Expert: Scott Valentine - 5/4/2009

Question
When working in photoshop CS3 (Mac) my direct selection tool (white arrow)
will suddenly delete all my path not just the anchor points I have selected.
Let's say I have a bottle. I will create a path around the whole bottle, but I
decide I want to change the color of the liquid inside. What I typically do is
duplicate the path then delete the anchor points that make up the cap a
reconnect them leaving out the cap. But sometimes when I select just the cap
points and delete the whole path deletes. Is there some key I'm hitting on
accident? I typically have to just restart photoshop to get it to stop.

Answer
Hi Ronnie,

As you've discovered, using the Delete or Backspace key removes both the node and the segments on either side. While using the direct select tool, you may also be inadvertently double-clicking which will select the entire path. And if you press Delete/Backspace twice in a row, you will also remove the entire path.

Since it's not clear what is going on, you can try deleting the preferences file by restarting Photoshop, and when it begins to launch, hold down the Shift key. This will give you a dialog box asking if you want to delete the preference file. Click OK and continue launching.

However, I recommend using the Pen tool, which has both a context menu (alt+click or right click), and a dedicated tool for removing nodes. This will let you preserve the entire path, but just take away the points you select.

I know this doesn't directly address the issue you are seeing, but it may provide you a more solid way of working that avoids the potential for errant key strokes.

Please let me know if you have any further questions, or if this solution doesn't quite work for you :)

-Scott