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Participating Frequently
Sep 1, 2021 12:03 PM UTC
Open for Voting

P: Dialog boxes / error messages pop up invisibly - macOS

When an error or alert occurs the dialog box is invisible. Some examples of the alerts include but are not limited to: "No pixels were selected because the layer is empty" or "Do you want to save the document before closing?" Clicking anywhere on the screen prompts an audible error noise (as though you tried to click outside of the dialog box you've been prompted to respond to). The box is not appearing on a different monitor or behind other windows, it is simply invisible and cannot be interacted with unless you press Enter or Escape on the keyboard. Upon pressing the Escape key to close the dialog box, the box becomes visible for a fraction of a second before closing—revealing its location. This has hindered my workflow, especially when trying to close a document I don't want to save changes to because then I must force Photoshop to quit. Running on Mac. Version 23.2.2

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172 replies

Participant
Jun 26, 2024 9:50 PM UTC

I just became aware of this issue today, while attempting to assist an Art Director with this issue. The Art Director is using a Mac Pro (2019) with 384GB RAM, running 14.4 (Build 23E224) with a pair of Dell 1920x1080 monitors. Any dialog box opening in Photoshop triggered the issue, whether an open/save dialog box, a plugin settings pallet, or what have you. To work around this, the Art Director is CTRL clicking on the Dock icon for Photoshop, and selecting "Show All Windows", which then reveals the hidden dialog box, so it can be responded to. I am wondering if there is some obscure key combination, either in MacOS, or in Adobe applications, that would toggle a condition of hiding secondary windows. I have confirmed that this is not due to any settings in Accessibility>Keyboard. All options under that panel are Off. As most, if not all, of the people experiencing this issue seem to have laptops, I thought it would be pertinent to notify the discussion that this is not a purely laptop dependent issue.

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Inspiring
Apr 20, 2024 9:40 PM UTC

Guess what!?

 

Yes, I lost work today because of this ridiculus bug that has been going on for at least 2 years that Adobe don't even aknowlege is an issue.

 

Will this ever be fixed? Clearly it is reproducable as so many users have this issue. 

 

The pinned reply is useless.

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Inspiring
Mar 12, 2024 2:32 PM UTC

ADOBE! When are you going to fix this???

 

I've had to hit enter on a whole bunch of files that have all saved (when I actually didn't want to save them), due to this ridiculous bug!

 

It's bad enough you strangle us with subscriptions, but to not have fixed this bug over years is ridiculous. This is not the only thread discusssing this. I found one that went back to 2022.

 

FIX IT!

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Inspiring
Feb 11, 2024 8:17 AM UTC

And ...... It's back!

 

Adobe, when are you going to fix this?

 

Your subscription model is annoying enough, but we've been paying for this bug long enough.

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robertw44482386
Inspiring
Jan 23, 2024 2:45 PM UTC

Posting here as the original may be hard to find. Here's the workaround for Mac users:

When you realize you are frozen du to an invisible dialog box, do NOT blindly hit enter as that may have unwanted repurcussions. Instead hover over the Ps icon inthe dock and option-click it. That cuases the unseen dialog box to become visible and you can dismiss it from there and be on your way.

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Inspiring
Jan 22, 2024 10:42 PM UTC

Just fix it.

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Inspiring
Jan 22, 2024 10:38 PM UTC

Happened to me again this week. I have to blindly hit 'enter' and hope for the best because I have no idea what the hidden message says....

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Participant
Dec 16, 2023 10:53 AM UTC

Disappointingly, what I thought was a fix isn't permanent so back to Photoshop being unusable.

 

Photoshop usually (but not always) works correctly when launched but will never work when using "Edit with..." commands from other Adobe apps or when double-clicking/opening a bitmap file.

 

Come on Adobe, fix this... we're losing work, time and money

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Participating Frequently
Dec 15, 2023 11:21 PM UTC

This has been going on for a few versions now. I'm so sick of it.

If I command tab over to photoshop, I have to click on the interface somewhere before I can actually use a keyboard shortcut, like command + or whatever.

Today, I had the hiden modal window of doom again and lost work. I saw the "clipboard export failed" Yes / no dialog box pop up, and I knew I was doomed.

First of all, that's a pointless thing to make us click yes or no on. And...you make us lose work. So, I tried everything, I pressed esc, the Command and . key, like back in the day, trying to reveal all windows, pressing and unpressing tab. Using comman `, and stuff like that. Nothing.

I could increase the amount of feathering in the damn lasso's option bar field. What? What? What the hell?

I had to force quit, but that's what your interface does?

Stop telling people to reset their preferences, and fix this problem adobe. This is your flagship program and it is a piece of crap right now! No more AI, that barely works. Make your product stable. I'm sick of you wasting my time. This is almost not worth paying for. I'm so damn mad right now. 

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Participant
Dec 1, 2023 11:34 AM UTC

OK, I've had this problem on all versions of Photoshop 24 and Photoshop Beta (25). Completely reproducible with any file type at any time.

 

Running MBP M1 Max with 64Gb RAM and running two external monitors (LG 49" and LG 27")

 

What's solved the issue for me is unchecking Use Graphics Processor in Preferences > Performance

This has brought back all dialog boxes in front of images and allows me to long-click on tools to choose alternates (the problem has meant I've learnt a lot about tool shortcuts!)

 

I have no idea whether this is an Adobe or Apple-related issue, but I'm just glad to have found a fix (that I hope continues to work). Here's hoping it works for you.

And it was good to know that I wasn't alone on this issue.

 

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