PL5 user who’s trying out PL7. When I turn on the crop tool, and it’s set to Unconstrained, my pointer turns into a cross but I can’t draw a crop - nothing happens when I try. I can only drag the lines that start at the edge of the photo. Am I missing something here, or is it a bug?
You are right. Manual, unconstrained, left click does not start a new box as instructions below IF you have selected the CROP toggle first HOWEVER if you do select manual and unconstrained and then tool BUT NOT select the crop toggle first you do not get a auto box and can drag and select. After you have created the Crop toggle comes on.
This is the same behaviour as in Photolab 6.
Windows 11
Cropping manually
If you click on the Crop tool button, a dotted-line crop box will display on the image. You can move or extend this box by dragging its corners. If you have chosen a specific aspect ratio, the box will display the proportions of this aspect ratio, and you will be allowed to change only one of its dimensions, the other tracking automatically. If you have chosen an unconstrained aspect ratio, you will be able to freely change both dimensions of the box.
You can also draw the cropping frame yourself by clicking and dragging on the image while holding down the left button of your mouse. To change the size, simply grab the frame at the side or at the corner.
You can move the frame around the image by clicking the mouse pointer inside the frame and dragging (a quadruple arrow will appear as the pointer).
Clicking outside the box removes the box and lets you create a new box from scratch.
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To clarify: if you want to draw a crop selection, make sure the Crop palette is off and then turn on the Crop tool above the image viewer. Select the desired aspect ratio in the menu below the image viewer, and then draw your crop.
It’s a strange interaction between the crop tool and the crop palette, but this is how DxO designed it. (Confirmed by DxO staff in the past.)
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Thanks! Here’s a screen recording of me, in PL7, doing what I think you described, but I’m not able to draw a rectangle: https://photos.app.goo.gl/XnLRuQ9M9sAifTme8 Am I missing a step there?
Here’s what I’m used to doing in PL5: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4ap5uWdLKXFd28qu5 Is that not possible any longer?
In 7 ( and 6) don’t select Crop ( the little blue slider) to make it active just select the tool and you will have the little cross to be able to drag. Make sure you have manual and unconstrained ( doing so may turn on the crop toggle to blue). Deselect that
All you need to do is select the tool. The crop toggle will then turn on.
It is a change since 6 I never noticed
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Tony, are you using Windows or Mac? It looks like your Crop palette turns itself back on when you try to draw the crop box in the image viewer. I don’t see the same behavior that you’re showing in your video. I deselect the Crop palette (blue switch next to “Crop”) and then I can draw.
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I’m using a Mac. Sorry I didn’t specify earlier.
Thanks! Done
In your record, I see that crop handles are already visible when you try to draw a crop zone (surrounding the whole image).
So you have to drag one of them to change the crop zone.
Yes, but what I’d like to do is just draw a rectangle on the image without having to drag from the edges, which is what I can do in PL5. If I can’t do that in PL7 then I don’t think it’s usable for me. I take lots of photos where the subject is small in the frame and drawing a crop over the subject is much better, IMO, for that that use case.
I did report this to DXO but they said they can’t replicate it, unfortunately.
After some emails with someone at DXO support (who was great, btw), here’s their response:
We have been informed that in the latest version of DxO PhotoLab 7 that it is no longer possible anymore to draw a rectangle in the Crop tool, because of new interactions in that tool. If you want to crop your image, you will need to grab the corners or sides of the initial crop and resize it.
So how are we supposed to make a portrait crop from a landscape photo? This was fine in 6 and I’m not able to do it in 7. I tried dragging from all parts of the screen similar to how the original poster showed in his video.
This isn’t to answer your question directly (sorry!), but once a file’s converted from raw, a pixel editor like Photoshop or Affinity will be adept at all kinds of reformatting.
Photolab is at heart a powerful raw converter, but don’t expect it to do everything …
You can drag one of the corners of the existing crop and depending on where you drag it, the crop changes to portrait, so it is possible 
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So after spending a ridiculous amount of time of this, you are correct it will work. You need to drag the corner down and across far more than one would think is needed. I had to go practically down to the opposite corner but it did work.
I’m sorry, bu you were doing it wrong. Although I would agree it takes time and practice.
Pull one corner straight towards the other corner on the same side…
I’d call it a bug…and can see it in DPL versions 7.0.0, 7.0.1 and 7.0.2…but not in DPL 6
- Tested on macOS Monterey 12.7 on iMac 2019
- Tested with FP and VP deactivated, but this seems to be irrelevant
Ah! Now I see what you mean.
In unconstrained mode, you cannot draw starting within the current box in PL7, whereas you can in PL6.
For some reason I had read that you couldn’t change the aspect.
It’s no good, I’m going to have to go for a lie down 