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Known issues in Photoshop

Find workarounds for known issues and limitations in the latest releases of Photoshop.

This document lists the known issues in Photoshop. If you encounter issues not already documented here, report them to the Photoshop community.

Try out the latest features and enhancements.

Known issues in this article:

macOS compatibility

Apple Silicon

Issue

Workaround

M1 Native issues

Rosetta compatibility issue 

Under Rosetta mode, Select Subject inside Select and Mask cannot detect subject in portrait image.

We are working with Apple to fix this issue. 

"Unable to find the JavaScript plug-in" error or missing filters when switching to Rosetta or after.

Reset Preferences and launch in desired mode, Rosetta or native.  After initial launch, the affected plugins will then fail in the other mode.

Scratch disk full errors

Issue

Workaround

If you encounter a 'Scratch disk full' error, it often means that your hard drive (or drives) used as scratch disk is (are) running out of storage space required to perform a task.

Program Errors

Issue

Solution

Program errors with Actions and Scripts

After updating to Photoshop 24.3, you get an error message if you've a save command recorded in an Action.

For reference, see this community thread.

Roll back to Photoshop 24.2.1.

See Update Creative Cloud apps.

Also, we are working toward a fix for this issue, which should be included in an upcoming update.

Program Error when using Clone Stamp

Photoshop displays the error, "Could not complete your request because of a program error" when using the Clone Stamp tool.

Install Photoshop 23.5 or later.

See Update Creative Cloud apps.

Program Error while opening or saving files

When opening or creating or saving files in Photoshop 2021 (v22.x) you get the following error: "Could not complete this operation because of a Program Error"

Install Photoshop 23.0 or later.

See Program error when saving files

Crash on working with tools

Issue

Solution

Crash on using Remove Tool

Unable to use the Remove tool, and the Photoshop app crashes.

  1. Ensure your GPU drivers are up to date.
  2. Select the More Stable option from Preferences > Image Processing > Remove Tool Processing.

[Win] Crash on using Select Subject or Object Selection Tool

Unable to use the Object Selection tool, Select and Mask, and the Photoshop app crashes.


For reference, see this community thread.

Update your Nvidia driver from the official website. See Nvidia Studio Driver.

 

To learn more, see Update graphics driver for your apps.

Crash on launch errors

Issue

Solution

When you launch Photoshop, it freezes either at the splash screen displaying 'Loading Halide Bottlenecks...' or freezes/crashes during startup.

Photoshop 25.6 freezes when opening

Revert to a previous version of Microsoft IME or roll back to Photoshop 25.5.1.
See Revert to previous version of IME (Input Method Editor).
See Update Creative Cloud apps.

Photoshop crashes on some Mac systems when the Precise color management for HDR display option is enabled in Technology Previews preferences.

Uncheck the Precise color management for HDR display option in Technology Previews preferences and then restart Photoshop to see if the issue corrects itself. If you encounter a crash with this feature enabled, please document that in the crash report.

Unavailable tools and options

Issue

Solution

Missing Adjustments panel with presets

Unable to see the new Adjustments panel with presets in Photoshop.

We are aware of this issue and are actively working on resolving it.

Meanwhile, relaunch Photoshop twice as a workaround to view the new Adjustments panel with presets. 

New document errors

Issue

Solution

Black and white flickering when opening images or starting new documents

When attempting to open an image in Photoshop 24.3, you see black and white strobing or flickering.

 

For reference, see this community thread.

 

Background: This issue occurs when using Photoshop with a graphics card that does not support DirectX 12 feature level 12_0. Use the Display tab within DxDiag to see which feature levels your GPU supports. If below 12_0, consider updating your graphics card hardware.

As a workaround, follow the steps below:

  1. Enable the Older GPU Mode option in Preferences > Technology Previews > “Use Older GPU Mode (pre 2016)”
  2. If you are still having trouble, try enabling the Deactivate Native Canvas option in Technology Previews.

Green screen error when opening new documents

Photoshop 24.0 flickers with a green screen when you open a blank new document or an existing document.

As a workaround, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Preferences > Performance and disable the Use Graphics Processor option.
  2. Relaunch Photoshop.

Unable to recognize image dimensions from clipboard

When creating a new document with an image copied to your clipboard, the New Document dialog doesn't recognize the correct image dimensions copied to the clipboard.

