any and all help and I can’t claim guru status, but I swear on all that’s holy that the small square and underlining has never been present in the versions of Photoshop I’ve used.
To be safe, I dipped into a web archive of mine where I built "splash" pages with a base image and then different titles as separate layers of text. None of the text items use a font size larger than 36 because the text would be too large to fit in the 1500px by 600px document. So the
Thanks for the feedback. I’ve checked with 2 other Photoshop users I know that say they’ve also never seen the square and/or underlining. This makes me wonder if there is possibly a setting someplace that would enable/disable those?
Changing from 72pt all the way down to 6 or so, that text always remains the same size
Is the text selected (highlighted) when you change the point size?
If the text isn’t highlighted, changing the font size will have no effect whatsoever.
If that is not the issue, try re-setting the Text Tool through the dropdown in the minuscule triangle. It sounds like the tool or your entire Photoshop preferences are corrupted.
I’ve checked with 2 other Photoshop users I know that say they’ve also never seen the square and/or underlining.
They’re either blind or morons. ๐ The baseline and justification square are always visible until you commit the text (by choosing a different tool or hitting the Enter key on the numeric keypad.
Thank you for the tips and ideas. I tried the tests you suggested. The 300px resolution documents were always much larger than the 72px resolution docs with a 5 inch by 4 inch height and width setting.
Zooming in to 100% on each and switching/comparing the appearance of 12pt, then 12px , there is no difference for the 72px resolution document.
To add insult to injury, when I was testing the 300px resolution as suggested, CS4 locked up completely and wouldn’t respond to a Force Quit. I’ve got a solid background in Unix admin and programming so I fired up Terminal and tried to stop CS4 with the tried-and-true kill command, but still no response. I tried to shut down the iMac and reboot but apparently CS4 was holding on to some resource that prevented receipt of a shutdown command (I stress that’s just a theory — CS4 was the only app left running as I tried to shut down) Anyway, I had to pull the power plug.
What a horrible day. I expect a stray meteor to crash into my home any minute now… ๐
To add insult to injury, when I was testing the 300px resolution as suggested, CS4 locked up completely and wouldn’t respond to a Force Quit.
I tried to shut down the iMac and reboot but apparently CS4 was holding on
This should never happen. Check all RAM and drive connections. Do system maintenance (Disk Utility — permissions and disc repair; and DiskWarrior repairs). You will have to boot off a different volume or off the disc media to run the latter two. Check for bad fonts — corrupted or duplicate, using FontAgent Pro or other good font manager. Also, what happens if you log in as a new user?
Before your computer froze on you, did you look at both the 300 ppi and the 72ppi files simultaneously at both 100% and at PRINT-size?
And when you set the text size in Pixels, did you compare the documents (when viewed at 100%, at Print Size and again when zoomed-in) closely enough to count the number of rows of Pixels occupied by the characters?
If you have time to complete these experiments it will help you to understand more clearly how the dimensions and resolution of the file; and the units used when setting type-size; are inter-related.
The freeze was CS4, I can recreate the situation by starting to enter text and not committing; it won’t respond until text is committed.
The problem with the text size and appearance, I’m beaten. I appreciate the suggestions and don’t have the experience to debate more experienced users but the tool has worked exactly as I described, without the jagged appearance and underlining and all, in versions 5, 7, and CS3. I’ve used it too many times to be imagining this. I do appreciate your patience and help guys.
enter text and not committing; it won’t respond until text is committed.
At that point, you should at least be able to select the text. Other than that, it’s normal and expected behavior for Photoshop not to respond until you commit the text.
Photoshop totally not respond? How about select another tool in the toolbox when edit the texts, if you select another tool, Photoshop will commit the text automatically
