P: Masking overlays do not always appear (Mac)

[Sunwoo Kim 1237]

Lightroom overlays do not appear.

The overlays do not appear and no matter how many settings I change, they do not respond at all.

[fsafdssaf]

As per title, mask overlays refuse to show approx 98% of the time - sometimes a background mask overlay (bright red) may show up briefly and then will disappear the next minute.

Extremely frustrating when masking animals etc where fur often needs to be brushed out / in depending on how accurate the masking is.

Current LR v8.3.1

Mac OS / MacBook M4 Max

[Srishti Bali]

Hi @fsafdssaf

Sorry to hear you're running into this issue. Could you please share a few more details to help us troubleshoot?

• Is the problem occurring with a specific file or multiple files?

• Has this issue started recently, or has it been ongoing?

• If possible, could you share a small sample file we can use to test on our end?

Looking forward to your response!

Regards,

Srishti

[fsafdssaf]

Hi,

1) All files, all types of masks.

2) Mask overlays have probably been unpredictable for the better part of 6 months, but in the past 1-2 weeks they've become impossible to work with and fail 90%+ of the time.

3) Unfortunately all of my raw files are quite large (50mb+), I'd be happy to set up a screen sharing session or whatever required to demonstrate the issue, can also record a video as long as I have somewhere to send it over to.

[Generous_view0D45]

Considering the volume of bug reports I see where the immediate response from Adobe is some variation of "We were unable to reproduce this bug internally", when I, an unpaid and paying user am able to reproduce the same bug almost instantly, it suggests to me that there is a serious systemic issue with Adobe's internal practices. Whether that's just general lack of skill from those in charge of reproducing these bugs, or gross oversights such as only testing on a very narrow range of hardware and specs, it should not be the case that a multimillion dollar corporation is consistently unable to reproduce bugs that an idiot like me with a laptop and phone can.

[Jason Pursell]

Hi Srishti, 

This seems to have been broken since 8.3. 

This is reproducible with simple files DNG, JPG, etc. We're seeing people on reddit, here, and elsewhere reporting this problem.

Screen Recording 2025-05-09 193232.mp4

[Jason Pursell]

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Open lightroom.

2. Select a photo from the grid layout.

3. Press M to open photo with the Masking tool panel.

4. Create a Radial mask by dragging the mouse. Notice that the red (default color) overly shows.

5. Press E to open the Edit panel.

6. Press M to reopen the Masking panel.

Expected result:

red overlay shows when hovering the mouse over the overlay when the Masking panel is open.

Actual result:

overlay is no longer showing.

I've made another example with a different picture

Screen Recording 2025-05-13 203633.mp4

[jon_2027]

Mask overlay disappears randomly despite having "show overlay" toggled on. Only recently started happening. Makes it basically impossible to add or subtract from masks.

[christophjansen]

It's clearly a bug. It started with v8.3.

New masks will initially display correctly, with overlay. But as soon as you exit and re-enter the masking mode, the overlay just flashes briefly and is gone afterwards. 

MacBook Pro Max M3

macOS Sequoia 15.5

Lightroom v8.3.1

[andyh_73]

Hi. Latest suggestions to solve have not worked. There is still an issue with the masks not appearing as they should. Seems to be a lot more people seeing this issue since the latest update. Surprised a company with the firepower of Abobe can't replicate this. 

[peter vrijlandt]

Lightroom 8.3.1

Mac Studio M1 Max

Macos 15.4.1

Steps:

1. Create new mask with a Brush >> the brush strokes appear as expected with a red overlay

2. Close Masking and go to Grid view.

3. Open same picture in Edit

4. Open Masking and select the brush mask >> the red mask overlay is one moment visible and then disappears. It does not come back by toggling 'Show overlay'.

5. When I go to 'Compare' view and back to 'Detail' view, the red overlay mask appears again and stays visible

I have tried resetting Preferences and reinstalling Lightroom, but this behaviour stays the same.

Hope this issue will be resolved in the next update soon. Greetings, Peter Vrijlandt

[Fiona_Avery8406]

I'm having the same problem - updated to LR 8.3.1 yesterday and masking overlays stopped showing.  Went back to previous version LR 8.2 and masking overlays show again.  So the issue is with the latest update.  I hope this bug can be resolved soon so that I can update the software.

[peter vrijlandt]

I am going back to Lightroom 8.2 and wait for an update that solves this bug. Working without the Mask Overlay is not the right way, especially when you need a white on black overlay.

[andyh_73]

Great news! Thanks.

[Fiona_Avery8406]

@Rikk Flohr: Inactive is there any update please?

[peter vrijlandt]

Is there any idea when this will b fixed in an update?

[brianwastaken]

This seems to be a widespread issue. I have tried a clean install of LR, updating my intel Mac to 15.5 newest build, and doing the preference .plist file delete and not seems to help. If you duplicated the mask the overlay comes back and you can then delete the original. 

[Bill2176643436dt]

I am trying to teach dodge/burn techniques and this is a real handicap, not to mention for my own work.  Is there a schedule for getting it fixed?  I am on the latest Lightroom Desktop release.

[Bill2176643436dt]

PS:  I am on windows 10.  This bug has been in since bfore to the current LR release, guessing several months.

[kennedys33852900]

I'd like to add myself as yet another user reporting the same error with masking. No improvements on resetting preferences, re-installing, etc.

Get it together, Adobe. This is not industry standard behaviour for professionals.

[Franjoaraya]

Tengo el problema de que no se visualiza las mascaras que realizo, si necesito salir de esa herramienta simplemente no se visualizan en rojo para poder modificar, es muy frustrante, porque quita mucho tiempo de trabajo. he intentado de todo, simplemente ya es un error del programa. 

tengo la versión Lightroom 8.3.1 actualizado hace 1 mes aproximadamente.

estoy ocupando un MAC M3 (macOS 15.5)

adjunto un video 

espero puedan ayudarme. 

saludos

[satya.purohit]

I'd like to add myself as yet another bugged user. @adobe you have to be kidding me you cant reproduce this issue. Honestly first I thought it was me. Its quite simple. Here is one way and there are literally a million other ways.

Ligthroom CC 8.3.1 (not classic) desktop on MacOS M1 Ultra/64GB Sequoia 15.5

• Get picture of Cat
• Add Subject Mask - Cat gets overlayed - Awesome!
• Increase exposure. Cat gets brighter Yay! But now cat mask overlay is gone. Mask is still active and you can filldle with settings to see the cat change 
• Now duplicate and invert - New mask gets added and overlay is on again. Fiddle with this one and overlay still seems to remain on
• Exist masking 
• Go back to picture of cat and select masking. Now masks are still active but overlay is gone 😞 😞 😞 

FWIW it looks like when you make some changes to masked area (eg change exposure) you temporarily disabke the overlay to show outcome of the action, but some how through various capricious paths that 'suppress overlay temporarily' becomes permanent

Fix soon please!

[peter vrijlandt]

Thanks for fixing the mask overlay in Lightroom 8.4 Update!

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Greetings all, 

A new update for the Adobe Photography products has been released.  The June update contains an update for this issue. 

If you do not see the update in your Creative Cloud Application, you can refresh it by hitting [Ctrl/Cmd]+[Alt/Opt]+[ R ].

Note: It may take up to 24 hours for your update to be available in your Creative Cloud app.

Thank you for being so patient.

[Another Madala]

This issue is much much better, but it is still not 100% fixed.

[andyh_73]

Thanks @Rikk Flohr: Photography. Issue is fixed and a few more goodies in the update too!