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bhpMB
Participant
June 19, 2025

P: Photoshop 26.8.1 Remove tool shows "program error" after using Generative Fill with Transparency

  • June 19, 2025
  • 13 replies
  • 3255 views

As the title says, I'm trying to use the new AI remove tool after removing some people using the Generative Fill tool, as the ai generated grass is usually more accurate when using Remove. This is something I have been doing since the remove tool came out, and it has worked without error until last week. Now, whenever I have used generative fill on an image, and I attempt to use the AI Remove tool, Photoshop says "Could not complete your request because of a program error", regardless of whether my selection includes the area where Generative Fill was used. I get the same result if I rasterise the Gen Fill layer, or if I flatten the image. However, if I undo the Gen Fill, or open a new image without any Gen Fill used on it, the Remove tool will work as it is supposed to. The file type does not seem to matter, as I have tried .dng, .psd, .png and .jpg and got the same results for all.

 

My question is, why might this be happening? Is it deliberate choice by adobe, or an unintentional bug? 

    13 replies

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    T
    TimKamppinen
    Known Participant
    July 4, 2025

    I am also having this issue on Mac, using the remove tool with generative AI (either "On" or "auto" ) gives me this error message. I have had the problem randomly go away and then it starts working normally but I don't know what caused that. But I get the error message every time when I first open photoshop, it's only after I've been working a while that sometimes it will randomly fix itself.

      S
      shannon_3880
      Participant
      July 3, 2025

      Hello all, I'm posting this here in case it's helpful to anyone else as I've spent quite some time in the past 2 days trying to get it sorted. 

       

      Remove Tool will throw error "Could not complete your request because of a program error" on the current and previous Photoshop versions (at least) on Windows 11 (at least) when these conditions are met:

       

      • The image is an object against a transparent background (I have not tested whether a single transparent pixel is enough to trigger this) (it does happen even when the transparent pixels are nowhere near the area you're using the Remove Tool) 
      • The Remove Tool is set to "Auto (May use generative AI)"

       

      These conditions cause the error to happen 100% of the time in my testing. However, if the image has some transparency but the Remove Tool is set to either Generative AI on OR off, it will not happen - only Auto. If the tool is set to Auto but there is no transparency the error will not happen.

       

      So if you are getting this error intermittently as I was and you are feeling frustrated, I hope this helps. I have reported this to the Support team but I doubt there is anything more they can do for me, I just hope it's fixed in a future version.

       

      In case it's helpful to those teams, this is how the logs look: 

      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][27144][Warn] [general] Removing focus failed on node: sp-button
      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-47][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-48][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-48][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-48][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-48][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-48][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-48][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-48][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool
      [2025-07-02_11-05-48][22616][Warn] [console] [DP] tool not found in model. removeTool

       

        Ged_Traynor
        Community Expert
        Ged_TraynorCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 3, 2025

        @shannon_3880 just tested on my system, and I was able to replicate the issue

          Sameer K
          Community Manager
          Sameer KCommunity Manager
          Community Manager
          July 3, 2025

          Thanks for adding the details. I've also recreated this and merged similar reports. The team is investigating this now. 

          Sameer K

            Peru Bob
            Community Expert
            Peru BobCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            June 19, 2025

            I've moved this from the Using the Community forum (which is the forum for issues using the forums) to the Photoshop forum so that proper help can be offered.

            Scroll down here to see a list of the forums:
            https://community.adobe.com/

            B
            bhpMBAuthor
            Participant
            June 19, 2025

            Apologies, I thought I had gone on the photoshop forum. Thanks for moving it over. 

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