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Ken Nielsen
Ken Nielsen
Legend
July 28, 2023
Answered

Photo does not open from Lightroom

  • July 28, 2023
  • 28 replies
  • 18203 views

Photoshop v. 24.7.0 with Lightroom Classic 12.4 - Mac OS Ventura 13.4.1 (c) All latest versions and this started happening on the last update of Photoshop. When viewing the image in Lightroom and choosing Edit in... Photoshop, then Photoshop does indeed open on screen but no image. I can only get the image to open if I choose 'open as smart object in Photoshop' which is reall not what I want. So, I have to go into the raw images folder and open the file by knowing the filename number and then it opens in Photoshop. This is a new behavior. Images have always opened before in Photoshop when I've selected "Open in Photoshop" from the 'Photo/Edit' in menu in Lightroom. 

    Correct answer Ken Nielsen

    I've been scoring the internet and lo and behold, this comes up from this group no less... Thank you Digital Dog! This fixed the problem and I'm back in the saddle again!

     

     
    LEGENDOct 17, 2022

    When the 'link' between Lightroom Classic and Photoshop has issues, one of the first things to try is this:
    1. Use the Adobe Creative Cloud application to uninstall both Photoshop and Lightroom Classic and when asked, keep preferences. 
    2. Install Photoshop first, then Lightroom Classic. 
    Better? 

    28 replies

    vivianw72391463
    vivianw72391463
    Participating Frequently
    April 7, 2025

    Having the same issue, so I finally went back to PS 2024. I swear it was working fine for awhile. I edited a client's work yesterday and this morning. Once I rebooted, I can no longer open an image from LR to PS. I can only open the images with the "open as smart object" selection. I have tried 3 times to uninstall and reinstall as directed. I do not have auto updates on. Really frustrated with this. Anybody have the same issue? 

     

    B
    BJC112389
    Known Participant
    September 30, 2024

    This problem seems to have just been fixed with LRC 13.5.1, updated September 2024. I was getting ready to follow the above instructions, but took the opportunity to update my copy. One of the update notes mentioned something about the LRC-to-PS workflow. Updating seems to have done the trick.

    G
    GG68
    Participant
    December 23, 2023

    work around manualy set in prefferaces in LC to open in PS of chooseing. this works 

    K
    Ky-leah
    Participant
    October 8, 2023

    10/8/2023

    Was having the same issue - I didn't think it was version because version 25 was working and then stopped. 

    I uninstalled and then reinstalled version 25 and it worked again! I wanted genertive fill tool to I wasn't super excited about having to reinstall an older first. 

    1. Unintall Photoshop 
    2. Reinstall 
    3. Restart computer (recommend)
    S
    Stefan Klenke
    Participant
    September 26, 2023

    Yes, had exactly the same problem. Tried the fix from TheDigitalDog and it worked!! Phew. Thank you so much!!!

    L
    lightseeker999
    Participant
    September 19, 2023

    Hi

    If I right click on a RAW image in Lightroom, (.DNG, .RAF, .ARW), it will open the Photoshop 2024 programme but does NOT open the image file. It will open jpegs in Photoshop 2024 and also will successfully open RAW files as smart objects. The operating system is Mac Ventura 13.5.2. Have tried uninstalling and resinstalling Lightroom Classic 12.5 but that didn't fix the problem. Updated to Photoshop 2024 just yesterday. Any ideas anyone please?

     

    Many thanks

     

    Mike

      L
      lightseeker999
      Participant
      September 19, 2023

      Finally came across this post https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/photo-does-not-open-from-lightroom/m-p/13972200 which also works for the latest versions, uninstall both programs and then reinstall them, Photoshop first. 

      dwpinfo
      dwpinfo
      Participant
      September 10, 2023

      THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!  This worked for me after 3 hours of trying to figure out what was wrong including Adobe help desk 

      philb37918626
      philb37918626
      Participant
      August 15, 2023

      Things are worse as of today.  Now if you roll back Photoshop Beta so that it will not have the lightroom connection issue you get an error in Beta saying that you cant use Generative Fill unless you first update to the newest Beta.  I use Windows 10 and I followed the suggestion and uninstalled Photoshop and Lightroom Classic and then reinstalled Photoshop first, followed by Lightroom.  No luck.  If the newest Beta is used it will not open from Lightroom until you first wait several seconds, get an error saying the file couldnt open because Photoshop couldnt be launched (even though it does launch).  Once you hit ok on the error then the photo opens but the whole process takes a minute or more and is beyond frustrating.  This has been an issue now since the last beta came out a couple of weeks ago.  This needs to be a priority fix.

      W
      WolfWender
      Participant
      August 8, 2023

      same problem in 2 different computers, must be the update...

      K
      Keith9119
      Participating Frequently
      August 5, 2023

      Not sure if this will help, but as I had the same problem after the recent update to PS and PS Beta, I 1. unistalled the beta version; 2. unistalled PS; 3. then reinstalled PS. I have NOT yet re-installed the Beta version. Exporting from LR CC to PS 2023 seems to work now.

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