Photography workspace keeps disappearing
Intermittent bug:
After making adjustments in Camera Raw to a .ARW file, when I click Open to continue to Photoshop, the workspace in Photoshop is blank (except for my file). The toolbars, panels etc have disappeared.
This can be corrected by clicking Window > Workspace > Photography to reset the workspace back to Photography, and then loading up a custom toolbar preset with Edit > Toolbars > Load Preset but it’s pretty annoying as it happens fairly frequently, but not every time.
Please note that I have raised this bug before, shortly prior to the community forum update, but the post appears to have disappeared.
I have tried all the suggestions given by @Noel Orridge and @Sameer K including:
1) Navigate to C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe.
- Right-click the Adobe Photoshop 2026 folder and select Properties.
- At the bottom, uncheck the Read-only box if it is checked (it might show a square; try to clear it).
- Go to the Security tab.
- Click Edit, then ensure your User Account has Full Control enabled.
2) Go back to C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe.
- If you see folders for older versions (e.g., Adobe Photoshop 2024, 2023), move them to your desktop or rename them.
3) Go to Edit > Preferences > Workspace and ensure "Auto-Show Hidden Panels" is checked.
My version of Photoshop is up to date (27.3) and this issue has been happening on this version as well as several previous versions.
