All the new features are not available for me in 2023 (version 24.1)

[MarkTo]

Only just got around to installing 2023. Sorry, personally can't risk brand-new versions as soon as they're out, too risky had problems in the past/ So just installed it today, leaving the old version 2022 on my machine, just in case. 

None of the new features seem to be working, including the vector gradients, The matertials panel is there in the menu, but doesnt come up. Neural filters? The "create background" filter is NOT there. but "photo restoration" IS. Every other new feature I cant find, is not there

Please help me to understabd what I've done wrong?  Intel mac running Monterey 

[Bob_Hallam]

Try using the Adobe CC cleaner tool

Uninstall all of the versions (Back up your important presets an such first.  Then run the CC cleaner tool and reinstall your Adobe software.  That should take care of the problem.  

[MarkTo]

Thank you, but does this mean I will lose my preference settings, as well as my actions? If I do not carefully write everything in prefs down page by page? What about tool presets that I've been using for years?

Wouldnt it be better, before doing this, to pull files out of the Preferences folder, and over-write them after cleanup?

[Bob_Hallam]

Actions are all saved just back them up as I mentioned above.  Back up whatever you need to keep.  I personally do not use alot of custom prefs, mostly in the way tools operate so I'm used to putting those back on new versions and beta versions.  Back them all up and you are ready to start this process.  No reason to remove when you can simply copy the folders.  

[jane-e]

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@MarkTo wrote:

Thank you, but does this mean I will lose my preference settings, as well as my actions?

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It's a best practice to back up customization routinely, or you risk losing it at the worst possible time! For Actions, set the set (folder) and from the panel menu, save the set. Do this everytime you create or edit an action. Use the panel menus to back up other customization.

You might reset Preferences manually. The first step is to quit PS, then back up your current Preferences by renaming the Prefences file. When you launch PS, it will create a new file and you can see if it solves the problem. 

If it doesn't work, quit again and delete the new Preferences file and rename the old one to continue using it.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

Jane

[MarkTo]

Jane - maybe you're not aware? you can access your Photoshop Settings folder and copy files elsewhere (actions preferences, tool presets are all stored there) this is always been my first way of recovering from any adobe created mishaps in the past. Been a few years since I've had to do this, the prefs file used to corrupt regularly, doesnt anymore. Its quicker than saving down all your settings individually that's for sure. 

Side-subject about upgrading - - I notice that upgrading from one version to the next, no longer copies your custom curves or scripts any more. You have to plonk them across from one folder to another manually. If you ask me it sometimes seems as if new folks at Adobe don't understand whats already IN their software, before they set about updating things.  

[Conrad C]

None of the new features seem to be working, including the vector gradients, The matertials panel is there in the menu, but doesnt come up. Neural filters? The "create background" filter is NOT there. but "photo restoration" IS. Every other new feature I cant find, is not there

By @MarkTo

You might not have done anything wrong. But what I am noticing is that at least a couple of the features you mentioned should be missing, because they are not in the normal Photoshop update. What do I mean by that? Well, there is more than one “latest” version of Photoshop available now, the regular version and the “public beta.” The public beta contains features that are not done yet. One of the big reasons Adobe is now releasing public beta versions is exactly because of what you said: Some past releases have had avoidable problems, so Adobe is now previewing some new features to get feedback from a wider range of people, to try and surface more issues and fix them before including those features in a regular release.

Last time I checked, Live Gradients and the Backdrop Neural Filter are in the public beta only. If so, they should not be in the normal release. (That means the beta features will not appear in the current normal release no matter how many times you reinstall it or run the cleaner tool.) So if you want to play with the new gradients and filters and tell Adobe if there is anything amiss with how they are working so far, you can do that by installing the public beta, not the normal release.

About the public beta features, scroll down to Photoshop (Beta):

Feature summary | Photoshop desktop (October 2022 release)

Adobe article about working with the public beta:

Adobe Creative Cloud Beta FAQ

If you install the public beta, it can install alongside the normal release, and it also creates and works with a separate set of preferences so that (in theory) it can’t screw up your working preferences.

There are still confusing wrinkles to this. For example, the Photo Restoration Neural Filter is marked “beta” but it is in the normal public release. That is different than how the Backdrop Neural Filter is only in the public beta. That I can’t explain, except maybe Adobe considers some features more done than others…

[MarkTo]

Ahh - Thank you Conrad,not sure this is the  answer, I'd gone down the YouYube rabbit hole.. Has the vanilla 2023 got practically no new features then? You see, more supsiciously, I also dont have the select then content aware with shift-delete that's supposed to be there (not that I'll ever need it, or any one the other features, as they've been there with actions of course for a good 10 years ).  

Maybe Adobe are giving their engineers time to get things finished before releasing. Or with the advent of AI, theyre involved in something else… 

[Conrad C · Accepted solution]

Has the vanilla 2023 got practically no new features then?

By @MarkTo

If you read the first link I posted, there is a much longer list of new features before you get to the Photoshop (Beta) section than there are in the Photoshop (Beta) section, therefore “practically no new features” is not the case at all.

You see, more supsiciously, I also dont have the select then content aware with shift-delete that's supposed to be there

By @MarkTo

OK this is a problem, but different than the other problems. 🙂 For some reason, that new feature has gone AWOL for many users, so it isn’t just you, and that means you might not be doing anything wrong. For more info read this link from this forum:

Where has Delete and Fill context menu gone? (Photoshop bug report)

[Mauro28262677562p]

Thank you. Yes this turned out to be the problem: Some of these features are hidden away in the beta, the delete and fill appeared when I updated.  I now do have access to a working copy of the latest version of Photoshop.
There's a few glitches re-appeared, that had been eliminated like what I refer to as "RAM slowdowns", moments where the spinning wheel happens and Photoshop is "working itself out". This problem had been eliminated since about 2021, now back. Bit it's reliable and stable. I'll make another post about a list of weird obstacked/glitches thatve gradually appeared in the last few versions. But thanks for your time.