Camera Raw Steals Focus

[worldruined]

Cross-posting from this original thread, as I believe it to be a bug.

I don't known exactly when Camera RAW started stealing focus or with what version, but the process is very disrupting and slows down my workflow.

System Info:

Adobe Photoshop Version: 23.3.1 20220419.r.426 4d24a4c x64

Camara RAW Version: 14.3
Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit
Version: 10 10.0.19044.1645

Steps? to reproduce, I guess:

1. Open Photoshop
2. Drag & drop RAW files from Windows Explorer into Photoshop to open
3. Switch to different program (ex: Firefox, Chrome) while those files open, maybe I want to read a news article or something for a minute
4. Suddenly, Camera RAW/Photoshop pops onto the screen
5. BUT
6. My cursor focus is still in whatever program I was using!
7. CTRL+A to select all the opened files in Camera RAW?
8. NOPE
9. Surprise, I've just selected everything in my browser instead!
10. I have to click into the Camera RAW/Photoshop window to FULLY shift focus, even though RAW/Photoshop just dragged my eyes away from the other program I was in

What RAW/Photoshop should be doing is quietly opening the RAW files in the background until I'm ready to work with them, not stealing focus from any other programs I'm currently using. If I'm ready to look at the files, I will click into that window myself; I don't need it to pop up and take over my screen.

Can confirm this behavior happens on multiple Windows machines with differing hardware and configurations.

tl;dr

Photoshop/Camera RAW should NEVER force itself to be my active window/program.

[jkiscycling]

Please can you stop Camera RAW stealing focus? I find this very annoying and it constantly interrupts me when I'm trying to do something else. I have a Sony A7Rii with 80 Mb RAW files, these take some time to ad but I am prevented from doing anything else during the loading time as C-RAW just imposes its own agenda. This is very bad behaviour. I have Photoshop 23.3 and the latest version of C-RAW, Windows 11 on Surface Pro 6 i5

[TheDigitalDog]

Can you provide a screen capture or explain what steals focus means? 

[jkiscycling]

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Hi there,

I can’t provide a screenshot as what is happening is a process. What I mean by stealing focus is this. When I open a 80Mb RAW file in C-Raw there’s a pause while the file loads. During this pause I would like to get on with, for example, reviewing pics in Flickr. But I can’t, because C-Raw forces all other windows to minimise and opens it’s window, whether I want it to or not. I cannot stop C-Raw from doing this, or maximise any other window until I have clicked into C-Raw. This is stealing focus and is very bad behaviour, forcing me to pay attention to a programme I would like to just run in the background until I am ready to pay attention to it.

Hope that helps explain what’s happening,

John

Sent from Mail for Windows

[worldruined]

Agreed -- I don't known exactly when Camera RAW started stealing focus, whether it's that or Photoshop, but the process is very disrupting and slows down my workflow.

Steps? to reproduce, I guess:

1. Open Photoshop
2. Drag & drop RAW files from Windows Explorer into Photoshop to open
3. Switch to different program (ex: Firefox, Chrome) while those files open, maybe I want to read a news article or something for a minute
4. Suddenly, Camera RAW/Photoshop pops onto the screen
5. BUT
6. My cursor focus is still in whatever program I was using
7. CTRL+A to select all the opened files in Camera RAW?
8. NOPE
9. Surprise, I've just selected everything in my browser instead!
10. I have to click into the Camera RAW/Photoshop window to FULLY shift focus, even though RAW/Photoshop just dragged my eyes away from the other program I was in

What RAW/Photoshop should be doing is quietly opening the RAW files in the background until I'm ready to work with them, not stealing focus from any other programs I'm currently using. If I'm ready to look at the files, I will click into that window myself; I don't need it to pop up and take over my screen.

[worldruined]

To put it more succinctly:

Photoshop/Camera RAW should NEVER force itself to be my active window/program.

[TheDigitalDog]

Steps? to reproduce, I guess:

Must be some wonky Windows issue; doesn't do this on my Mac. Never has. 

