- Photoshop User Guide
- Introduction to Photoshop
- Photoshop and other Adobe products and services
- Photoshop on the iPad (not available in mainland China)
- Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
- Get to know the workspace
- System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
- Create, open, and export documents
- Add photos
- Work with layers
- Draw and paint with brushes
- Make selections and add masks
- Retouch your composites
- Work with adjustment layers
- Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
- Apply transform operations
- Crop and rotate your composites
- Rotate, pan, zoom, and reset the canvas
- Work with Type layers
- Work with Photoshop and Lightroom
- Get missing fonts in Photoshop on the iPad
- Japanese Text in Photoshop on the iPad
- Manage app settings
- Touch shortcuts and gestures
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Edit your image size
- Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
- Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
- Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop on the iPad
- Work with Camera Raw files
- Create and work with Smart Objects
- Adjust exposure in your images with Dodge and Burn
- Auto adjustment commands in Photoshop on the iPad
- Smudge areas in your images with Photoshop on the iPad
- Saturate or desaturate your images using Sponge tool
- Content aware fill for iPad
- Photoshop on the web (not available in mainland China)
- Common questions
- System requirements
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Supported file types
- Introduction to the workspace
- Open and work with cloud documents
- Generative AI features
- Basic concepts of editing
- Quick Actions
- Work with layers
- Retouch images and remove imperfections
- Make quick selections
- Image improvements with Adjustment Layers
- Add a fill layer
- Move, transform, and crop images
- Draw and paint
- Draw and edit Shapes
- Work with Type layers
- Work with anyone on the web
- Manage app settings
- Generate Image
- Generate Background
- Reference Image
- Photoshop (beta) (not available in mainland China)
- Generative AI (not available in mainland China)
- Common questions on generative AI in Photoshop
- Generative Fill in Photoshop on the desktop
- Generate Image with descriptive text prompts
- Generative Expand in Photoshop on the desktop
- Replace background with Generate background
- Get new variations with Generate Similar
- Generative Fill in Photoshop on the iPad
- Generative Expand in Photoshop on the iPad
- Generative AI features in Photoshop on the web
- Content authenticity (not available in mainland China)
- Cloud documents (not available in mainland China)
- Photoshop cloud documents | Common questions
- Photoshop cloud documents | Workflow questions
- Manage and work with cloud documents in Photoshop
- Upgrade cloud storage for Photoshop
- Unable to create or save a cloud document
- Solve Photoshop cloud document errors
- Collect cloud document sync logs
- Invite others to edit your cloud documents
- Share files and comment in-app
- Workspace
- Workspace basics
- Preferences
- Learn faster with the Photoshop Discover Panel
- Create documents
- Place files
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Customize keyboard shortcuts
- Tool galleries
- Performance preferences
- Use tools
- Presets
- Grid and guides
- Touch gestures
- Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
- Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
- Technology previews
- Metadata and notes
- Place Photoshop images in other applications
- Rulers
- Show or hide non-printing Extras
- Specify columns for an image
- Undo and history
- Panels and menus
- Position elements with snapping
- Position with the Ruler tool
- Web, screen, and app design
- Image and color basics
- How to resize images
- Work with raster and vector images
- Image size and resolution
- Acquire images from cameras and scanners
- Create, open, and import images
- View images
- Invalid JPEG Marker error | Opening images
- Viewing multiple images
- Customize color pickers and swatches
- High dynamic range images
- Match colors in your image
- Convert between color modes
- Color modes
- Erase parts of an image
- Blending modes
- Choose colors
- Customize indexed color tables
- Image information
- Distort filters are unavailable
- About color
- Color and monochrome adjustments using channels
- Choose colors in the Color and Swatches panels
- Sample
- Color mode or Image mode
- Color cast
- Add a conditional mode change to an action
- Add swatches from HTML CSS and SVG
- Bit depth and preferences
- Layers
- Layer basics
- Nondestructive editing
- Create and manage layers and groups
- Select, group, and link layers
- Place images into frames
- Layer opacity and blending
- Mask layers
- Apply Smart Filters
- Layer comps
- Move, stack, and lock layers
- Mask layers with vector masks
- Manage layers and groups
- Layer effects and styles
- Edit layer masks
- Extract assets
- Reveal layers with clipping masks
- Generate image assets from layers
- Work with Smart Objects
