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Melvin241055786xn8
Participant
October 6, 2025
Question

Slow Photoshop Elements 2026

Photoshop Elements 2026 is running much slower than the 2025 version on my iMac. Are other people finding the same problem?

 

Mel

 

[Typo fixed by moderator]

31 replies

BonnieSue
Participating Frequently
October 10, 2026

So happy that you are not having that annoying lagging with this version. I'm going to go on you tube and see what exactly the new features do. Maybe I was too hasty. 🙃

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BonnieSue
Participating Frequently
September 7, 2026

I’m so sorry you’re still having this issue. I’m looking at my computer right now as I have the same as yours. I have the same update, mine also is M1. My memory is 8 GB. I have 245.11GB of storage left so that’s plenty. Reloading the software did the trick for me. Sometimes there is a two second lag here and there but not enough to toss the computer across the room like before. 🤪. I’ve often wanted to try another program so I check out the trials offered. Canva is supposed to be pretty good. I’m in the middle of a big project so I don’t have the time to be frustrated with the whole learning process. There is still plenty in Photoshop that I don’t even use or know how to use. Really hoping you figure something out because These computers can really frustrate you and ruin your whole day. 
Bonnie

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BonnieSue
Participating Frequently
October 9, 2026

So I was wondering if you had upgraded to the 2027 photoshop elements trial for 7. days? I tried it and there is nothing new really but a lot of AI and im not using that much. I was disappointed because I was so excited to get the new version..

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Participant
October 9, 2026

Thanks for the suggestion. Have just downloaded the 2027 trial and attempted a photo crop. Successful so far with no lag. Will see if it stays like this over the next week.

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Participant
September 7, 2026

I'm having the same problem with Photoshop Elements 2026 since having to upgrade from a much earlier version. Cropping anything is agonisingly sluggish. Have tried all the suggestions on this page. The only thing that worked - temporarily - was uninstalling and reinstalling the program. It wasn’t long before it became very slow again.

I’m on an Apple M1 Pro with 32 GB of RAM. Tahoe 26.6.2. Might have to look at something other than Adobe, after all these years.

 

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RoyARogers
Participating Frequently
May 22, 2026

I had that problem. It kept getting slower and slower. I tried all the fixes that were posted and was about to give up using it.  Then I decided to reinstall the latest app. I used Adobe’s uninstall then downloaded the latest version.  It worked.  The crop is now instant.  No delay at all.

 

Try reinstalling it. 

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BonnieSue
Participating Frequently
May 24, 2026

Wow! Your idea worked for me. Thanks so much for sharing. I hope other people with this problem will try it as well. I’m so excited. 
Bonnie

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RoyARogers
Participating Frequently
June 30, 2026

I hate to say, after a few days it slowed down again. I have tried all the other fixes, and it’s still slow. I really don’t want to  reinstall every few days. 

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BonnieSue
Participating Frequently
April 6, 2026

I have stopped using 2026 PS ELEMENTS and gone back to 2025 version  it was a total waste of money I think it’s the AI installed. I won’t be upgrading again. 

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Glenn 8675309
Legend
July 1, 2026

PSE 2025 has quite a bit of AI installed in it.

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lesliec98243746
Participant
April 6, 2026

Having the exact same problem. When I try to resize something it can sometimes take up to 20 seconds. It’s almost unusable!

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BonnieSue
Participating Frequently
April 6, 2026

I agree, it is unusable. Every time I resize a photo it freezes up. It’s really annoying and trying my patience. I’m using 2025 again. I think it’s the Ai built in to it, that I was so excited to use. 

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Nitemaremoon
Participant
March 9, 2026

I am having performance issues as well. I was running the 2021 version of PSE on my MacBook Air M2 8g ram with few issues. (it would randomly crash all the time but work flow was pretty decent). I upgraded my MacBook to Tahoe and was forced to get the 2026 version of PSE since 2021 version was not supported. I noticed a significant change in how fast PSE ran. Almost every single time I tried to resize something its was a good 5-6 seconds or longer before I could perform any other action. The square paint brushes are no longer are square, they fade out to nothing on the bottom right corner. Resizing things, the constrain perportion button automatically unchecks it self every single time I make an adjustment. It's just a nightmare to use and its riddled with bugs. So I bought a brand new MacBook Air M4 with 24g of ram, thinking this would fix the issues. There was no improvement in the performance. I completely uninstalled PSE and reinstalled. Made sure everything is up to date. Tweaked settings. Nothing helps. Im stuck with this trash software that take 10x as long to do what I need to do. Im so frustrated. 

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BonnieSue
Participating Frequently
April 7, 2026

I have solved the problem of why elements 2026 isn’t working and 2025 is. This new upgrade is huge and full of AI. my processor cannot handle it. Look at the requirements for running it. Both of my laptop’s are not powerful enough for 26 so I might trade them in and upgrade to a faster processor. 

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BonnieSue
Participating Frequently
April 11, 2026

Update on processor handling 2026 elements. it is definitely my Mac air M1 that cannot handle this new version of elements. It is freezing up still and so much lower so I’m going to run 2025 which seems to work pretty well because it’s not full of AI I personally never read the requirements when I update every year. I will start now because it does take a lot power to run it. 

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Participant
March 7, 2026

Yes. It also goes crazy when cropping an image. 

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tonyt88667850
Participating Frequently
February 12, 2026

Got the same problem on a Window 11 Laptop, only started slowing down this week...so painfully slow on organiser, editor, loading photos and there is a lag on any edits

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JDH-KMS
Participant
February 11, 2026

yes. Extremely slow (like 30 seconds) after doing a cut and past and moving and the same after trying to crop.  Big issue. Needs sorting ASAP Adobe / Apple

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