[worldruined]

Didn't use to do it on Windows, either, which is partially why the random change (bug?) is so infuriating.

That also leads to the expectation that this behavior is incorrect and, more importantly, fixable, and it probably should be. Hopefully this thread will get it in front of a dev's eyes for review.

[TheDigitalDog]

Can't replicate on Mac, might be a bug but until enough users can specify exactly how to reproduce it, with info like system/version/GPU etc, this is going to be difficult to address. 

[worldruined]

Could a dev confirm if this is intended behavior on Windows machines or not?

If intended, why? (Having Camera Raw steal focus from other open/in-use programs is aggravating and detrimental to workflow.) And why only on Windows? If not intended, would it be possible to fix?

Thanks!

[worldruined]

This is still an extremely aggravating ongoing issue that bogs down workflow.

Photoshop/Camera RAW should NEVER force itself to be my active window/program.

Could a dev please confirm if this is intended behavior on Windows machines or not? If so, why? If not, would it be possible to fix it?

[TheDigitalDog]

---

@worldruined wrote:

Could a dev please confirm if this is intended behavior on Windows machines or not? If so, why? If not, would it be possible to fix it?

---

Probably not as this is mainly a user-to-user forum. One user on Mac told you he can't replicate. And in like 5 months, no Windows users have confirmed this. 

So the question should be: Could a user confirm this behavior on Windows machines or not?

[Rob_Cullen]

Yes, ACR window steals focus for me. (Windows-10  )

Opening one DNG file is fast so no problem, but selecting several files in Bridge and [Open in Camera Raw] brings ACR to the front until all files are loaded, even if I click on another window (eg. Browser app) the ACR window pops right back on top..

[TheDigitalDog]

Rob: Bridge and Photoshop? 

[Rob_Cullen]

Hi @TheDigitalDog So it gets complicated! My experience with ACR 'stealing Focus' was on my Dell PC laptop (8G ram) and IIRC I had Photoshop also running at the same time. ie. selecting several NEFs in Bridge and 'Open in Camera Raw'. ACR would always return 'on top' when clicking another app window (eg. Firefox browser).

Today, a different circumstance, on my desktop PC (32G ram) 12 NEF images open almost instantly in ACR, yet if I quickly click on another window (eg. Browser) I see that ACR pauses as in this screen-clip: Exactly as I see now writing this post!

So 5 minutes later I am still seeing this-

And ACR does not load the images until I click back on the ACR window.

It does not concern me greatly as I am primarily a Lightroom-Classic user and very rarely 'open' files directly to Photoshop (via ACR). And even more rarely use Bridge! So maybe I am not contributing much to this thread topic.

[TheDigitalDog]

Rob, my main concern/question is about ACR hosted by Bridge vs. Photoshop because I've seen a few reports of other problems where ACR was acting wonky only hosted by Bridge (which I don't use). That Bridge and Photoshop can host (even at the same time) ACR makes me ask Window users here if this is something they see from both app's hosting it. 

[Rob_Cullen]

@TheDigitalDog  My limited experience is not understanding really what you mean by "ACR hosted by Bridge".  Is this situation only for (Ps-Elements) users without Photoshop installed?

With Photoshop closed, only Bridge active, and I select raw files and [Ctrl+R] [Open in Camera Raw...], I get the situation I stated above- Click to another window (Firefox), ACR pauses and ACR does not load the images until I click back on the ACR window.

[TheDigitalDog]

Rob: ACR is a plug in that both Photoshop and Bridge can access. In fact you can run both to access ACR at the same time. 

As both applications can access it, one or both can affect how it behaves. Again, some users have reported issues with ACR with Bridge that are not an issue with PS. So the question is, does this focus problem affect both? If so, the ACR team needs to look into this. But if only Bridge, that team needs to address the issue.

[worldruined]

Yes, I've noticed the files aren't loading in ACR either until the window is fully clicked into, even though the ACR window pops up and takes over my screen from whatever other program is active.

I'm not using Bridge, however. Since there are issues with both Bridge and Photoshop, it seems more likely that it's a problem with the common denominator -- ACR?