- Blending modes
- Combine multiple images into a group portrait
- Combine images with Auto-Blend Layers
- Align and distribute layers
- Copy CSS from layers
- Load selections from a layer or layer mask's boundaries
- Knockout to reveal content from other layers
- Selections
- Get started with selections
- Make selections in your composite
- Select and Mask workspace
- Select with the marquee tools
- Select with the lasso tools
- Adjust pixel selections
- Move, copy, and delete selected pixels
- Create a temporary quick mask
- Select a color range in an image
- Convert between paths and selection borders
- Channel basics
- Save selections and alpha channel masks
- Select the image areas in focus
- Duplicate, split, and merge channels
- Channel calculations
- Get started with selections
- Image adjustments
- Replace object colors
- Perspective warp
- Reduce camera shake blurring
- Healing brush examples
- Export color lookup tables
- Adjust image sharpness and blur
- Understand color adjustments
- Apply a Brightness/Contrast adjustment
- Adjust shadow and highlight detail
- Levels adjustment
- Adjust hue and saturation
- Adjust vibrance
- Adjust color saturation in image areas
- Make quick tonal adjustments
- Apply special color effects to images
- Enhance your image with color balance adjustments
- High dynamic range images
- View histograms and pixel values
- Match colors in your image
- Crop and straighten photos
- Convert a color image to black and white
- Adjustment and fill layers
- Curves adjustment
- Blending modes
- Target images for press
- Adjust color and tone with Levels and Curves eyedroppers
- Adjust HDR exposure and toning
- Dodge or burn image areas
- Make selective color adjustments
- Adobe Camera Raw
- Camera Raw system requirements
- What's new in Camera Raw
- Introduction to Camera Raw
- Create panoramas
- Supported lenses
- Vignette, grain, and dehaze effects in Camera Raw
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Automatic perspective correction in Camera Raw
- Radial Filter in Camera Raw
- Manage Camera Raw settings
- Open, process, and save images in Camera Raw
- Repair images with the Enhanced Spot Removal tool in Camera Raw
- Rotate, crop, and adjust images
- Adjust color rendering in Camera Raw
- Process versions in Camera Raw
- Make local adjustments in Camera Raw
- Image repair and restoration
- Image enhancement and transformation
- Drawing and painting
- Paint symmetrical patterns
- Draw rectangles and modify stroke options
- About drawing
- Draw and edit shapes
- Painting tools
- Create and modify brushes
- Blending modes
- Add color to paths
- Edit paths
- Paint with the Mixer Brush
- Brush presets
- Gradients
- Gradient interpolation
- Fill and stroke selections, layers, and paths
- Draw with the Pen tools
- Create patterns
- Generate a pattern using the Pattern Maker
- Manage paths
- Manage pattern libraries and presets
- Draw or paint with a graphics tablet
- Create textured brushes
- Add dynamic elements to brushes
- Gradient
- Paint stylized strokes with the Art History Brush
- Paint with a pattern
- Sync presets on multiple devices
- Migrate presets, actions, and settings
- Text
- Filters and effects
- Saving and exporting
- Color Management
- Web, screen, and app design
- Video and animation
- Printing
- Automation
- Troubleshooting
GPU problems with Photoshop could manifest in a variety of ways, including:
- Photoshop displays the GPU compatibility screen just after launch
- Performance issues, incorrectly rendered windows or objects, canvas flashes/flickers, visual artifacts in Photoshop
- Photoshop crashes or hangs upon launch
- Image canvas flashes or flickers
- Photoshop's menu bar is missing
- Slow screen drawing when zooming in or out
- Partial screen redraws, including remnants of images from other windows
- Some graphic elements of Photoshop tools, like the crop handles, or transform controls lose color or look different than usual
- Your image is filled with a bright green color
Read the full article to learn how to setup your GPU for high performance in Photoshop.
With the Photoshop 23.0 release or later, you can run the graphics processor compatibility check to ensure your GPU is compatible. To do so, go to Help > GPU Compatibility and see the report dialog that opens.
We have this known issue where the dialog could report that 'Your graphics processor is incompatible.' If you're running Windows on an Intel-based system with the 'Microsoft OpenCL/OpenGL Compatibility Pack' installed, the solution is to uninstall the compatibility pack and restart the computer.
Some configurations are known to be problematic for GPU use in Photoshop. Avoid all the following, which are not supported currently:
- Out-of-date hardware or software
Adobe supports Photoshop only when your Mac is running one of the last three system updates from Apple. See the troubleshooting steps 2 and 3 below for instructions on how to update to the latest version of macOS and Photoshop and how to proceed if your computer is losing support for current versions of the operating system.
