Inspiring

P: Photoshop 27.6 – RAM error with Remove Tool, Windows Ink, and assigned Wacom pen side switches

Forum|Forum|21 days ago
May 3, 2026
7 replies
251 views

Hi everyone,

I would like to report this explicitly as a bug report, and I kindly ask that it not be moved to the Questions section again. The behavior is reproducible in my setup and appears to involve the interaction between Photoshop 27.6, Windows Ink, the Remove Tool, and assigned Wacom pen side switches.

Short description

In Photoshop 27.6, using the Remove Tool repeatedly causes a massive memory increase. Photoshop then becomes unresponsive for a while and eventually shows the error message:

“The operation could not be completed because there is not enough RAM.”

In my tests, this happens when using the Wacom pen, but not when performing the same Remove Tool actions with the mouse.

Key finding

I ran several comparison tests with the same file while monitoring Windows Task Manager.

Test 1 – Remove Tool with mouse input

Photoshop 27.6
Windows Ink enabled
Remove Tool
input with the mouse
46 Remove Tool strokes
no freeze
no RAM error

Memory usage increases somewhat, but remains controlled.

Test 2 – Remove Tool with Wacom Pro Pen 3, side switches assigned

Photoshop 27.6
Windows Ink enabled
Remove Tool
input with Wacom Pro Pen 3
pen side switches assigned
after about 12–14 Remove Tool strokes, the error occurs

At that point, memory increases massively:

Windows Task Manager: Committed rises to about 151–153 GB
Commit limit is about 152–164 GB
Photoshop reaches a committed size of about 139–153 GB in Task Manager Details
Photoshop becomes unresponsive / inactive
then the RAM error appears

Test 3 – Remove Tool with Wacom Pro Pen 3, side switches disabled

Photoshop 27.6
Windows Ink enabled
Remove Tool
input with Wacom Pro Pen 3
pen side switches disabled
56 Remove Tool strokes
no freeze
no RAM error
memory remains much lower

This strongly suggests that the issue is not triggered by the Remove Tool alone, but by the combination of:

Photoshop 27.6 + Windows Ink + Remove Tool + Wacom pen with assigned side switches

Why this does not look like normal RAM shortage

My system has:

96 GB RAM
plenty of free scratch disk space
NVIDIA RTX 4090
current NVIDIA Studio Driver
Wacom Intuos Pro PTK-670 / PTK-870
current Wacom driver 6.4.13-4
Wacom Pro Pen 3
Windows 11 25H2

Before the error occurs, there is enough memory available. The problem is that Photoshop suddenly requests an extreme amount of committed memory while using the Remove Tool with the pen. To me, this looks more like a memory leak or memory runaway than a normal lack of RAM.

Mouse vs pen comparison

The critical difference is:

Mouse input: 46 Remove Tool strokes without error
Pen input with assigned side switches: error after about 12–14 strokes
Pen input with side switches disabled: 56 Remove Tool strokes without error

So the assigned Wacom pen side switches appear to be a relevant trigger when using Windows Ink.

Practical impact

Disabling the pen side switches is unfortunately not a usable long-term workaround for me. I rely on the pen side switches in Photoshop for context menus, layer-related actions, and normal workflow operations.

Using the mouse is also only a workaround. For retouching work, using the Remove Tool with the pen is much more natural and productive.

Additional context

Up to Photoshop 27.3.1, I was able to work with WinTab, and these issues did not occur there. In newer Photoshop versions, WinTab is no longer usable in my setup, so in Photoshop 27.6 I have to use Windows Ink.

The separate WinTab freeze is a different issue. This report is specifically about the RAM / memory error with the Remove Tool under Windows Ink.

Already tested

Photoshop 27.6
Windows Ink enabled
Remove Tool Processing set to More Stable
mouse input compared with pen input
pen with assigned side switches compared with pen with side switches disabled
Task Manager memory values documented
enough RAM / VRAM / scratch disk space available
GPU compatibility check without issues
current driver environment

Conclusion

From my point of view, this is a reproducible bug in Photoshop 27.6:

When using the Remove Tool under Windows Ink with a Wacom pen that has assigned side switches, Photoshop causes a massive memory increase until it eventually fails with a RAM error.

Please treat this as a bug report and forward it to the appropriate development team.

Thx al lot! Hubertus 📺🫎

Screenshots

I am attaching screenshots from Windows Task Manager showing the difference between the tests:

initial values
after many Remove Tool strokes with the mouse
after only a few Remove Tool strokes with pen input and assigned side switches
after many Remove Tool strokes with pen input and disabled side switches

Test 1: Mouse input: Start + 46 Remove Tool strokes without error (46 strokes without error)

→ Test 2 – Remove Tool with Wacom Pro Pen 3, side switches assigned (after 14 strokes ERROR!)

