Missing/different toolbar icons on v2.3 Trial on Catalina 10.15.7

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2021-11-25 08:08:55

I've downloaded the PmP trial on my Catalina equipped 2018 Mac mini, and I'm a little confused by what appear to be differences in the toolbar options & icons I'm presented with, and those shown in the user guide and tutorials, which are presumably from Big Sur.

Specifically, the toolbar's 'Remove Background' button shown in the tutorial here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yhbO_ABAQI is missing, and when I try to customise the toolbar, and when I look under View -> Customise Tools, there's no sign of it either.

Should this button icon (along with some others) be visible somewhere, or are there deliberate differences in the Catalina/Big Sur interfaces?

Regardless, it's confusing to download a trial of the latest version and find interface elements are different to those shown in screen grabs and tutorials.
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2021-11-25 09:30:11

Are they probably just hidden by a decreased Pixelmator Pro window height? Depending on min/max PM presents from 13 to 21 tool icons and some have additional functions (tiny triangle) which expands on click+hold. The missing ones are reachable via "Show hidden tools or customize....." icon (circle with 3 dots) when window isn´t height enough.
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2021-11-25 10:16:05

No, I don't believe that's the issue—I have plenty of screen real estate, so nothing is hidden.

In addition to what I posted earlier, the user guide here on Pixelmator's site describes the steps need to customise the 'Toolbar' (not the Tools sidebar), here: https://help.pixelmator.com/pixelmator-pro/2.3/#1381

Customize the toolbar:
1. Control ⌃ – click the toolbar or choose Customize Toolbar View > Customize Toolbar from the View menu at the top of the screen.


The option described to customize it simply doesn't exist for me—there is no 'Customize Toolbar' option under the 'View' (or any other) menu. Only 'Customise Tools...' and 'Customise Layout...' which are different. Searching the term in 'Help' comes up blank, too.

It really does seem that certain features are only available under Big Sur, or with the paid version—I don't know which.
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2021-11-25 14:42:49

The Remove Background icon is available on macOS 11 (made possible by the new-style toolbar in macOS Big Sur) and later macOS versions. But you can easily access Remove Background on macOS Catalina, too, by pressing Shift + Backspace on your keyboard, or choosing Edit > Remove Background from the top menu.
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2021-11-25 15:14:48

by Aurelija 2021-11-25 14:43:26 The Remove Background icon is available on macOS 11 (made possible by the new-style toolbar in Big Sur) and later macOS versions. But you can easily access Remove Background on macOS Catalina, too, by pressing Shift + Backspace on your keyboard, or choosing Edit > Remove Background from the top menu.
But why is having that particular function located on the toolbar dependent on macOS 11? Or what makes Catalina not able to have that function in its toolbar (yet obviously supports that functionality given it can be achieved via the menus or a keyboard shortcut)?

Likewise, why can't the toolbar be customised in Catalina?
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2021-12-01 10:53:41

by dmp 2021-11-25 13:14:48
But why is having that particular function located on the toolbar dependent on macOS 11? Or what makes Catalina not able to have that function in its toolbar (yet obviously supports that functionality given it can be achieved via the menus or a keyboard shortcut)?

Likewise, why can't the toolbar be customised in Catalina?
It's part design choice, part technical peculiarity. If you look at the toolbar on macOS Big Sur or macOS Monterey, you'd notice it's more spacious, less cluttered, icons generally look nicer there, and the toolbar customization itself has been made much smoother. Also, from what I've heard from our developers, adding new features to older macOS versions is quite tricky from the programming side of things. And it's not just Remove Background. Most toolbar items introduced since macOS Big Sur — the Zoom slider, Color well, Document Info — didn't make it to earlier operating systems because it was either technically impossible or simply required an unreasonable amount of resources to add.

Despite all this, we always try to make sure Pixelmator Pro comes full-featured on all supported devices. So even though you won't find the Remove Background icon in the macOS Catalina toolbar, we've added five more other ways you can enable this feature in your document.
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2021-12-01 12:17:03

Well if it's truly the case that it's too technically difficult to update the buttons on the toolbar in Catalina, and some features haven't made it into the Catalina versions....why on earth is this not documented or mentioned anywhere???

Nowhere in the Overview (https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/), the Blog announcement (https://www.pixelmator.com/blog/2021/11 ... mator-pro/), the Updates page (https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/updates/), the User guide (https://www.pixelmator.com/support/guid ... r-pro/1219), the Tech specs (https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/tech-specs/), or the FAQ (https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/faq/) can I find any mention of new features not being supported by Catalina.

It makes it incredibly confusing for a new user trying to follow along with your tutorials (both written and on Youtube)—I notice a bunch of comments both on YT and on your blog post where people are scratching their heads wondering why they can't find certain options advertised as included in the update—and is also, I dare say, a little misleading as you advertise v2.3 simply as requiring "...macOS 10.15 Catalina or later...".

At least mention that there is reduced functionality, and not all the new features are included for users running Catalina somewhere in the FAQ or tech specs, or blog, so a new customer (such as myself) can make a properly informed buying decision.