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Participant
April 29, 2025

P: Adjusting layer properties doesn't work for Hue/Saturation/lum. HSL layers

  • April 29, 2025
  • 74 replies
  • 12995 views

The tab to click on and change the properties for an adjustment layer randomly disappears. Quitting and re-opening the app solves the issue, but it will happen again within minutes, usually when switching between different projects or different app on the computer. 

On Photoshop v26.6 - Mac Mini M4 pro, 32gb ram, 1tb ssd.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

ss

74 replies

Participant
November 17, 2025

Is anyone at Adobe even looking into this still? people here have given you a step by step guide on how to recreate this problem. Can we please get an update? I use photoshop for work everyday and this bug is majorily interferring with my workflow. The 'work around' of closing the file and reopening is not a work around at all. My files are huge, and svaing them and reopening can take up to 5 minutes each time.. it's beyond frustrating. The bug happens everytime you merge saturation adjustment layers with any other layer, thats the trigger.  Can we at least please have download access to photoshop 2024 again, until you figure out this problem and fix it? This version is no longer available on the creative cloud and it was the last version that didn't have this bug. I'm on the latest version of photoshop now, 2026 and its still happening. PLEASE HELP

Marek Domke
Participating Frequently
November 17, 2025

This is still an issue in Photoshop 27.0.0 on widows.

Participant
November 13, 2025

Photoshop intermittently stops showing the actual Hue/Saturation adjustment controls.
Instead of the Hue/Sat sliders and the color range bar, the Properties panel switches itself to the Mask tab and becomes stuck there.

Clicking the adjustment icon does nothing — the panel refuses to switch back.
Only reopening the document or changing the layer’s position in the stack restores the proper controls.

This happens across multiple files and on two different Macs (previous machine + new Mac mini M4 Pro), so it is not hardware- or preference-related.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer

  2. Work normally, switching between adjustment icon and mask

  3. After some time, the Properties panel opens showing only the Mask panel

  4. Clicking the adjustment icon does nothing

  5. The Hue/Sat controls remain inaccessible until the file is closed and reopened

Additional reproducible behaviour:
If I drag the Hue/Saturation layer below all other layers, the adjustment UI instantly reappears.
As soon as I move it back up the stack, it can get stuck again.
This indicates a Properties panel state-sync bug, not a user-selection mistake.

Expected result:
The Properties panel should always show the Hue/Saturation controls when the adjustment icon on the Hue/Sat layer is selected.

Actual result:
Panel becomes locked to the Mask view and refuses to show the adjustment UI.

Notes:
– Happens on multiple documents
– Happens on two completely different Macs
– Workspace reset does not fix it
– Preferences reset does not fix it
– Not caused by accidentally selecting the mask — the panel ignores the adjustment icon entirely
– Behaviour changes depending on the layer’s position in the stack, which rules out corrupted preferences

System:
– macOS Sequoia 15.6.1)
– Photoshop (26.1.1.0)
– GPU mode: (on)

Participant
November 7, 2025

This is definitely a problem. I'm finding the same thing on a MacBook Pro. I can confirm the Hue/Saturation layer works on a file until after I merge adjustment layers and try to create a new one. Then this issue happens (no adjustments, only mask properties, and even those can't be edited).

Inspiring
October 23, 2025

@Anshul_Saini @Sameer K 

 

I have found a way to 100% reproduce it, at least on my machine it is.

 

Photoshop 26.11

macOS Tahoe 26.0.1 on Mac Studio M4 Max

 

  1. Open any image
  2. Create a blank layer
  3. Create a Hue/Sat adjustment layer
  4. ⌘⌥+G to clip that Hue/Sat to the blank layer
  5. Group the two newly created layers (see attached image)
  6. ⌘+E to merge the group into a layer
  7. Create another Hue/Sat adjustment layer
  8. There you go. No layer properties.

 

9. Move it down and the properties panel becomes available again. (as @antonioi21376345 mentioned). Move it back up and you lose it again.