→ Test 3 – Remove Tool with Wacom Pro Pen 3, side switches disabled (56 strokes without error)

Sameer K

Community Manager

The team is investigating this. Thanks for the detailed post and continued collaboration.

Best,

Sameer K

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @Aaah-Doh!-be @HubertusausBerlin,

Thank you for reporting this issue. We'd appreciate your help testing one more thing:

If you have access to the Photoshop (Beta) app (available via Creative Cloud under the Beta apps section), please install it and download the Remove Tool advanced components from Get add-ons.

After that, could you try the following:

Go to Edit > Preferences > Image Processing
Test with both Faster and Stable
Restart Photoshop
Open the same file in Photoshop (Beta)
Let us know if the RAM error still occurs

The Beta version uses a slightly enhanced pipeline than the version in 27.6.

We'll share your findings directly with the product engineering team. Thanks for helping us track this down!

Best,
Anshul Saini

HubertusausBerlinAuthor

Inspiring

@Anshul_Saini

Thank you very much for your efforts! 🤓

I tested this in Photoshop (Beta) with the Remove Tool advanced components installed.

Important: This was a fresh Photoshop Beta setup. I did not migrate my normal Photoshop settings/workspaces/presets.

Test setup

Photoshop Beta (27.8)
Windows Ink enabled
Wacom Pro Pen 3
normal pen side switch assignments
same test file as before
Task Manager open to monitor memory usage
Remove Tool advanced components installed

Test 1 – Remove Tool Processing: Stable

I tested with Remove Tool Processing = Stable.

0 strokes: memory usage normal
12 strokes: memory usage increased, but stayed controlled
40 strokes: still stable
60 strokes: still stable
no freeze
no RAM error

Result: Stable seems much improved in the Beta.
The Remove Tool still increases memory usage, but it remains within a reasonable range and does not run into the massive memory spike I saw in Photoshop 27.6.

Test 2 – Remove Tool Processing: Faster

I then restarted Photoshop Beta and tested with Remove Tool Processing = Faster.

0 strokes: memory usage normal
around 15 strokes: memory usage started rising rapidly
RAM error occurred again
after switching to the desktop, returning to Photoshop, and changing to another tool, memory usage dropped again

Result: The RAM error still occurs with Faster.

after error - switching to desktop and back + another tool

Test 3 – Counter-check with Stable again

I restarted / retested with Stable again to confirm the result.

I also tested inside a duplicated image layer converted to a Smart Object.

40 Remove Tool strokes inside the Smart Object: stable
closed the document: memory usage stayed roughly at the elevated level
reopened the same file and repeated the test: again stable
another 40 Remove Tool strokes: still stable
closed the document again: memory usage remained roughly at the elevated level
opened a new empty document with another tool selected: memory usage dropped back down
selecting the Remove Tool in the empty document caused a small memory increase
deselecting the Remove Tool caused that small increase to drop again

So with Stable, the Beta does not show the previous massive runaway behavior in my tests. However, some memory remains allocated after closing the document until another document/tool state seems to reset it.

closed the document: memory usage stayed roughly at the elevated level

the same picture opend again, another 40 Remove Tool strokes: still stable

closed the document again: memory usage remained roughly at the elevated level

opened a new empty document with another tool selected: memory usage dropped back down

selecting the Remove Tool in the empty document caused a small memory increase

deselecting the Remove Tool caused that small increase to drop again

Summary

For the Remove Tool RAM issue:

Photoshop 27.6 / Stable: RAM error reproducible in my setup
Photoshop Beta / Stable: no RAM error in my tests so far
Photoshop Beta / Faster: RAM error still occurs

So the enhanced Remove Tool pipeline in the Beta seems to improve the issue significantly when using Stable, but Faster still appears problematic.

I can attach the Task Manager screenshots showing the memory behavior during these tests.

One additional observation:

With Remove Tool Processing set to Stable in Photoshop Beta, memory usage increased moderately during testing and stayed stable. However, after closing the document, memory usage did not immediately return to the original baseline. When I reopened the same file and continued testing, memory usage increased somewhat further but remained stable.

Only after opening a new empty document with another tool selected did memory usage drop back close to the initial level.

This may indicate that some Remove Tool / image processing memory is kept in an internal tool or pipeline cache and is not released immediately when the document is closed. In Stable this remains controlled in my tests, while in Faster it still runs into the RAM error.

