P: Photoshop Being Open Causes Infuriating Cursor Flicker - macOS

[rykern88685545]

I am posting on the forums because I am so incredibly sick of this issue. It has been reported on the forums for just about 6 years now and I can't believe this problem hasn't been addressed and fixed. Whenever I have Photoshop opened up, if I move to another app and try to work in it, such as Illustrator, InDesign or even Safari, my cursor will flicker between the program specific cursor and the system default cursor sporadically. It makes it nearly impossible to work quickly or accureately in any program other than Photoshop. As soon as I close Photoshop the issue resolves immediately. I have tried so many "solutions" that have been suggested in the past and none of them have helped me. This problem is so infuriating and I can't believe I pay so much for software that doesn't even work as it should and have 6 year old bugs. This problem has persisted through many iterations of MacOS, as well as many versions ofthe CC Suite. I am currently running the latest version of macOS along with the latest version of all of my CC apps. Can someone please let me know if there is a definitive solution to this problem. Please do not suggest that I delete and reinstall Photoshop, because that's all Adobe reps ever tell me to do which has proven to be absolutely useless. Also don't suggest "just minimizing/closing Photoshop" because that is not a workable solution for me. I need these apps for school/work and it's infurating that they don't work well. Thank you in advance to anyone who's able to help. 

[JJMack]

Do all Mac user have this problem? I use windows  and do not see a have a problem like this but then the only Adobe application I user is Photoshop/Bridge/ACR...

[rykern88685545]

I don't think that every Mac user struggles with it. In fact even when I have used other Macs, such as the ones at school I don't suffer from the same problem. But I do know several people personally that struggle from it. And furthermore I've seen probably a dozen forums full of people struggling from this exact problem dating back to 2014. It's a very frustrating problem as it makes programs borderline impossible to use efficiently. It doesn't seem to be common, or even present at all for Windows users from what I have seen. 

[omegap7]

yes every mac user has this problem. its driven me absolutely mad for 6 years.

[Someone75]

Me too ... It's so odd!

[defaultwkyz1fksevc7]

I too have been having this problem with a new Macpro 7.1 Big Sur 11.6.1 - With photoshop open having painted on a layer mask the cursor glitches and flashes between states in Bridge and Maya viewport. Hiding photoshop it stops shortly after and resumes when photoshop is unhid again. Quiting PS also stops it immediately, opening PS and painting with the "normal" brush cursor seems to avoid the problem. I have erased my HD and clean installed big sur, photohop and maya and the problem is the same. Very Frustrating having wasted alot of time trying to fix this. Anyone have any ideas?

[uesix]

Did not work at a iMac Pro ...

[PECourtejoie: branched from an very older discussion on the topic that linked the issue to auto-activation of font software, referred in this post ... https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/brush-cursor-flickering-to-arrow-curs...]

[PECourtejoie]

Uesix, I seriously doubt that you are using 10.6.8, your isue must be different.

Are you using a wacom, what driver version, which OSX version, Which Ps version are you running?

[uesix]

It's your absolute right to "seriously" doubt what you want.

I seriously know what I write. Meanwhile the cursor will flciker even in Firefox! Hiding Photoshop will work after some minutes and closing Photoshop will cause the flickering to completely vanish at this very moment. Adobe knows about the bug for years and they never did anything to investigate it.

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/31215286-flicke...

One of my systems is 10.14.6, the most up-to-date Wacom mouse driver and the most up-to-date Photoshop 22.5.3.

[PECourtejoie]

I meant that the thread could be split, as the issue is about a totally different version and OS, as you confirmed. Does the cursor flicker from arrow to another cursor, exactly as in the original post?

[uesix]

Thanks for your answer! To be honest, after so many years with no reaction at all, I do not expect any changes, while this behavior drives me nuts ...

And yes, the cursor constantly flickers between different arrows while hovering about something "touchable" like a line in Illustrator, or and URL-link in Firefox. And this issue is solely related to an open Photoshop at all. No other program will show that behavior. None ...

[uesix]

I do not have installed any auto-activation font software for photoshop ...

[uesix]

... and as it is only related to Photoshop, it is not a problem with third party apps. These apps deal with every Programm quite well but Photoshop! So the root cause is a disfunctionallity with an API in Photoshop. 

[uesix]

To put it right: I do not have any auto-activation installed for any program. Neither Right Font, Suitcase, Font Base, Fontexplorer nor Suitcase. So that's actually not the culprit in my case ...

[PECourtejoie]

In fact your issue is not widespread at all, otherwise there would be many posts on the issue. and so far, they seem to be linked to third party software...

Does the cursor flicker in Photoshop, or only in other apps when Photoshop is running? Did you try the suggestion to hide Photoshop?

Do you have any third party extension in Photoshop, or outside, like Hejstylus! 

the Ps team and the Ai team are totally different, and the codebase is also not shared...

Could you post the contents of Help/System info... and list any "peculiar" software you might be running?

I will also split your posts to this newer bug thread on the topic.

Please also vote on the arrow on top of the discussion.

[defaultwkyz1fksevc7]

I am currently engaged with Adobe technical supprt on this issue. They have remotely controlled my machine and seen the problem first hand. So far none of the usual trouble shooting has worked but they are continuing to investigate. 

[uesix]

The flickering is gone and do you know why?!

I uninstalled AAM (Adobe Application Manager) as I just coincidentally checked for 32-Bit applications which will not be running when updating the OS once. I has never been uninstalled by your software updaters, when updating from CS6 to CSS and was still runnning in the background interferring with your own software!

In my case it was only caused by the rests of a buggy, outdated software which you never(!) deleted on updating your programs. Unbelievable ...

[defaultwkyz1fksevc7]

Congrats uesix- unfortunately I dont seem to have AAM running. The flickering seems to be triggered only when I drag and drop an image into photoshop until you do that it's fine.

[Lumigraphics]

I've used Photoshop on Macs since version 2.5.1 back in 1994 and never seen this issue. FWIW.

[uesix]

O.k. it did not work ... But hiding Photoshop or closing images in Photoshop will at least stop the flickering, now. I'm sorry but I hate A...

[uesix]

Hiding Photshopt works now or closing all images. Bit what's this workflow? A programm (the only one!) which causes a flickering cursor in any other program? And your answer is: It's not that common ...

[Stackola]

Did adobe support manage to solve the problem?

[Earth Oliver]

no, the issue still is not resolved. With Ps open and visible in the background, there are always cursor issues when working in other apps. It's been like this for ages and like the Windows GSync issue, i doubt it will ever be fixed.

[Stackola]

Maybe we need to get people together and make a campaign to draw attention to the problem

[Chad Rolfs]

Which OS are you running?  

[Someone75]

In my case I'm running 12.7.1 Monterey at the moment nad most up to date Photshop for Mac.