Skip to main content
Garconis
Garconis
Known Participant
July 7, 2011

P: "Adobe Community Help" keeps popping open (Windows)

  • July 7, 2011
  • 437 replies
  • 11657 views

Adobe Community Help keeps popping open when working within Adobe Photoshop CS5. I'm not sure if I'm doing some sort of shortcut that causes it to open, but sometimes (maybe once instance, during a 40hr week) Adobe Community Help will open in a Window while I am doing stuff in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

I'm not sure what causes it, but I'll close the Community Help window, and then continue working in Photoshop, and it will open again. Only way to keep it from opening back up again is to close and restart Photoshop. This has happened to me on my home PC as well, and in previous versions of Photoshop, if I remember correctly. I am using Windows 7 now, but I think I've had this happen on XP too.

Is it because there are updates available? Is it because I'm doing some sort of weird shortcut that I don't know about?

An example: I was transforming an object (using the mouse, clicking, using shift button while moving the cursor, using the space bar while panning, etc.) It just opened again. Guess it's time to restart Photoshop...

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    437 replies

    Show previous replies
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    July 3, 2012
    After having about 20 tabs of Adobe Help pop up, I had to google this. It's been an informative read.

    This problem has definitely been around for some time as I have encountered periodically throughout the years.

    It almost always has something to do with layer styles and color picking. Honestly, I can't think I have ever encountered it outside of using the color picker, especially inside of layer styles.

    I am amazed that Adobe now recognizes the problem but has yet figured out how to fix it. Maybe they should hire some more qualified people.
    Noel Carboni
    Noel Carboni
    Legend
    June 26, 2012
    I continue to think that this problem is a secondary symptom of memory corruption in which something - for example the display driver - has written to memory it shouldn't have in Photoshop's memory space.

    It doesn't happen on all systems, and it happens more or less on the same system depending on other factors, such as display driver version.

    For those of you seeing it, make sure you have an up-to-date display driver.

    For PC users, ATI's best driver version for Photoshop to date appears to be either Catalyst 11.7 or 12.2. I'm not sure which is the best nVidia driver. Mac users are at the mercy of whatever Apple has delivered with its latest OS updates.

    I don't know the internals of Photoshop specifically, but I do know how GUI applications work - they are based on an event loop. It's not hard to imagine that some memory resident data critical to the decision making in Photoshop's event loop has been corrupted, leading Photoshop to believe that any number of things might be F1 keypresses or other requests for help.

    All the comments above about limiting the symptom - e.g., by only allowing one copy of the browser to be opened by Photoshop at a time, or even by adding code to doubly verify that a legitimate help request has been made - are valid. This problem has been around long enough that the Adobe team should have long ago taken special measures to limit the failures!

    -Noel
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    June 26, 2012
    This is driving me insane!!! I cant even use my color picker now because it opens multiple tabs with the adobe help website. This happens to my friend as well. I should record my screen and share it. If i continued this, it would probably open so many browser tabs that my computer would crash....
    A
    Anonymous
    June 25, 2012
    The reason I even added a comment is that most (I haven't read all the comments - too many) indicate an action being taken when this happens. I had no other program running and Photoshop was doing a batch. I wasn't pressing any keys, moving the mouse. Nothing. The batch continued behind the help window until it finished. I then closed the help window.
    Garconis
    GarconisAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 25, 2012
    I can't recall, but has anyone experienced this on OSX? Or is it a Windows issue?
    AboutaDirk
    AboutaDirk
    Participating Frequently
    June 25, 2012
    I wouldn't go that far.

    This seems very elusive, and if they can't re-create it, it'll be very hard to nail this.

    It could be a firefox addon causing it, wacom drivers, a combination of programs being installed, malware...

    I'm sure it's none of the aforementioned, but it gives you an idea of the scope of this issue. Pretty much the only consistent factor so far has been "I have a computer with Photoshop on it"...

    If anything, they'd best start by setting up a page with a survey asking what people do for a living, how they use their computer, and deduct what they all have in common.
    Garconis
    GarconisAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 25, 2012
    What is pretty clear is that Adobe has now been aware of this problem for over a year now. And also during the CS6 development process. Yet it still exists. Not digging into this because they "can't figure it out" is somewhat sad. If they don't want to take the time to figure out the root cause, at least create an option to completely disable the Help -- or at least write something to let it only open ONCE per session.

    I'm just surprised that someone within Adobe hasn't run into this issue, and if the y have -- they clearly don't understand how annoying it can be when it happens multiple times right within the workflow.
    Noel Carboni
    Noel Carboni
    Legend
    June 25, 2012
    Isaac wrote:

    >Any clues?

    :) Isn't it pretty clear from the entire thread above that the answer is no?

    -Noel
    A
    Anonymous
    June 25, 2012
    I have CS3 with Windows 7 pro Intel i7. The help screen just pops up unexpectedly. It just did it while running a batch initiated from Bridge.
    Any clues?
    Isaac Krivashei
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    June 23, 2012
    I second everyone above, i have had this issue for so many versions of photoshop now on multiple machines, it has to be a correctable issue. Its possibly worse in CS6 than before.

    Anytime i use a keyboard shortcut to apply a layer style, I run the risk of it jumping into a loop where it opens infinite iternations of Adobe Help...It has nothing to do with F1 key, I've unbound it, tried about a billion things. It should just be disable-able. We cannot be the only people who run into this.

    Same as wiht JF above, i too have an unplugged WACOM tablet. Even before i ever plugged that in however, this happened.
    Show more replies
    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices