P: Photoshop 21.1.0 Choppy Panning when "Flick Panning" is disabled (windows 10, flick panning off)

@mark142840_mclashan I can fully confirm the behavior you're describing! I actually have the navigator open all the time and closing it eliminates the stuttering on the panning.

Also, scaling the Navigator to a very small size decreases the stuttering.

And in my case, this is also true if I have multiple views of the document visible.

That's a great finding! The navigator window definitely plays an important role in this. I hope this helps the developers to find a fix to this very annoying problem that practically keeps me from upgrading to the latest version of Photoshop since 2019.

@Amylrun Hmm strange, for me it doesn't matter if there are multiple windows or if they are all docked to the main window, as long as the navigator is closed it works smoothly in both cases. Sorry it doesn't improve it for you!

@mark_mcglashan  thank you for experimenting on this specific problem !!

unfortunately when using multiple windows (window -> arrange -> new window for____) the problem persist.

but I believe you are on to something and, with those new clues, I HOPE someone at adobe will be able to fix this more easily

Unfortunately I see you're still commenting here with this issue after over a year, and I've got it too. Something that no one else has mentioned here yet: do you have the navigator window open? (The navigator is the small preview of the entire canvas, you can enable/disable it by clicking Window>Navigator at the top.)

Like you, the issue for me is fixed by either turning on flick panning, or by turning on "Scroll All Windows" in the Hand tool. Both of these have obvious unwanted extra effects though.

I did some experimenting and found that the pan stuttering stops if I close my navigator window. I found that when it is open the pan stuttering is dependent on how large the navigator window is - if it is sufficiently small then everything works smoothly, but the larger I make it the more laggy the panning becomes. Closing it entirely eliminates the problem entirely.

Let me know if this is a factor for you too!

@ deomis

I'd like to point out that I unmarked your answer as the solution to the problem because the scroll all windows option, while being a good workaround in some use cases, is really annoying when you work with several open windows.

Agreed! I unmarked the answer from deomis as accepted solution as I also encountered the undesirable side effects of the multi-window panning. 

It is actually very frustrating that the latest versions of Photoshop obviously ARE capable of a smooth scrolling behavior (if you turn on flick panning OR scoll all windows) but for some weird reason not WITHOUT these workarounds. Come on, Adobe! 

I agree with you on this.....  Actually I use the same technique as you (new window on my second screen) so I rolled back to a previous version of photoshop......

Turning on Scroll All Windows does restore wonderful smooth canvas panning for me as well, which is great. Thanks for posting that, @deomis!

However, this isn't really a 100% solution so I wish this thread wasn't marked solved, fearing that this issue gets less attention now. For some it might be a solution but for others, including me, it's another workaround with unwanted side-effects.

I don't think we should have to compromise like this for software we pay a sub for.

If you only ever work with one window, you're probably good to go, but for me now all my windows awkwardly pan when I don't want them to.

Use Case 1: I often use Window > Arrange > New Window for... to create an instanced window in order to keep an eye on a specific part of a project while I zoom/pan/work in a different window. It's highly useful and there's no substitute for it - but new windows automatically panning defeats the purpose.

Use Case 2: I also use floating windows for smart objects so I can quickly and easily see updates when I save changes to nested smart object layers without needing to switch between files - again, auto panning pretty much ruins this setup.

But @deomis figuring this out should definitely be a huge clue for the photoshop team.

@JeffreyTranberry could this information be submitted to the devs in hopes it makes troubleshooting this one a little easier? This issue has existed for well over a year.

By the way, the zoom tool and rotate tool have a similar setting.

I had given up hope to ever be able to use an updated version of Photoshop but deomis' tip actually fixed the problem for me. Awesome!