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jamesn21002716
jamesn21002716
Participating Frequently
Nov 11, 2026 10:35 PM UTC
Question

How to customize Lightroom masking panel?

I have Lightroom 16.0 on my Mac, and am unable to customize the masking panel. When I open up a mask and control-click on an adjustment section, nothing happens. 

I’d very much like to customize the masking panel and activate solo mode. Many thanks to whoever can troubleshoot this.

 

 

    6 replies

    jamesn21002716
    jamesn21002716Author
    Participating Frequently
    Nov 12, 2026 8:46 PM UTC

    Greetings again - I’ve tried this over and over, with no success. Here’s what I’ve been doing:
    1. Create mask

    1. Simple click on mask to access sliders.
      3. Control-click on the word Tone - nothing happens. I’ve tried control-clicking on every other panel header: Color, Point Color, Color Grading etc. Still, nothing happens.

    Other Lightroom Classic functions that involve control-click work for me. For example, in the Develop module, I can access Customize Develop Panel with control-click and have used this to switch on Solo Mode and reorder the editing panels. But when in a mask, I’m still unable to do this.

    Could there be some other setting that I’m not aware of?

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    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Conrad_CCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Nov 12, 2026 8:01 PM UTC

    Where are you clicking? This is very important.

    As shown in the demo below, with mask controls active, the context menu pops up only if you right-click on an adjustment section header such as Tone or Color. It doesn’t pop up if you click anywhere else in there.

     

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    jamesn21002716
    jamesn21002716Author
    Participating Frequently
    Nov 12, 2026 2:44 PM UTC

    Hi guys - thanks for quick reply. I’m currently using version 16.0 of Lightroom Classic, and I have a Mac.

    When in the Develop panel, control-click calls up the Customize Develop Panel screen. I have done some customization here.

    However, when inside a mask, control-click does nothing. I would very much like to switch on Solo Mode for masks and reorder the masking functions, but am unable to do so. 

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    CORCTON34033231
    Community Expert
    CORCTON34033231Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Nov 12, 2026 6:33 PM UTC

    Hi James — thanks for clarifying that you’re in Lightroom Classic 16.0 on a Mac. That narrows it down.

    The Solo Mode menu inside Masking is on the section headers inside the mask panel — not on the ‘Masking’ bar at the top, and not on the sliders. With a mask selected, Control-click directly on one of the section header names in the mask panel — the Light section, for example (in older versions it was called Tone). That is where the Solo Mode option is supposed to appear. Community Expert Sean McCormack confirmed this in this solved thread: https://community.adobe.com/questions-675/solo-mode-not-working-in-masking-section-of-lrc-972840

     

    One honest caveat from that same thread: two Mac users there reported that Control-clicking those headers only opened or closed the section and never showed the menu on their Macs, while it worked in the global Develop panels — so if the menu doesn’t appear for you on the inner headers either, that’s the same Mac behaviour, and there is no other switch for Solo Mode inside Masking; you can only collapse the sections by hand.

    On reordering: the sections inside the Masking panel have a fixed order. The Customize Develop Panel dialog only lets you reorder the Develop module panels — it doesn’t cover the sections inside a mask — so the masking functions can’t be rearranged.

     

     

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    GillPrince
    GillPrince
    Participating Frequently
    Nov 12, 2026 1:52 AM UTC

    Hi James, just to clarify - you’re currently using the new version 16 of Lightroom Classic (not cloudy/desktop/ecosystem) and wanting to customise the masking edit panel - is that correct? And I’m guessing you’re on a PC not a Mac as you mention control and not command? Let us know and we can go from there. 

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    Adobe Community Expert for all versions of Lightroom
    CORCTON34033231
    Community Expert
    CORCTON34033231Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Nov 12, 2026 12:03 AM UTC

    Hi jamesn21002716, the workflow you are describing — Control-clicking a panel header to get a menu with Solo mode — is documented for Lightroom Classic, not for Lightroom (the cloud-based desktop app) 16.0.

     

    In Lightroom Classic, you right-click or Control-click any panel header and choose Solo mode, so only one panel opens at a time. See Workspace basics in Lightroom Classic: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/desktop/workspace/workspace-basics.html

     

    In Lightroom (cloud-based), the Masking panel does not offer that same Control-click panel menu — which is why nothing happens when you Control-click an adjustment section there. The Lightroom Masking help describes working with masks and their sliders, and right-clicking / using the three-dot menu on a mask itself (for example to rename, invert or intersect it), but it has no panel-customization or Solo mode step: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/desktop/edit-photos/masking.html

     

    So this looks like a difference between the two apps rather than a setting you have missed. If you would like that panel customization in Lightroom (cloud-based), please consider posting it as a feature request — and if you do use Lightroom Classic, the Solo mode steps above are the way to get the one-panel-at-a-time behaviour there.

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