Running Photoshop under virtual machines (VMs) is not tested extensively nor officially supported. Virtualization configurations often use software-based GPU drivers that are configured below Photoshop specifications. Do not use Photoshop in virtual machines or connect remotely to Photoshop running on different hardware. At the very least, your GPU should be turned off in these scenarios.
- 3D Rendering Issues
3D features are being phased out of Photoshop. If you notice rendering problems (e.g., text extrusions or updates not appearing on screen) with files that contain 3D content, that is expected. Consider evaluating Adobe’s Substance line of 3D products.
- Plugging/unplugging displays
If you run Photoshop while changing display configurations (e.g., plugging in an external monitor without quitting Photoshop), your windows may draw in the wrong place on screen or fill with a solid green color. If you need to attach a new display to your computer, quit Photoshop, attach the display, then start Photoshop.
Unsure if your graphics processor or driver is the cause of the issue you're facing with Photoshop? Disabling the GPU acceleration will help you narrow down the cause of the issue.
- Navigate to Edit > Preferences > Performance (Windows) or Photoshop > Preferences > Performance (macOS).
- Uncheck Use Graphics Processor.
- Restart Photoshop.
If the problem persists, continue troubleshooting by performing the troubleshooting steps as outlined below:
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Updating your graphics driver can fix many issues, such as crashing, incorrectly rendered images, and performance problems. Get driver updates directly from the video card manufacturer.
Pastaba:- Be sure to choose the correct driver. Notebook drivers sometimes have a different name than similar desktop drivers.
- If you are experiencing flickering or stuttering responsiveness within Photoshop, and you have a GPU that supports G-Sync, turn G-Sync off for Photoshop using the NVIDIA control panel.
- Some video adapter manufacturers have other software that requires updating in addition to the video driver. Read the update instructions carefully, and contact the video adapter manufacturer if you don't understand the instructions.
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If you've set your Cache Levels to 1 in Photoshop preferences, you may experience performance issues with features that take advantage of the graphics processor.
Reset the Cache Levels to the default setting, which is 4:
- Choose Edit > Preferences > Performance
- Set Cache Levels to 4
- Quit and relaunch Photoshop
After relaunching Photoshop, retry the steps that caused the problem.
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Resetting preferences returns Graphics Processor settings to their default status.
See Restore preference files to default
After resetting your preferences, launch Photoshop and retry the steps that caused the problem.
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a. Choose Edit > Preferences > Performance
b. In the Performance panel, click Advanced Settings
c. Disable Open CL
d. Quit and restart Photoshop for the change to take effect
Pastaba:With the August 2021 (v22.5) release, the Advanced Drawing Mode selector has been removed. For earlier versions, set Drawing Mode to Basic in step c (above).
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Enable Older GPU mode (pre-2016) setting
(Optional) For Windows users only:
- Choose Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews
- Enable Older GPU mode (pre-2016)
- Quit and restart Photoshop for the change to take effect
This preferences forces Photoshop to fall back to an alternate rendering engine. While this is recommended for older GPUs, sometimes newer GPUs could become more stable with this option selected.
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Configuring computers with multiple graphics cards
Ultralight laptops and low end desktops, often use an integrated graphics card that uses less power to preserve battery and shares memory with your CPU.
Higher end computers often have a discrete, dedicated graphics card that uses its own memory (VRAM), has greater processing power, and doesn't eat up RAM. If your GPU preference is disabled and you cannot enable it, verify your monitor is connected to the high-powered GPU and not the built-in port on your computer. Also, higher end laptops ofter use two graphics cards, an integrated one when you're using the battery, and a discrete graphics card when you're plugged into an outlet.
If your system has more than one graphics card, ensure that Photoshop has been assigned the High-Performance graphics card rather than Integrated Graphics or Power-Saving graphics card for the best experience. Changing these settings on laptops will increase battery usage. See Quick Tips on setting up GPU for high performance in Photoshop.
nVidia
See how to setup your NVIDIA GPU for high performance in the quick tutorial below.
- Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose the NVIDIA control panel.
- Click Manage 3D settings.
- Click Program Settings and add Photoshop.exe and sniffer.exe. Change the Preferred graphics processor to High-performance NVIDIA processor.
Note: Nvidia provides a choice between Studio and Game-ready drivers. Preferably, you should use Studio drivers.
