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jentenna
jentenna
Participant
February 23, 2026
Question

"Edit in Photoshop..." from lightroom breaks over and over and over.

  • February 23, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 44 views

I get the note “Lightroom is not allowed to control Photoshop.  Make sure this is allowed in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Automation”

Except neither app is listed in the Automation permissions, and I cannot add them.

Each time I end up following the same directions, to reset preferences, uninstall Lightroom and Photoshop, reinstall in a particular order.  Confirm accessibility and full disc access.  

And so it works for a while, maybe until the next update (although I’m not even sure I’m getting THAT much of a gap).  And then it’s broken again.  

HELP.  This seems like something failed in the initial set-up and now I’m doomed to keep rolling this boulder up the hill (and resetting my preferences every couple weeks).  I’m starting to consider alternatives Adobe ecosystem altogether.

    1 reply

    Srishti Bali
    Srishti Bali
    Legend
    February 23, 2026

    Hi ​@jentenna 

     

    I’m really sorry you’re stuck in that cycle of reset, reinstall, which works for a while and breaks again. I know that can be frustrating. What’s actually happening is that macOS is blocking Lightroom from talking to Photoshop. When you see: “Lightroom is not allowed to control Photoshop…” it means the Mac permission that lets the two apps communicate has become corrupted or didn’t register properly.

    Since neither app appears in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation, that tells us the permission entry itself is broken.

    Instead of reinstalling again, we’ll reset the Mac permission directly.

    • Close all Adobe apps like Lightroom, Photoshop, Creative Cloud, etc.
    • Open Terminal (Press Command + Space, type Terminal, press Enter.)
    • Copy and paste this command: tccutil reset database AppleEvents
    • Press Enter, then restart your Mac.
    • After your Mac restarts, open Photoshop and Lightroom
    • In Lightroom, click Photo >  Edit In > Photoshop
    • A message should appear asking if Lightroom can control Photoshop. Click Allow.

    This should help fix the issue. 

    Disclaimer: This process will reset automation permissions for your other apps as well. For each app, you will have to explicitly provide automation permissions. But don’t worry, all apps will throw such a dialog on their own and you only need to press the “OK” button to allow them to launch other apps on your machine.

     

    Regards,

    Srishti

    jentenna
    jentennaAuthor
    Participant
    March 8, 2026

    I waited until the error came up again, and followed these steps.  Unfortunately, I’m not getting the dialog asking if Lightroom can control Photoshop.  Any other suggestions?  

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