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November 9, 2015
Question

How to prevent Adobe software stealing focus in Windows 10? - LOCKED

  • November 9, 2015
  • 35 replies
  • 31994 views

Every Adobe app (InDesign, Photoshop...) is stealing the focus from other application a several times. This behaviour is annoying as well as useless. How to stop this?

    35 replies

    Joel Cherney
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    November 17, 2016

    Back in the old days, there was a registry key you could adjust (in WinXP, no later versions I think) that could prevent focus stealing. In general, it's up to the app developers. So I would suggest that you-all frustrated people go and start support cases about it. You could file bug report/feature request as well, but I think that dozens of support cases are more likely to lead to revisions in code than hundreds of bug reports.

    My solution is to change my own workflow:

    1) Wake up computer

    2) Start CC apps

    3) Make coffee

    4) Begin work

    I chose this workflow because not even StackOverflow or SuperUser could develop solutions that would fix this annoyance. Some clever developer figured out how to get every single Windows process to load a custom DLL that would prevent focus stealing at large. However, I avoid tools like that in my production partition; I don't want the OS install I use to make money to have something labeled "alpha version, for testing use only" wedged into it.

    Lastly, in an answer reminiscent of what I told people trying to use Linux on the desktop 10+ years ago, you might want to try other window managers. I've not tried 'em, but Actual Tools' Actual Window Manager has a setting that will prevent focus stealing. You may need something like that to get what you want.

    Participant
    November 17, 2016

    Same thing happening here.

    CC 2015.3, Windows 8.1

    Photoshop

    >Launch Photoshop file

    >Alt-tab back to my email.

    >Start typing a reply

    >PHOTOSHOP!!! (would you like to link these fonts?)

    >Alt-tab all the way back to email and continue where photoshop interrupted.

    After Effects

    >Be in Photoshop with a long render going in AE in the background

    >Do detail work, spend 11 minutes carefully drawing a selection marqee around some object.

    >Brain sends instruction to hand to click on the final spot to close marquee loop

    >AFTER EFFECTS RENDER FINISHED.

    >finish clicking motion in After Effects

    >Go back to Photoshop and redraw entire loop.

    Pre-CC 2015.3 didn't do this.

    Peter Bullit
    Participating Frequently
    November 7, 2016

    I also have this problem and it is very frustrating. Earlier versions did not do this. Please fix it!!!

    November 7, 2016

    very frustrating

    Participant
    October 28, 2016

    Also agree - highly annoying. Once is fine, when the window first opens. I alt-tab back to what I was doing while the app loads. But it steals focus at least 3 times during load, and there's really NO need for that.

    After the initial focus, it's annoying and unneccessary. This happens in both LR and PS (CC and stand-alone installs).

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    November 9, 2015

    We need way more detail than that.

    What version of Adobe apps? A screen grab of what’s happening would help, too.

    umpfgrmblAuthor
    Known Participant
    November 9, 2015

    Adobe InDesign CC Version 2015.1

    try this

    - open for example Notepad

    - start InDesign

    - go back to Notepad and type something

    - while the App InDesign is starting/loading, it will steal the focus a several times, means its window places itself in the foreground

    - your Notepad loses the focus/lands in the background

    résumé

    you can't work properly while InDesign is loading

    solution

    InDesign (and every other Adobe app) should stay in the background until and only the user is clicking the ceratin window

    Participant
    August 25, 2016

    I have the same problem using freshly installed Photoshop CC 2015.5, Illustrator CC 2015.3, and InDesign CC 2015 on Windows 7. Heck, I had just started up Photoshop when I began typing this comment and had focus stolen twice!

    Then I’m sorry but only suggestion is to launch the apps you need and be done with it.

    Sounds like

    Problem is on your end not ours. Get over it.

    Your Friends,

    Adobe

    Rubbish! I have never witnessed any application other than Adobe's doing this. But that seems to be the direction much software is heading these days: add shiny, new features constantly, but don't fix the glaring, simple issues that make work harder for everyone.


    I totally agree that it's annoying. I can live with an app stealing focus once as it launches. But only once. Photoshop CC 2015.5 just keeps coming back three or four times. Drives me crazy.