Check for Updates in the Creative Cloud desktop app

  • Visit the Creative Cloud Desktop app's "Updates" tab, and click Check for Updates. 
  • If that doesn't resolve it, try signing out of Creative Cloud desktop app, and signing back in.

Errors while saving

Issue

Solution

The Save button is disabled or unresponsive in the Save As dialog box

 

After macOS 12.3 update, the save button is disabled or unresponsive in Save As dialog box in Photoshop.

For reference, see this community thread.

Resize the save window a little bit and the Save button will active again.

Text errors

Issue

Workaround

Text changes don't update

In Photoshop 23.0, text changes do not update.

For reference, see this community thread.

As a workaround, do the following:

  • Quit Photoshop. 
  • Install the attached file (PSUserConfig.txt) in your Photoshop Settings folder:
    • Windows[Installation Drive]:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\[Photoshop_version]\[Photoshop_version]Settings\
    • macOS//Users/[User Name]/Library/Preferences/[Photoshop_version]Settings/

Type layers (Text)

Unable to select numbers in Right-To-Left mode when the composer is set to World-Ready Layout with Middle Eastern Features enabled. 

In the Paragraph panel, change the paragraph direction to Left-To-Right, select and edit the numbers, then change the direction back to Right-To-Left. 

App launch issues

Issue

Workaround

Slow launch of Photoshop

(Win only) You may encounter delays in the startup of Photoshop on your Windows machine.

As a workaround, do the following:

  1. Re-boot your Windows Image Acquisition properties (WIA)
  2. Open WIA properties, and change Startup Type  from "Automatic" to "Automatic (Delayed Start)

Mouse or cursor stuttering 

Issue

Workaround

If you're an Nvidia G-SYNC user, you might experience mouse stuttering in Photoshop.

 

For reference, see this community thread.

As a workaround, do any of the following:

  • Turn off G-SYNC for Photoshop, specifically by going into Nvidia Control Panel > 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings. Click the Program Settings tab, select Photoshop from the dropdown menu, scroll down to Monitor technology, set it to Fixed Refresh, and click apply. To learn more, see Nvidia G-SYNC.
  • Go to Preferences > Technology Previews and enable Deactivate Native Canvas. Restart Photoshop.

Interoperability errors

Issue

Workaround

Unable to import Lightroom desktop photos in Photoshop

 

Importing photos from Lightroom desktop to the Photoshop home screen — JPEG, HEIC, TIFF, PNG, and PSD files, may require masks to be recomputed in Adobe Camera Raw for the edits to show properly. Sometimes, the masks may not be recovered in their original form.

If Adobe Camera Raw is unable to recover masks in your Lightroom desktop photos, you can:

  • Export photos from Lightroom to your local machine.
  • Use the export menu in Lightroom and select Edit in Photoshop

Unable to browse in Bridge from Photoshop

 

Bridge does not launch when you click File > Browse In Bridge option from within Photoshop.

As a workaround, do the following:

  1. Uninstall Bridge and Photoshop from your machine.
  2. Rename the below-mentioned DB folders:
    1. C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe PCD
    2. C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\caps
  3. Install both Bridge and Photoshop again which you uninstalled in Step 1.

You can also try switching to Bridge from Photoshop using Alt+Tab keys. However, this is not supported on Mac ARM.

Issues with running Photoshop Beta and Retail at the same time

 

After installing Photoshop Beta, Lightroom Classic (Edit in Photoshop) defaults to Photoshop Beta as the default editor instead of the public version.

As a workaround, reinstall the desired version of Photoshop last. 

Adobe Camera Raw errors

Issue

Solution

Select People and Select Objects masks are not working on some versions of Photoshop.

Install Photoshop 23.5 or laterSelect People and Select Objects features require Photoshop version 23.5 or later to work as expected.

See Update Creative Cloud apps.

Unexpected crash while using Select People mask on macOS version 12 devices with less than 2GB VRAM.

To minimize the chances of a crash, upgrade your device configuration to more than 2GB VRAM. 

For more details, see Crash on using the Select People mask.

[Win] Photoshop 23.4 and 23.4.1 crash on launch or exit or after using the Camera Raw filter.

Update the Camera Raw version to 14.4.1, available via the Creative Cloud Desktop App. For help, see the Camera Raw plug-in installer.

Select Object does not include the edge of a photo.

The Camera Raw team is aware of this issue and is actively working on resolving it.

