Chronicles of a Professional User

[MKSA]

I've been using Photoshop for some 20+ years now. I am honestly without words for the latest rubbish that has been pushed out in 2020 and 2021 versions.

I work with big files for print, really big files, I always have. Neither of the two latest versions of Photoshop can cope with large files.

- Clone a dust spot on a 16000 pixel high JPEG > 4-5 seconds per dust spot or longer (Clone tool equally bad)

- Save a layered TIFF File 2-5 minutes

- Save AS JPG ?? Was there a week ago (been there in ever version before) and got dumped in a moment of engineering brilliance in 22.4.0

- Crop tool - Horrible big handles that don't allow you to see any fine detail of your edges

- Crop Tool (Content Aware Crop) - If you leave CAC turned on and you're cropping down ie NOT doing any fill ... both 21.x and 22.x actually sit trying to do a fill after crop on ..... NOTHING !!!

- Don't even let me tell you how my workflow on an image that's 32000 px wide goes because it seldom does, I used to process 8-14 images a day for new print products but over the past 2 months barely 2-3 a day. Just about everything takes 10 times longer than prior versions.

It's absolutely shocking. Software built on a foundation of professional users (and trust) Adobe now seems to be building software for dummies and not good software at that.

Support?

- I have asked 4 times now for a download link to CC 2019 (20.x) as it is missing from Previous Versions.

- Support has sent me the download links but it won't install with Error Code -41 "Unable to access a critical file or folder"

- On every occasion dealing with support I have from the very start mentioned I have macos Mojave 10.14.6 but not one support agent, not one in 2 months has said "but that version won't install on Mojave" ... NOT ONE !!!

- The 41 error code of course gives a really useful description to a user.

So my workday today has been as follows, 3 hours to process 2 jpeg's for 2 new print products, an additional 90 minutes backing up folders off my macbook and then the rest of the day wiping my Macbook and going back to High Sierra and hopefully CC 2019. Totally done with these UNCreative Storm Clouds.

THIS ... this is efficiency at its finest and Adobe should be really proud of themselves.

Even these forums are a joke and always have been, can't even allow a user to edit their post in case they made a typo? Astounding !!!!

The changelogs for 22.4 and 22.4.1 do not even mention taking Save as > jpg away neither does the latest 22.4.1 mention even fixing it. What a joke !!!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

How long do you expect any PC and the connected hardware to run? 

Even if one expects decades will one be able to replace potentially affected components then? 

If the average image dimensions should increase (what with new camera models) how long do you expect a locked down system to be able to handle the increased workload and amounts of data? 

I think having to upgrade the OS might simply be inevitable at some point in a professional set-up. 

[MKSA]

For some yes, for me I could go another 5-10 years on CC 2019 without any new updates or Camera Raw updates. I can already work with extremely large files in CC 2019 680 mp without any crashing. The only reason I stupidly upgraded was to try the new upscaling feature which didn't impress over anything I already use and caused a whole heap of pain which is now solved.

[D Fosse]

The "don't update" argument was valid once, but the new reality is that you have to stay current with everything, or something or other will break. It might tide you over as a temporary holdover, but the timescale is very limited.

Today, "don't update" means freeze everything. Put your whole system in a time capsule, lock it and throw away the key. And of course that won't last for long either, before you're hopelessly left behind and left out.

I'm not sure this is a good thing, in fact I'm sure it isn't from a sustainability standpoint. We're already drowning in electronic waste. But as a professional you need to get your work done, you don't have that choice.

[MKSA]

You don't need to update, cc 2019, the most stable version ever, will continue to work as long as I need it to on High Sierra. I can assure you I can run like this for another couple of years without needing any updates and nothing will break as I prevent any updates from happening what works now will continue to work until my macbook goes up in flames. There's absolutely zero Adobe could add in the next five years that would make me say wow I need that. This debacle and 3 months of headaches started with trying out their new upscaling which did not perform any better than anything else I use for upscaling in fact their new upscaling is just slower than anything else that gets the job done better and quicker. I gave Adobe ample opportunity to fix both 21.x and 22.x as I've been using both since their first release and 22 is now at 22.4.1 with nothing improved, that says a lot that neither version will ever be improved for older systems on which they are allowed to be installed. They should have just set very hard specs for 21.x and 22.x and prevented older systems from ever being allowed to install them. It's very clear Adobe is focused on supporting all the new Apple chips and dropping all the older Apple users with new software that only partially runs properly on older systems while they spend their time focused on new architectures. Sure the world must move on but you can't drop new versions on a massive userbase which won't run properly and then say "upgrade" and buy new hardware whole you're at it. 

