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Question

Dear Adobe...[cancel does not work]

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
March 9, 2019
5 replies
2570 views

Why put a "Cancel" button on active progress bars when said button, consistently, does absolutely nothing?

Asking for a friend.

[Title edited for clarity by moderator. Was: “Dear Adobe...”]

This topic has been closed for replies.

C

Collin286812726q5q

Participant

Hi DNGR, Ltd.

I don't know if you're still looking for a response, but here's my explanation for why "cancel" doesn't always work.

Some processes in Photoshop are script based, which means there's a single command line file that Photoshop runs to accomplish the task.

Command Line procceses cannot be stopped without dangerous side effects, like memory leaks and file corruption.

So, the safest course of action, which Photoshop takes, is to complete the process and then restore the state of the document before that task was ran.

Hope this helps.

Chuck Uebele

Community Expert

I would agree with D Fosse. Having written some script for PS, sometime the escape works quickly in ending the script, other times, not so much, mainly when a loop is being run. It seems that the escape is noted, but it is put in the sequence of things that have already been processed in the script. So while the actual process hasn't been completed in PS, the script loop has finished being processed and is waiting for PS to run the actions, and that escape is registered after the loop has been finished, or near the end. So it might be the same with other functions in PS.

Ussnorway7605025

Legend

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Sloan+Elliot wrote
Why put a "Cancel" button on active progress bars when said button, consistently, does absolutely nothing?

because Photoshop was made back in the days of single channel systems not todays multi-threads

opening a popout panel like 3d, system info or fonts will lock the main program from responding to cancels [or shut downs] until that sub panel is closed first

D

DNGR, Ltd.Author

Participating Frequently

I feel like there's some truth to that; when clicking "Cancel", I get the Windows "ding" sound and the button itself doesn't even actuate (it's the same idea as having an Open or Save dialog open, and clicking anything in the UI outside of said dialog-- it's forbidden. Just strange that a deliberate "Cancel" button was placed and has no apparent functionality, where everything is completely locked until it has finished its task, thus rendering the button completely pointless. Hence my initial inquiry: why is it there in the first place?

I'm just fascinated by those who claim it doesn't happen, as I've dealt with this for many years, on many systems, software versions, OS's, etc. Maybe people don't notice it as often because they're not dealing with slower loads/operations x massive file sizes..

D Fosse

Community Expert

Yeah, it can be pretty annoying if you try to cancel, say, a big pano stitch.

I always assumed it was because some operation needed to finish. Like shutting down Windows - it doesn't go "poof", does it? There's things to do in the correct sequence.

Don't forget that there are huge amounts of data being shuffled around. It doesn't just vanish into thin air.

Chuck Uebele

Community Expert

I've seen it too. It is annoying.

jane-e

Community Expert

Hi Sloan,

This is a user-to-user group, and most of us are users who volunteer to help other people when they come across a problem they can’t solve. There is another forum for bugs.

Please explain what “your friend” is asking about more specifically, because right now I have no idea where you are seeing this. Screen shots are useful.

Thanks,

Jane

D

DNGR, Ltd.Author

Participating Frequently

What I'm describing is pretty simple + universal, across most Adobe products: when opening a large file (especially PSB's), or perhaps executing a memory-intensive command or operation (e.g., lens blur on extremely large files or adjusting complex vectors), there is a progress bar (i.e., meter, indicating the level of progress the action has reached). To the right of all progress bars rests a "Cancel" button-- say, for instances where perhaps you opened the *wrong* massive file (or initiated a process) by mistake. One would assume the "Cancel" button would, in fact, cancel the operation. Instead, it just ignores your request and completes the operation anyway ... which, naturally can be incredibly frustrating when the file is upwards of 8GB with many, many artboards, links, smart filters, and vectors.

You'd assume that button would exist for this very purpose, but it does absolutely nothing. This is not unique to one machine, PC vs. Mac, etc. It's pretty universal.

Didn't realize I was on the wrong forum.

jane-e

Community Expert

Hi Sloan,

Cancel has not failed for me (yet). Which Adobe products other than Photoshop?

In Photoshop, please go to Help > System Info and copy your info, then paste it into a forum thread.

Jane

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