AMD
See how to setup your Intel & AMD GPUs for high performance in the quick tutorial below.
- Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose the AMD Catalyst Control Center or Configure Switchable Graphics.
- Click Browse and choose High Performance instead of Power Saving.
- Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose the NVIDIA control panel.
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Disable the less powerful graphics card
If the above step does not resolve issues when using more than one graphics card, consider disabling one of the graphics cards. Before disabling the onboard graphics card, please ensure you have the video output of your monitor connected to the dedicated graphics card.
To disable a graphics card, use the Device Manager on Windows. In the Device Manager, right-click the card's name and choose Disable.
Pastaba:- Please use caution and bear in mind that disabling the graphics card may lead to system instabilities.
- Read the instructions carefully, and contact the video adapter manufacturer directly if you don't understand the instructions.
After performing the troubleshooting steps above, you can confirm the results by enabling the Use Graphics Processor option in the Preferences > Performance panel and retrying the steps that caused the problem.
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Restart your computer
Some issues can occur directly after installing or upgrading the Adobe Creative Cloud application and/or Photoshop. Restart your system after a fresh update or install of Adobe software and see if symptoms clear up.
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Update macOS
Apple includes GPU drivers in the system software and frequently adds bug fixes in updates. If you have a system update or security patch awaiting, install them and restart the Mac. If your computer does not let you install the latest version of macOS, then your computer hardware is falling behind current specifications for the operating system, and by extension, Photoshop. It may be necessary to use an older version of Photoshop that coincided with your final operating system version’s release date. To learn more, see:
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Update Photoshop
All the most recent bug fixes are included in the latest version of Photoshop, and if your computer meets all current requirements for macOS and Photoshop, it should be the most stable.
As noted above, if your computer can no longer install the latest version of macOS, then you may want to have the last known working version of Photoshop installed at the time of your operating system, plus the latest version in case you are able to use it as well. See these steps to install multiple versions of Photoshop.
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Creative Cloud issues
If you experience crashes, particularly on opening new files, sometimes the Creative Cloud application can be the source. Refer to the following documents for help installing or troubleshooting the Creative Cloud desktop app:
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Turn off the GPU
Try turning the GPU off in Photoshop preferences to check whether problems go away with the GPU turned off. Go to Photoshop > Preferences > Performance and uncheck Use Graphics Processor, then restart Photoshop.
- If the problems do NOT clear up after turning off the GPU, then your problem is more generic in nature. Try these tips.
- If problems go away with the GPU disabled, then you may opt to work without the GPU, or try some of the other steps below to straighten things out.
Re-enable the Use Graphics Processor option in the Preferences > Performance panel, restart Photoshop and try some of the following suggestions.
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Camera Raw issues
Adobe Camera Raw uses the graphics processor differently than Photoshop. If you experience crashes, performance issues, or incorrectly rendered windows or objects, redraw issues or artifacts specifically when opening files in Adobe Camera Raw, then see Camera Raw graphics processor (GPU) FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
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Turn off Automatic Graphics Switching
If you are using a MacBook or MacBook Pro, go to System Preferences > Energy Saver, and turn off Automatic Graphics Switching. Restart Photoshop and see if the symptoms still occur.
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Turn off OpenCL
- Choose Photoshop > Preferences > Performance
- In the Performance panel, click Advanced Settings
- Uncheck the ‘Use OpenCL’
- Restart Photoshop
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Check your Cache Levels setting
If you have set your Cache Levels to 1 in Photoshop preferences, you may experience performance issues with features that take advantage of the graphics processor.
Reset the Cache Levels to the default setting, which is 4:
- Choose Photoshop > Preferences > Performance
- Set Cache Levels to 4
- Restart Photoshop
After relaunching Photoshop, retry the steps that caused the problem.
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Reset Photoshop preferences
Resetting preferences returns Graphics Processor settings to their default status.
See Restore preference files to default
After resetting your preferences, launch Photoshop and retest for errors. Sometimes preferences files can become corrupted, and a refresh can resolve a wide range of issues.
Graphics hardware error messages
When you first launch Photoshop, you might encounter some hardware error messages:
Disabled features
Camera Raw issues
Adobe Camera Raw uses a graphics processor differently than Photoshop. If you experience crashes, performance issues, or incorrectly-rendered windows or objects, redraw issues or artifacts, specifically when opening files in Adobe Camera Raw.
Have a question or an idea?
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