P: "New Layer" and "New Group" buttons in the Layers panel stay down after clicking on it

[julient38790424]

Hello,

since the last update, almost every time I click on the New Layer and/or New Group buttons in the Layers panel, the buttons become stuck and unusable. I have to restart Photoshop to reset their state.
Not game breaking but definitely annoying.


Regards

[RosaPerry]

I can confirm. This has happened to me on two occasions after the 21.1.0 update.

I had been working on a document which I had already added quite a few layers then all of a sudden when trying to create a new layer, the Create New Layer button on the bottom of the Layers Panel  becomes unresponsive. I have to save my document and restart Photoshop.

I can't reproduce as it's a random thing for me but it has happened.

I have the latest Windows OS. All drivers are up to date.

[David Mohr]

Howdy Julien and Rosa,

You're both on English Win10?  How frequently does this happen?  Other apps running at the same time?  Any 3rd party plugins?  What about your network -- how stable is it?  Could you have been down/uploading a file in the background, particularly a large cloud doc?

I'd like to dig into this and figure out the trigger.  Any additional info is appreciated.

Thanks,
David

[amien1]

Mine too. But also the trashcan & add mask button. I haven't used either yet on this project but they are blacked out. Yes Win10. Has happened on/off since last update. Only other program I have open is chrome (always have & never had issues before!) Network fine, just me, no downloads/uploads.  

[FFFlay]

This has also been happening to me. English windows 10. Using Lazy Nezumi and Coolorus 2.5, but the issue still happens without them. 

[RosaPerry]

Hi David,

Yes, I'm on English Windows 10.

This has happened to me twice since 21.1. update. 
I had Google Chrome open as well as my mail app.
I wasn't using any plugins at the time.
I wasn't downloading any files.
External hard drive attached which is fine and no issues with.

I had only created 2 pieces of artwork since the update.

I can remember exactly what happened with my last piece. 

The Create New Layer button became unresponsive towards the end of a photo-manipulation artwork which had a total of 43 layers. I needed to add a last layer for some brushwork. The document size was only 17.9M/433.2M 

I had to save my work and restart Photoshop and the button became responsive.

The previous time this happened would have been a similar scenario.

[julient38790424]

Hi David, thanks for looking into it.

To answer your questions :
- I'm on a French language Win 10 Pro x64 v.1909
- It happens fairly often but I failed to find a way to recreate it consistently.
- The other apps I'm running are usually Outlook, Chrome (up-to-date), Microsoft Teams
- No 3rd party plug-ins
- I don't have any issue with my internet connection, but my work files are on a local network, which can sometimes lag a little when opening or saving files.

I noticed that if there's a delay when clicking on these buttons they stay down until the lag ends. Maybe that's where it can bug out?

Hope it helps.

[RosaPerry]

Hi David,

Yes, I'm on English Windows 10.

This has happened to me twice since 21.1. update. 
I had Google Chrome open as well as my mail app, Outlook.
I wasn't using any plugins at the time.
I wasn't downloading any files.
External hard drive attached which is fine and no issues with.
No issues with my internet connection.

I had only created 2 pieces of artwork since the update.

I can remember exactly what happened with my last piece. 

The Create New Layer button became unresponsive towards the end of a photo-manipulation artwork which had a total of 43 layers. I needed to add a last layer for some brushwork. The document size was only 17.9M/433.2M 

I had to save my work and restart Photoshop and the button became responsive.

The previous time this happened would have been a similar scenario. 

[David Mohr]

Wow, so both platforms.  Not good.  Flay, did you have Chrome open as well? 

Otherwise, perhaps this is a speed or workflow issue -- did you click the mouse several different times rapidly or move your mouse around and click or similar actions that might "stress" the UI?

Thanks,
David

[RosaPerry]

David, no, did not click the mouse several times. When I realised that my new layer wasn't added, I thought it must have been something I'd done. So I went to click add a new layer and saw the Create New Layer button greyed out. As mentioned prior, I already had something like 46 layers in my document. So it's not as if Create New Layer button hadn't worked before in the same document.

I stress, that this only happened since 21.1 update. I don't believe it's a workflow issue as I've been doing this type of work for 5 years and in all my experience with Photoshop, I've never encountered this issue before. 

I have a decent machine that was built for PS. I've encountered another couple of bugs which I've reported beside this one since the 21.1 update. 

[RosaPerry]

David -  I'm working on a piece right at this moment. I have not used any Plugins, no issues with my PC etc. and I cannot add a Group or New Layer via the bottom of the Layers Panel as those options are 'greyed out' as you can see below. I have 4 groups and 23 layers. I now have to save my work and restart Photoshop. 

P/S I've decided to work in PS 20.0.8 with no issues. 

[David Mohr]

Hi Rosa,

Ugh!  That's not right.  8-(  I'm sorry.