Small note regarding WinTab:

I did not do a full Remove Tool test with WinTab in Photoshop Beta, because WinTab is still not usable in my setup due to the separate brush size slider freeze issue.

I only briefly checked WinTab in this Photoshop Beta (27.8):
with PSUserConfig.txt / UseSystemStylus 0 and Windows Ink disabled in Wacom Center, the brush size slider works a few times, then Photoshop freezes again. After switching to the desktop and back, it temporarily works again until the next freeze.

So for this Remove Tool / RAM test, I focused on Windows Ink, because that is currently the only usable input mode for me in current Photoshop versions.

A

Aaah-Doh!-be

Participating Frequently

Thank you for this extensive testing Hubertu Aus Berlin! Much appreciated. 🙏👍

A

Aaah-Doh!-be

Participating Frequently

This bug has existed for years:

HubertusausBerlinAuthor

Inspiring

@Aaah-Doh!-be (and in CC @Sameer K )

Thank you for the link. That is very interesting, and unfortunately also a bit discouraging.

If I understand the older thread correctly, the general Remove Tool / RAM issue seems to have existed since Photoshop 24.6 / July 2023 and apparently has never been fully resolved.

However, it does not look to me as if the specific connection with Windows Ink / Wacom pen input / assigned pen side switches was clearly isolated there.

In my case, the problem only became clearly visible after I had to move away from WinTab in newer Photoshop versions and use Windows Ink instead. With Photoshop 27.3.1 + WinTab, I never had this RAM error with the Remove Tool. At least I never saw the RAM error message, and Photoshop remained usable.

My current tests in Photoshop 27.6 point to a more specific trigger:

Remove Tool with mouse input: many strokes without RAM error
Remove Tool with Wacom pen + assigned side switches: massive memory increase and RAM error after only a few strokes
Remove Tool with Wacom pen + disabled side switches: many strokes without RAM error

So at the moment I would interpret it like this:

The underlying Remove Tool / RAM issue seems to be older and broader.
But in Photoshop 27.6, I can reproduce a specific variant that is triggered or strongly amplified by Windows Ink / Wacom pen input / assigned pen side switches.

To me, this does not make it less of a Photoshop bug — rather the opposite. It looks as if an older Remove Tool memory problem can escalate much faster through certain input paths.

A

Aaah-Doh!-be

Participating Frequently

@HubertusausBerlin

Regarding WinTab vs Windows Ink (WI), I asked Gemini if WI has been improved for graphics tablet users recently (and BTW I am using it enabled in my Wacom settings), and the answer was:

Yes, Windows Ink has received significant updates and refinements, particularly within Windows 11 (2024–2026 updates), aimed at improving the experience for graphics tablet users and reducing the latency issues that plagued earlier versions.

Here are the key improvements and recent changes for graphics tablet users:

Major Improvements (2024–2026)

Reduced Latency: Microsoft has significantly updated the ink stack, resulting in up to 85% lower latency, allowing ink to render instantly and feel closer to drawing on paper.
"Write Anywhere" Feature: Recent Windows 11 updates allow users to write directly into text fields across the OS, including browser address bars and specialized apps, using their stylus.
Improved Palm Rejection: Enhanced algorithms have improved palm rejection when using a pen, allowing for more natural hand positioning without accidental marks.
Better Gesture Controls: A "scratch-out" gesture has been added to delete text, improving the flow of handwriting-to-text conversion.
Refreshed Ink Tools: The Draw tab in Microsoft 365 apps (OneNote, Word, PowerPoint) has been updated with more color and size options, aligning the behavior of tools across applications.
Increased Support for ARM: As of early 2025, major tablet manufacturers (Wacom, XP-Pen, Senselabs) have released drivers that work with Windows 11 ARM computers. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Key Settings to Know for Artists

Disable "Press and Hold": To avoid the annoying right-click circle while drawing, ensure "Press and hold to perform a right-click equivalent" is disabled in Windows Settings.
Disable Visual Effects: Turn off "Show visual effects" in Pen and Windows Ink settings to reduce lag and interference with color pickers.
Ignore Touch: You can enable "Ignore touch input when I'm using my pen" to prevent accidental touches.

Current State of Windows Ink vs. Wintab

Despite improvements, many artists still rely on older "Wintab" drivers for absolute stability in certain professional applications (e.g., Krita, older Photoshop versions).
If you have lagging lines or random jagged lines: It is often recommended to disable "Windows Ink" in your tablet driver settings (Wacom Center, etc.) for that specific application.
If you need pressure sensitivity in modern Windows Apps: Keep Windows Ink on.

