help! large cursor, no text?

[griffin_tate]

hi. i'm having an issue with my text cursor. it is abnormally large (no matter what the font size or font used). in addition, no text is showing up when i type.

i can still use the text tool to highlight what i typed but nothing is there. and i can't use the selection tool to select that layer. yet, the layer appears under the layers tab and shows what i typed.

is this something stupid i'm missing? can anyone please help?

[AngelicKim]

Hello and welcome. Have you tried resetting the text tool to fix the size problem? As for not seeing what you typed, is the text layer above your image layer? If not the image is hiding it. If it is above the image layer, check the text color to make sure it has a color that can be seen on the background. With the making a selection on the text layer, you have to simplify the layer first to make it selectable unless you are simply trying to select it to move it around. Then just use the move tool if that is why you want to select it. Hope this helps.

[griffin_tate]

thanks!
there are no other layers, images, etc. just text. i've changed the color and it doesn't work.

how do you reset the text tool?

[AngelicKim]

When you have the text tool selected, click the first icon on the text tool bar. It will give you 2 options. One to reset the text tool and the other to reset all tools.

[griffin_tate]

ugh.

thank you! but resetting didn't work (text or all tools). anyone have any other help?

[Rusty]

Wellllll... without more details, it's a guess.

In addition to looking at the "sizes" you have selected for the font, what are the sizes of your image where you are adding the text? What is the pixel size and what resolution (ppi) are you using to display on your screen?

I get some really wild font sizes and then realize that I have a bizarre image size :eek:

If you can't see what you are typing, the obvious thing to first check (and what I usually screw up) is: what is your font color (foreground color) and how does that compare to the "color" of what you expect it to show up over?

Rusty

[griffin_tate]

- foreground color of font is black.
- size selected on a simple (arial) font: 12 (i've changed this to lower and higher, doesn't change a thing - cursor stays huge)
- resolution: i've changed from 96 to 300
- my background color: transparent or white
- i've tried all different fonts, sizes and colors and nothing changes.

it's like it's frozen in this weird state.

i'm about to delete PSE and re-install (if i can find the disk!)

:(

[JulieM]

Try deleting the preferences. Easier than uninstalling/reinstalling! Shut down PSE. Open Editor from the Welcome screen. As soon as you click on the Editor icon, hold down Ctl-Alt-Shift together. At the prompt "Delete the Adobe Photoshop Elements Settings File?", click yes. Hope it works!

[GaryK]

One other thing that has caught some, if not all is,
Make sure you are using the text tool and not the type mask tool.

If it is not that, then the preferences reset as explained by Julie should work.

[griffin_tate]

oye. you guys are all sooo very helpful - thanks for taking the time.

i'm using PSE 2.0 - i'm not seeing an editor option (icon) at the welcome screen. i've been using this program for years and wish i knew the stuff you guys taught me already. am i missing something?

double checked on the type mask tool. good one! never thought of that - but that's not it either.

and this cursor is huge. like i'm using size 100 font or something.

[GaryK]

OOO E2..:)

I have forgotten what the welcome screen looks like.:D

No matter.. whichever way you start elements editor, hold down the three keys Julie mentioned (ctrl>alt>SHIFT) as you click to start.
You should then get a popup that asks if you want to reset the preferences (or something to that effect) pick yes.
If you don't get the popup, try again. It can be a bit tricky to get the timing right.:)

[griffin_tate]

jimney cricket!

i'm still not able to get the editor thing. so i deleted PSE and re-installed.

i am STILL getting the same issue!! that can't be good.

[JulieM]

Can you post a screenshot so we can see what you're dealing with?

[GaryK]

Hmmm

For some reason I seem to think the prefs are not removed when you un/reinstall.

If you still can't get the resetting thing to work. After an uninstall, have a look in ... program files>adobe and delete any folder that looks as though it belongs to PE2 and then reinstall. It still my not work but I know with PE3 I had a few folders left over after an uninstall that I deleted to fix some issue I was having. (sorry I can't recall why or what..:confused:)

[JulieM]

In case you'd like to have another go at deleting the preferences, here is a link to more information, including another method besides ctl-alt-shift:

http://www.northlite.net/ps/prefs.htm

Even refers to PSE 2.0 so it should work with your version.

[Rusty]

I am clueless.

I do not have PSE2 but I loaded PSE1...

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1tH2lNp4DTMvAiTERvYwIR4fQUN0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1tH2lNp4DTMvAiTERvYwIR4fQUN0)

sorry for the size... can't figure out how to create a File > Image from Clipboard w/this version of PSE :)

But, I set up a file as you described, selected the "Horizontal Text Tool" and, as you can see ... away we go. No problems at all.

Rusty ?????

[griffin_tate]

<a href="http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1oAtyckAFMpZJMX1iAWnkGoLuznNy"/><img alt="Picture hosted by Pixentral" src="http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1oAtyckAFMpZJMX1iAWnkGoLuznNy_thumb.jpg" border="0"/></a>

this is what i get!

not sure i'm doing the link thing right. i'm new.

[JulieM]

Wow, that is big! I sure can't see what could be wrong. Here's your link and maybe someone else can identify the problem:

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1oAtyckAFMpZJMX1iAWnkGoLuznNy_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1oAtyckAFMpZJMX1iAWnkGoLuznNy)

Did you delete the preferences? If not, please try again! Hit ctl-alt-shift as soon as you click the icon to launch PSE.

[AngelicKim]

That is really large. From your screen shot I can see you are running on a PC with with Windows XP. Have you tried doing a system restore back to a date and time before the problem. I usually do this when all else fails and it doesn't look like our suggestions are working for you. Give that a try. Make sure you backup anything new you have done since that point first.

[Vesta]

Just a thought, and if someone has already suggested this I am sorry as I read the posts but it is very late now and I feel so sorry for your problem. I know you said you cannot see type but that you could highlight it

Make sure you are on the text layer and select the move tool. Can you see a bounding box around your text if so choose a corner and put your cursor on it and try to make it smaller by moving inward. Will it let you do this?

Vesta

[JulieM]

Hey, Griffin! Did you get the problem sorted out? :confused:

[DJ SPIN]

In Photoshop go to your "character pallette" and change the baseline shift to 0 before you try to type anything. It will have a negative number. This problem occurs when you mess with the baseline shift for some reason. Just reset it to 0 (zero) and you should be good to go.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

That works just great in Photoshop but sadly Elements doesn't have the character palette :(

Wendy