P: Support for native full-screen mode on macOS

Hi, Photoshop has one of the largest codebases out there, and I'm wondering if there is a huge amount of "underground" work that needs to be done to get it working> I also wonder if all the functions could make it unscathed (fullscreen mode, fullscreen with toolbar, etc.) and therefore, if more customers would complaint of the change...

Photoshop users for 10+ years: "Please just give us a toggle for native full screen"
Adobe: "Best I can do is breaking your Save As dialog so you lose your work"

Honestly, I get this perspective, I really do. But out of everything Adobe makes, Photoshop is very likely their most popular software, and even after going through a restructuring for Apple silicon, they still refuse to put this in. However, they'll completely do whatever it took to update Lightroom (amongst a few other apps) with full screen capabilities. Not only does this completely fragment their apps and make Photoshop feel outdated, but the longer they refuse to restructure with the times, the further away Photoshop stays from newer features that Apple releases.

Switching spaces in Photoshop's built in full screen mode causes all of my toolbars and windows to flicker when returning to Photoshop every time, and if I'm using windowed mode, often I return and a top percentage of the screen has floated off screen, making it really annoying to try and find a way to resize it again. Native macOS full screen would resolve any of the constant bugs regarding full screen.

As previously mentioned, they just don't seem to care anymore, they want this topic to slip away into obscurity and for everyone to just give up on it. Look at how for the absolute longest time now, not a single member of staff has replied in this thread, they just stuck an "under review" tag on it many years ago and went completely dark. Even the last few posts were merged by a staff member from a newly made topic, so staff definitely is still looking at this, but they're just not talking.

I understand the application is robust and needs to behave as expected for a variety of users but from my perspective support for native fullscreen is essential for any macOS application. I find Adobe's implementation of fullscreen extremely frusterating especially on M1 MBPs where the desktop is visible along the top of the screen on either side of the notch.

From what I can deduce based on prior comments, it seems like the codebase is likely pretty old around fullscreen and adding any support for native fullscreen would throw a wrench into multi-monitor fullscreen that (a significant number of?) users depend on for regular application usage. It also seems like a proper rewrite could solve the problem but it would be a massive investment of dev / QA time in order to have this feature added in and tested thoroughly for regressions. It seems that the amount of work necessary to implement this is likely greater than the benefit it will have for the amount of users who request it, but regardless I'm adding my vouch for this feature. From my perspective, I'd rather have a half baked feature with a beta warning label next to it than no feature at all.

I was very surprised to learn that Photoshop (the Mac app) can't go "full screen" on macOS. What?? Please support this basic app feature (including for Adobe's other apps, too). Thank you

Newer issue is that macOS changed to rounded window edges, so even if you fill to fit, the top edges just bleed your wallpaper through. Again, it also has to share desktop priority with every other non macOS native full screen app.

It doesn't matter how many times this experience gets exponentially worse with each passing macOS change, Adobe doesn't care at all. Use our  [cursing removed by moderator] outdated method, or don't use the software at all. Could easily implement an option to choose between what they think is better and the native option in macOS so everyone is happy, but they just don't care.

---

@GFred22 wrote:

I cannot stand the Windows-shell-standard-screen mode. Please give us back the open Mac interface without the damn shell. Jeez.

---

Windows shell? Do mean the Application Frame, where the application windows and panels are contained inside a parent window?

If that’s what you’re talking about, it’s hard to see how that is un-Mac-like…since it is exactly how Apple presents Mac applications like Final Cut Pro, Motion, Logic Pro, GarageBand, Photos, Keynote, Pages, iMovie…they are all contained in the same kind of single parent window with a solid background. It is now an essential feature of the Mac UI.

I know what you’re talking about, all the separate free-floating windows, the Mac interface…of the previous century. But Apple has moved on and now uses the application frame by default.

The ironic thing about this is that it is not Apple that will get you the Mac interface you want, because you can’t turn off the application frame in Mac applications made by Apple…but Adobe Photoshop does give you that option.

I cannot stand the Windows-shell-standard-screen mode.  Please give us back the open Mac interface without the  [cursing removed by moderator] shell.  Jeez.

For perspective (as someone who has followed this thread from nearly the beginning), look at this timeline and how Adobe continues to treat this highly requested feature. This is why I, at the least, continue to pester them about this a decade later.

July 2011: The thread is created.

March 2012: The first reply from an Adobe employee. At the time, the green button was a default + maximize button, and full screen apps were just ahead of the curve for adding the feature. Reason given at the time was that Apple's full screen mode was new and underbaked, causing conflicting issues with Photoshop. However, the team was supposedly really excited about the feature once it matured.

April 2012: Another Adobe employee (likely gone because their username is template now) starts hopping in, quite harshly antagonizing customers, calling their opinions "hyperbole", and absolutely refusing to work with any of the many different suggestions provided. Customers willing to compromise and work towards a solution were also antagonized.

June 2014: Apple reveals OS X Yosemite, making the green + button a native full screen option by default for the first time. At their developer's conference, they also made beta builds and workshops/documentation for the kit available to developers.

January 2015: The first sign of an Adobe employee posting since 2012. Customers beg Adobe to review the feature now that it has evolved and become a default option in the OS. They are antagonized yet again, incorrectly saying "no, nothing has changed."

July 2015: Adobe employee steps in and posts "the team is revisiting this".

August 2016: New Adobe employee posts "this is now supported in Lightroom". But not Photoshop. Customers are hopeful that since Adobe found it beneficial to add to Lightroom, they may add it to Photoshop. Adobe employee states again "it's on our radar".


And that is the last time this thread has seen any reply from an Adobe employee. Nearly 10 years of being strung along for "under review" waits that lead nowhere, being antagonized by certain employees, and them slipping into the shadows and leaving everyone in the dark until current day forward.

I seriously urge anyone and everyone who is baffled this is still not in Photoshop at the end of 2021, please make it known here with actual comments. Keep the thread alive, keep the pressure on Adobe, and don't just take them at face value that they're looking into it. Upvotes and occasional check-ins will clearly not do anything with them. We need to convince Adobe that the Mac community is large enough and values this fundamentally base OS feature enough that they have to take it seriously. All those extra tiny one comment threads about this are just getting merged into this one and lost. Let them know by posting in this one, for it is the original with the longest standing and the most conversation/history.

Sadly, the absolute lack of replies from any Adobe employees on this just doesn't give this simple feature any hope. They've stubbornly decided not to add it ever, and have stopped even communicating that directly to us. What's the point of putting the idea under review for this many years if you won't make a decision on it?

At least give us proper closure so those of us who want to fully move to a more modern editing application can stop kindering hope for this 10 year old feature. Are employees even looking at this?