K

Kapture benoit

Known Participant

DId you test it with disable windows ink ?
I have a similar setup than yours (PTK470, also a Cintiq), but since a long time I never enable windows ink, even in windows 11 pro setting I change the setting of ink …. the main reason is wacom windows ink always create bugs….

benoit Kapture foto

HubertusausBerlinAuthor

Inspiring

@Kapture benoit

Yes, that would normally be my preferred setup as well. Unfortunately, in Photoshop 27.6 I cannot really disable Windows Ink, because WinTab no longer works properly for me since Photoshop 27.4 / 27.6. Photoshop freezes as soon as I move something like the brush size slider.

I created a separate bug report for that here:
https://community.adobe.com/bug-reports-711/bug-report-photoshop-27-6-wintab-still-broken-photoshop-freezes-when-adjusting-the-brush-size-slider-1559478

But I can confirm this: In Photoshop 27.3.1 with WinTab and Windows Ink disabled, I never had this RAM error with the Remove Tool.

K

Kapture benoit

Known Participant

@HubertusausBerlin

out of curiosity did you tried the : PSUserConfig.text ?

Also: your scratch disk: is it another SSD Drive then [ C ] . I always use another internal SSD drive, I don’t use [c drive] for scratch disk...

Hopefully the problem is not on your end and Adobe will fix it pretty soon…. To many bugs...

benoit Kapture foto

A

Aaah-Doh!-be

Participating Frequently

Ok, reporting back here again. I managed to get the bug to go away recently by checking my settings in:

The WACOM center
Control Panel → Wacom Tablet Properties

I initially found Photoshop listed more than once under each category in the Wacom Center.

I removed the generic boxes labelled Photoshop under each category, leaving the blue Ps logo. Then the Remove Tool worked without a problem.

But the Error recurred. I have just double checked the Wacom Center and found another generic 4-box Photoshop entry, removed it, and again, I can use the Remove Tool both with the graphics pad connected via USB or BT, no problem, memory usage stable.

Not sure if I just missed that generic Photoshop entry in the Wacom Center, or whether it was automatically added back by Wacom or Photoshop. I will monitor this.

Please confirm that I am correct, bug reporter.

HubertusausBerlinAuthor

Inspiring

@Aaah-Doh!-be

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked my Wacom settings again. In my case, I currently only see one Photoshop profile with the blue Ps icon. I do not see any additional generic Photoshop entries being created automatically.

So I cannot confirm that duplicate Photoshop profiles in Wacom Center are the cause in my setup.

What I can confirm is that the issue is still reproducible here. With mouse input, I can perform many Remove Tool strokes without an error. With Wacom pen input and assigned pen side switches, Photoshop runs into a massive memory increase after several Remove Tool strokes and eventually shows the RAM error.

Since you and other users are reporting similar problems, sometimes even without using assigned pen side switches, it looks to me as if the side switches can be a trigger in my setup, but probably not the only possible cause. It seems more like a broader issue involving Photoshop’s Remove Tool, Wacom pen input, and Windows Ink.

A

Aaah-Doh!-be

Participating Frequently

@HubertusausBerlin

@Sameer K

I have “Use Windows Ink” set to ON for Ps and pen. Are you the same?

A

Aaah-Doh!-be

Participating Frequently

Yes, I echo this bug report. I thought I had fixed it by resetting all my Wacom pen settings for Ps, and installing new Wacom drivers, but the problem persists: just a few strokes of the Remove Tool and Bam! 32GB of RAM maxed out. This problem has been in Ps for at least a year.

I’m on Win11x64, Ps 27.6, Wacom IntuosPro, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (GIGABYTE GTX 1660 SUPER OC 6G) Graphics Card, Nvidia Studio driver (latest)

Not using the Wacom pen side switches.

Sameer K

Community Manager

Thanks for the detailed post and for including your findings. I currently don't have the required hardware to test this. I've since shared this with the broader team to review.

Thanks!
Sameer K
(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

HubertusausBerlinAuthor

Inspiring

@Sameer K

Thank you very much for your reply.

If I can provide with any further information, please let me know.

Hubertus

Short description

Key finding

Test 1 – Remove Tool with mouse input

Test 2 – Remove Tool with Wacom Pro Pen 3, side switches assigned

Test 3 – Remove Tool with Wacom Pro Pen 3, side switches disabled

Why this does not look like normal RAM shortage

Mouse vs pen comparison

Practical impact

Additional context

Already tested

Conclusion

Screenshots

Test setup

Test 1 – Remove Tool Processing: Stable

Test 2 – Remove Tool Processing: Faster

Test 3 – Counter-check with Stable again

Summary

One additional observation:

Small note regarding WinTab:

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