CROP TOOL FRUSTRATIONS

[pontiac1940]

Hi all

Note: I am working on a large photo display for the local BOP Center. I am cropping about 20 photos to be printed on canvas with full wrap. I've worked in about 30 so far  from which I will narrow the selections down. The printing company offers a wide range of sizes, which allows me to crop using the best size for the individual image. I will use 5 or 6 different sizes that match the lab capabilities. I've experienced both of the issues below before, but if I am cropping one photo these glitches (?) do not bug me too much. Today, the crop tool is bugging me. 

1) Every time I select the crop tool it defaults to "Use photo ratio" which I never (never) use. I want the default to be "No restriction." Is there a way to set "No restriction" as default?  

2) No matter what number and unit I type in the W and H windows, PSE argues and posts an error message, "Invalid numeric entry" except

• It is valid (say, 12 in) and
• I click Okay and it is okay with my entry after all. Annoying. 

Perhaps I am missing some default settings. 

Any help  is appreciated.  

Thank you, 

Clive 
imgbb is acting up (again or still) so both images might not display

[Lillias]

You may already have tried this but in case you haven't...with the crop tool selected try clicking on the 'Reset Tool' option as seen here and hopefully that will do the trick Clive.

[tonyw]

That's weird - I tried it in PSE 2022 and the crop tool defaults to No Restriction and if I type say 12in in the H and 9in in the W it accepts those numbers and switches No Restriction to Custom. So all looks normal to me so sorry it's given you problems - hopefully someone can suggest a fix.

Tony

[fotofrank]

Clive, have you tried to reset the tool. After I reset the tool it always comes up No Restrictions.

[ChrisAnn]

insert quote h1) Every time I select the crop tool it defaults to "Use photo ratio" which I never (never) use. I want the default to be "No restriction." Is there a way to set "No restriction" as default? ere

That always happens for me, and I'm equally as frustrated. 

I'm now desperate to try BillieJean's solution.

I've tried and it works!  Thanks so much for asking this question Clive, I hadn't realised it wasn't the default.

[pontiac1940]

Like ChrisAnn , the reset worked as far as "no restrictions" being the default. Thanks. 

Still getting this. Will close and open and see what happens. Later. 

Thanks

Clive

[pontiac1940]

I've reset the crop tool numerous times and it still reverts back to "Use photo ratio" ...sometimes.

Wait! There's more! (Driving me crazy ... and it's a short trip! ) 

What? I set everything correctly (as you can see in the lower left) and yet it changes the resolution. 

[pete61]

Clive, you are working to a 19" dimension. If you spread 4,000 pixels across that length the resolution is 4000 pixels divided by 19 inches = 210.526 pixels per inch. Again working to a 19" dimension and a resolution of 240 pixels per inch then you will require 19 inches multiplied by 240 = 4,560 pixels.

[pontiac1940]

Jun 22, 2022 3:30:23 GMT pete61 said:

Clive, you are working to a 19" dimension. If you spread 4,000 pixels across that length the resolution is 4000 pixels divided by 19 inches = 210.526 pixels per inch. Again working to a 19" dimension and a resolution of 240 pixels per inch then you will require 19 inches multiplied by 240 = 4,560 pixels.

Pete, thanks for your comment. I totally understand the math. However, look at the cropping tool settings again. It is set for 19 inches at 240 ppi and the result should have been 4,560 pixel as you said, and it was not. The tool is not cropping as per the settings. It is really acting funny.   

ChrisAnn ,  Lillias and fotofrank ... back to the original issue of "Use photo ratio" .. no matter how many times the "reset tool" has been activated to invoke "No restriction," the next time I go to crop, it goes back to "Use photo ratio."
 
This canvas printing project is complex enough so messing with PSEM all day has been a tad frustrating. Thankfully, I am more or less done and have 20 files to upload to make canvas prints ranging from 12 by 18 inches up to 30 by 20 inches. 

Thanks to all for pitching in. 

[Sepiana]

Jun 22, 2022 4:40:45 GMT pontiac1940 said:

no matter how many times the "reset tool" has been activated to invoke "No restriction," the next time I go to crop, it goes back to "Use photo ratio."

Clive, 

If Reset Tool didn't fix the problem, you could try this "trick". It seems to fix many glitches Elements develops.

1. Right-click on the desktop shortcut and select "Run as administrator".
2. Test the Crop tool.
3. If everything is working fine, close Elements.
4. Open Elements again but this time do it from your standard user account.

If the above doesn't fix the problem, try deleting/restoring the Preferences file.

1. Go to Edit>Preferences>General.
2. Click on the "Reset Preferences on next launch" button.
3. Ignore the "This cannot be undone." warning and click OK.
4. Close Elements and then start it again.

[pontiac1940]

Thanks Sepiana. 👍👍
Will try in the morning.

[pontiac1940]

Jun 22, 2022 5:00:35 GMT Sepiana said:

Right-click on the desktop shortcut and select "Run as administrator".

Thank again. Well, perhaps it is working again. But I had to do it three times. 
First shot at "run as admin" froze PSE. 
Started again as admin and it reverted to "use photo ratio" 
Closed again and reopened as admin.
I closed it and restarted the normal way. Seems to work now.
However, when I entered "8 in" for a crop tool dimension, the "Invalid numeric entry" error message popped up the first time. 
I will play with it this evening. 

Thanks for you assistance. 
  

[xairbusdriver]

I entered "8 in" for a crop tool dimension, the "Invalid numeric entry" error message popped up

Are you actually entering the " in" part? 🤔

[pontiac1940]

Thanks for the question xairbusdriver

Jul 11, 2022 13:30:13 GMT xairbusdriver said:

Are you actually entering the " in" part? 

I've not done this (cropping for prints) for a few days. I was adding the "in" for sure at the start. However, recall leaving it off and it worked okay, i.e. automatically inserted inches. (Because the default units are inches perhaps?) 
What did continue to be an issue is even though the "reset tool" has been activated to invoke "No restriction," the next time I go to crop, it goes back to "Use photo ratio."
3 weeks ago, I was into a lot of image sizing for prints and it was frustrating. 

[xairbusdriver]

leaving it off and it [seemed to] worked okay

Great. I think you should always use the drop-down menu for establishing the measurement units (Inches/Pixels/Bananas/etc.). The app doesn't understand anything in those dimension entry boxes except the characters 0 thru 9 and a period/decimal symbol. It may accept a comma (thousands/millions separator), I dunno. 🤔 Remember, a computer is actually very dumb! 🤪

As for the "Use photo ratio" vs "No restriction", I'd suggest:

• Disable the "Crop Pre-Selection" item in the General section of your prefs
  
• Quit PE (count to 44 by fours)
• Launch PE
• Test the Crop tool