Neural Filters errors

Photoshop 3D errors

Other known issues

Issue

Workaround

Rulers not visible

After updating to the February 2023 update of Photoshop 24.2, rulers and guides are not visible.

 

For reference, see this community thread.

As a workaround, follow the steps below:

  1. Enable Preferences > Technology Previews > Deactivate Native Canvas.
  2. Enable Use Older GPU Mode (pre 2016) in Technology Previews.
  3. Restart Photoshop.

(macOS) Pattern Preview does not work

Pattern Preview does not work when Deactivate Native Canvas is enabled in Photoshop.

 

For reference, see this community thread.

As a workaround, go to Preferences > Technology Previews and disable Deactivate Native Canvas. Restart Photoshop.

Unable to import .sky files

(Win only) When the Sky Replacement is open, dragging a .sky file into an empty spot in the tab margin does not trigger the import. The import works on macOS but not on Windows.

As a workaround, you can do any of the following to import a .sky package into a Windows system:

  • Dropping the .sky file onto the empty window in Photoshop should trigger the import of sky presets from the file.
  • If there are open documents, dropping the .sky file onto an empty spot in the tab margin should trigger the import.
  • If there are open documents, dropping the .sky file onto an open document should trigger the import.
  • If Photoshop is closed, dropping the .sky file onto the Photoshop icon should launch the app, and then trigger the import.

Error at loading of ippCV library

When you launch Photoshop 2021 (v22.x) you see one of the following errors:

  • Error at loading of ippCV library.
  • error: (-215:Assertion failed)

Starting with Photoshop 22.0, you will no longer be able to install Photoshop on machines that do not support SSE v4.2 or later. Install Photoshop 2020 (v21.x) on computers with older CPUs that don't support SSE v4.2 or later. See Install previous versions of your Creative Cloud apps.

Photoshop 2021 (v22.x) requires a CPU that supports SSE 4.2 or later.

To determine if your CPU meets this SSE version support requirement, see Photoshop's Help > System Info dialog and look in or near the 4th line:

  1. e.g. Adobe Photoshop Version: 22.0.0 20200921.m.1053 2020/09/21: 0fb66349f4  x64
  2. Number of Launches: 6
  3. Operating System: Mac OS 10.15.5
  4. System architecture: Intel CPU Family:6, Model:14, Stepping:3 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, HyperThreading

If you are unable to open Photoshop but want to identify the SSE version using an Intel utility, see Using Intel identification utility

KBSC (introduced in Photoshop 20.0) to erase while using the Brush tool doesn't work with a German keyboard since there is no Tilde-key beneath the Escape key on a German keyboard.

If you want to use this KBSC, switch system language to English, switch Photoshop language to English, and use an English-default keyboard.

Unable to view presets in the Adjustments panel

 

To view the new presets in the Adjustments panel, you may be required to relaunch Photoshop twice.

The Photoshop team is aware of this issue and is actively working on resolving it.

Remove tool creates black smudge

 

Black smudge happens when the integrated GPU becomes device 0, which usually happens on laptops when the power cord is unplugged.

  • Either plug in the power cord of the machine.
  • Or go to turn off the power saving mode for the device.
  • Environment: MacBook Pro with integrated graphics card (e.g., Intel UHD Graphics 630/AMD Radeon Pro 5500M,5600M, 555X, 560X)
  • Restart your machine after changing the battery settings. 

Remove Tool: Customer sees "Unable to use this tool at this time"

 

Doesn't work in MacOS, all that happens is
"Unable to use this tool at this time".

  • Go to Users > Username > Library > Application Support.
  • See a folder called, “com.adobe.dunamis”.
  • Check your user permission.
  • Make sure the user permission assigned is read + write.
  • The Remove tool should work now.

Support for importing, manipulating, or exporting Acrobat files with 3D layers (including PRC and IGES formats) is now removed from Photoshop.

 

Any actions that interact with PRC or IGES content will now fail with an error message: "Could not complete the command because Photoshop does not recognize this type of file."

 

Files including linked or embedded PRC or IGES formatted content may still be opened in Photoshop, but the formerly 3D layer will be handled as a regular pixel layer.

  As of July 2024, Photoshop’s legacy 3D features have been removed. However, now in the Photoshop (beta) app you can seamlessly add 3D objects to your 2D Photoshop design using the Adobe Substance 3D Viewer (beta) app. Click here for more details.


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