 

---

 

So something goes wrong when you flatten a group that contains a clipping hue/sat adj layer?

I hope this is the trigger you are looking for.

 

I first replied to this thread on May 6th. It's been too long.

We need this fixed.

 

I am from China, so I probably won't be able to join your debug session. Good luck.

 

---

 

Guys, if you can reproduce this too, please help the adobe team.

 

Sameer K
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 23, 2025

@11010397 —Awesome! Thank you so much for your effort. I've recreated this on Windows. I'll share the steps and the video replay with the team to verify. 

Best, 
Sameer K

ronny g30407266
Participant
October 6, 2025

Same here — it’s been two months since this issue started, and Adobe @Anshul_Sainistill hasn’t fixed it. Isn’t all the money we pay enough to get this resolved? 

Anshul_Saini
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 7, 2025

Hi @ronny g30407266 @CC5F96 @Dziekonski Photography,

 

Thank you all for continuing to share your reports and screenshots about the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer properties issue. We understand how frustrating this has been and how much it’s impacting ongoing work.

 

Our internal teams have tested this extensively across different environments, but so far, we’ve not been able to reproduce the issue. That’s why your reports are especially important; they help us understand where and under what circumstances this behavior occurs.

 

To help us narrow this down further, please try the following step if you can:

  • Please create a new user profile (admin) on your system and install Photoshop within it.

  • Launch Photoshop under the new admin user profile and test the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to see if the issue still occurs.

This will help determine whether the problem is related to something within your existing user account (such as a corrupted preference or permission conflict).

 

If the issue persists even in the new profile, please let us know; that’s valuable information for our engineering team. And if you’re able to reproduce it consistently in a new user admin profile, don’t forget to DM me your Adobe email ID, phone number, and system details so I can arrange a live debug session with the product team.

We’ll schedule the ebug session between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM PST, and our goal is to capture the issue in real-time.

 

We truly appreciate your help and cooperation as we continue to investigate this. Special thanks to community members and experts who’ve been sharing observations. This helps ensure the issue gets the right visibility internally.

 

Best regards,

Anshul Saini

Participating Frequently
October 6, 2025

Just had this issue now. Using Photoshop 2025 (updated to version 26.11.0 a few days ago) on a Macbook Pro. Hue-adjustment layer not working/displaying properly (showing density/feather?). Even when I don't use an adjustment layer and just use hue/saturation still displays this way. I restarted several times, still not working. Is there a workaround? I  have a deadline today.

Participant
October 6, 2025

I've been having the same issue with Photoshop 2025 (current version 26.11.0). I'm on Mac Studio M1 Ultra. I need to close and re-open images to make the hue/sat adjustemtns about 90% of the time. If I click on the floating saturation bar, I get this error code:

 

Anshul_Saini
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 3, 2025

Hi everyone,

 

Thank you all for your continued patience and detailed reports on this issue. We completely understand how disruptive this has been, and we truly appreciate everyone who’s shared screenshots and feedback so far.

 

Our internal teams have been actively testing this across multiple environments, but it appears to be environment-specific.

 

To help us move this forward, we’re now arranging a live debug session with members of the Photoshop product and engineering teams early next week (Monday or Tuesday, between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM PST.

 

If anyone here can reproduce this issue 100% of the time (not intermittently), please send me a direct message (DM) with the following details:

  • Your Adobe email ID (the one linked to your Creative Cloud account)

  • A phone number where we can reach you during that window

 

We’ll coordinate directly with you to set up a brief debugging session, allowing the team to capture the root cause in real-time.

 

Thank you again for your help in investigating this matter.

 

Best,

Anshul Saini

Participant
October 2, 2025

Totally agree that it is beyond comprehension that adobe has not fixed this issue. I was the member who first raised this issue here and still today, the only solution is to quit PS and restart to have HueSat layer funciton correctly. PS is currently a broken broken that exists only to fustrate its users.