So, my question about the mouse clicks was to rule out a different cause.  Okay, ruled out.  But clearly you're running into a new problem.

What kind of work were you doing?  Compositing?  Editing?  What KIND of editing?  I'm trying to narrow down the trigger -- it isn't something I do in either my professional or personal workflows.

Thanks,
David

[David Mohr]

Thank you for these details.  I don't yet have the cause, but this info will help.

Thanks,
David

[RosaPerry]

Hi David,

I was doing compositing work. This was my third piece of compositing work since updating to 21.01 and the issues happened every time.

One piece of compositing work can take me up to 5 hours to do. I start out with cutting out my subjects with a pen tool. Then I add layers, placing my subjects on different layers, I add more layers, using the brush tool for artwork, adding textures, colour etc. I group them to keep things in order.  I use curves adjustment layers in between my added layers. This issue with the 'greyed out' buttons usually happens past midway of my workflow. I know I'm winding down my work because that's when I'm ready to finalise my piece with adding new layers for highlights and shadows. I don't use actions, plugins, filters or even adjustment layers for adding highlights and shadows, I prefer to paint them on using blend modes on new layers.

That's my usual workflow in compositing when I encounter the issue with the 'greyed out' buttons. 

I still have PS 20.0.8 installed and so I used it to finish my last compositing piece, without any dramas and since then I've just finished more compositing work in PS 20.0.8 without encountering any issues.

I hope this helps narrow down the problem.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

It is the same for me. Just doing basic stuff, creating layers and trying to group them. I havn't had the new layer stuck, but the new group button. I have to restart Photoshop to get it working again.
(Win 10 Norwegian, latest Photoshop, English)

Ole 

[julient38790424]

Hi David,
I've finally caught the bug in the act. It happens when a scrollbar is present in the layers window, and you click and drag a layer over the buttons:



Edit : you can sometimes fix an already bugged button by doing the same move.

[David Mohr]

Howdy Julien,

Thank you for trying to track this down.  Unfortunately, that doesn't trigger anything on my machine.  But it does open a new line of research.  Can you trigger this bug reliably on your machine now?  Were you using a specific Workspace?  If so, which one?  Are you using GPU?  If you turn it off, does the problem persist?  OTHER PEOPLE, are you seeing the same thing?  Perhaps my machine is the outlier.

Thanks,
David

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Yes, this allowed me to recreate the bug. Great find Julien.

Repeating that process will free the "stuck" shortcut icon, though if you have multiple icons stuck you have to do it one-by-one. Also, for a couple of the icons it took multiple attempts. FWIW, after using this antidote once, it took many more attempts to to "unstick" the icons after I recreated the problem a second time.

Answer to other question: Custom workspace, using GPU. Disabling the GPU did not prevent the problem from occurring or the behavior of the stuck/unstuck trick.

[FFFlay]

Late reply, but yes I also had chrome open

[RosaPerry]

David

I can't reproduce Julien's find at all. I have tried and tried many times creating a new layer or group by dragging a layer into the Create Layer button and the bug doesn't present itself. I also have a scroll bar because of my layer/group amounts but dragging a layer down onto the button doesn't reproduce the bug for me.

Mine bug thing does it unexpectedly in my workflow as described above. It's when I go to create a new layer from the button itself. I can't reproduce the bug as it does it randomly in my workflow.

[julient38790424]

David,

Doing this causes the bug 100% of the time for me. 
If I resize the layer window so there's no scrollbar, it stops happening.

Rosa, did you notice this happening when you have no scrollbar in your layer window?

And to answer your questions: 
- I tried both GPU and software rendering with no difference, even with legacy compositing
- I'm using the "Essentials" workspace

[RosaPerry]

No Julien, I always had a scrollbar because of the amount of layers I work with. I just couldn't reproduce your find with dragging a layer to create a new layer. My issue is with directly clicking on the Create Layer Button on the bottom. I don't often have no scroll bar. 

David Today I did finished another piece of artwork/photo-manipulation with 52 layers in groups. I had no issue what so ever with the Create Layer Button or Group button, they stayed responsive all during my work flow, but the crazy thing is, my Delete button on the bottom of the Layers Panel was unresponsive. So I really have no idea what's causing the issue. It's spooky.

What I did different today in my workflow, was hide the ruler tool. 

[minusplus]

Happens to me as well, also with the mask button.
Extremely annoying and time wasting
I am using Mac with Catalina

[David Mohr]

Thank you for your details.  Please keep them coming; we still haven't isolated quite the problem, but I've logged the bug and we're discussing it.  A reliably reproducible case would be awesome.

Thanks,
David

[RosaPerry]

I would love to give you a reliable reproduce David, but it happens sporadically for me so I can't reproduce.

[andreyu]

Seems there were some changes to the layer palette in this version. There's also this problem: https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/photoshop-cc-2020-v21-1-0-recessed-layer-thum...