Why did my screen go black in Lightroom Classic? How do I get out of this?

[Ken Nielsen]

What on earth? Too many keyboard commands and not enough control... now this happens, everything is black and I can't get back to my working screen area. Does anyone know what this is and how to turn it off? TIA, if you do you are a hero to me while I'm trying to finish a project. I'm literally locked out of Lightroom until this is resolved... Who thinks up this stuff?

[Rob_Cullen · Accepted solution]

Looks like Lightroom-Classic.

I believe you are in UI "Lights Out " mode.   Press keyboard [ L ] to toggle  the three states-  'Lights' On > 'Lights' dim> 'Lights' Out > 'Lights' On.

Press keyboard [ Ctrl + / ]  for a screen of keyboard shortcuts relevant to the module you are in. (That's [ Ctrl ] plus the key with a Question mark!)

[Ken Nielsen]

This has to be the correct answer I hope and will need to get back to work and then report back tomorrow . Thank You for reply.

[Ken Nielsen]

Yes, In 30 years of running Lightroom, there are about 97% things still hidden to me, but I love the program and it works like a charm for me. Just an accidental touch on the 'L' key threw me into another continuum... So thanks for that tip on revealing keyboard commands... THAT will come in handy in the future also. Much thanks for all the help these communities are to Adobe Software users. Thank You WobertC.

[Akash Sharma]

Hi there,

Sorry that Lightroom Classic is locked out and showing you an image in full screen with no way to get back to the interface. 

Which version of Lightroom Classic are you using? Does pressing the ESC key exits the image preview? Do Do you recall which key combination did you used that might've got you into the full screen?

Would you mind restoring Lightroom Classic app preferences to default and let us know if the issue still persists?

Please refer this article for step by step instructions: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/setting-preferences-lightroom.html#restore_preferences_to_def...

Thanks, 

Akash

[Ken Nielsen]

Someone edited my original post where I said in the headline that even Esc. Did not affect. I must have accidentally touched a key unintentionally... possibly the 'L key as the post I marked as correct suggests. I'll try all of this tomorrow and hopefully be able to get back to work. Thank You for reply. I appreciate.

[RatleyRambler]

I know this is an old thread but I keep hitting this problem as well. I'm using Lightroom Classsic 13.1 and I keep getting to the situation where the screen is amost entirely black, I can't see anything and there is no obvious way out.

After about 5 milion occurances, I think I'm seeing how I get into the situation. I think its when I click on the Caption box in a side panel and start typing. Not being a proficient touch typist, I'm looking at the keyboard rather than the screen. Somehow it accepts the first character of what I'm typing then thinks I've finished editing the caption and have started entering random keyboard commands. But it doen't do it every time. And if I manage to exticate myself from the situation and go back to editing the caption, the situation does not reoccur. It lulls me into a false sense of security then suddenly, BANG, I've got a black screen again.

But at least now I know whats happening and can recover more easily.

[lynn_1223]

I just subscribed to LR - have not used it before but had been proficient in PS.  I cannot get out of the black screen - any suggestions? Pressing L does not do anything.  Thanks

[Rob_Cullen]

You are not using Lightroom-Classic, so the keyboard [L] shortcut is not available.

"Lightroom" [Lr] is a different app to "Lightroom-Classic" [LrC]

For "Lightroom" KB shortcuts see- https://www.lightroomqueen.com/downloads/shortcuts/lightroomcc-shortcuts.pdf

Your screen-clip does not illustrate any "black screen" as in the OP's question- Can you describe in more detail what you are referring to?  The 'dark mode' user interface is not changeable in Prefernces.