[Abambo]

Use 2019 as long as it works. No trouble here. 

Adobe created the subscription model, so that "you always run the latest version of software". That means that new systems get supported, old ones get outranged. It's the way of life. However, the compatibility problem is clearly Apple created. Microsoft supports its base longer. (This is not a discussion about what system is better, so please don't get into this). Do not blame Adobe, when others need to be named.

[TheDigitalDog]

---

@na59973511 wrote:

It kinda brings into question, why on Earth are we still paying for a subscription?

---

We? And no one forced you to continue to subscribe.

[Abambo]

---

@na59973511  It kinda brings into question, why on Earth are we still paying for a subscription?

---

You can blame Adobe on this. The subscription model is highly profitable for Adobe, but still, my company saves money on this.

[MKSA]

No one forces me to do anything, I updated purely to try the new upscaling feature which was a bad move. I then gave Adobe the benefit of the doubt for 3 months now while giving myself constant daily headaches waiting for things to be fixed as they were in past years on any new version. Same cannot be said for 21.x and 22.x they just were never designed to run on older systems YET were allowed to be installed on them instead of Adobe just saying outright no you can't install this version. Case in point I'm now back on High Sierra after wasting my whole day and CC clearly says I can NOT Install 22.x but I can install 21.x they should have set even higher specs for 21.x too and not allowed it on High Sierra or older MacBooks because I can install it tomorrow and show you it's Performance compared to 20.x it's painful in comparison. 

[Abambo]

Then don't update your OS; no one forced anyone to update anything.

By @TheDigitalDog

Well, if you are on Windows 10, you can only delay, but not prevent the update.

[TheDigitalDog]

---

@Abambo wrote:

Well, if you are on Windows 10, you can only delay, but not prevent the update.

---

And why would that be?

I've got a Mac that can and does boot OS9. I suppose I was smart to avoid Windows.

[D Fosse]

The limit is 35 days for the running security and bug-fix updates. You'll want those, they normally don't affect functionality.

I don't think it applies to the major bi-annual feature updates, equivalent to OS versions. They are listed as optional, and they won't install if your hardware isn't compatible. Then you'll just stay on the old version - and get security updates for that.

[Bob Jenkin LRPS]

I do sympathise. I have rolled back to the previous version as I have spent hours just trying to get PS to load photos in a way that I can even view them let alone work with them.

I cannot understand why adobe keep rolling out updates that are not fit for purpose.

[Abambo]

It works for me... (that's not saying that it does work for you...). 

[AssistedListing]

I too am extremely frustrated! I have had to refigure my work flow every time a change is made. I just did this a few months ago, now again, nothing works. Will any of these product work offline anymore? I am seriously thinking of having a laptop just for that.

[Abambo]

Adobe products work offline for 90 days if you have a subscription for the year.

[AssistedListing]

I got an instant reply with a bade for my first response on this forum. Thank you! I now feel like a 1st grader. 

Also was told program will work offline for a certain amount of time. Well, that just postpones the issues. I have lost so much time/money redoing my workflow multiple times over the last few years. I wish Adobe would focus on the outcomes of such changes rather than sending me a badge.

[TheDigitalDog]

The Creative Cloud software verifies the account status on Adobe servers once a day. If the account is in good standing (that is, payment is up-to-date) when the last verification happens, the software status refreshes to run for at least 99 days offline.

[Abambo]

You do not need to upgrade as long as your programs continue to work in your environment.

[Mark.Dahm]

@MKSA ,

Sorry for the frustration you've run into recently. Not being sarcastic. My wife reads my all son's text dripping with sarcasm and makes him sound like a tyrant, and I know he's actually sarcastic only 50% of the time, so he's not THAT bad.  😉

A couple of things I've heard before, and a few I haven't. There are some decent options for some things, but I think you may have come across the right ultimate solution for the time being in your situation (the downgrade).

The whole stack on the recent OSes/Photoshop/hardware may be hiccupping for your workflows a bit more recently than in the past, but it's not monolithically bad, at least we don't hear that from every user. Many performance issues stem from evolutions in the operating system APIs, and there is a lot going on for Macs right now. Metal and the way we talk to the GPU is totally changing; OCL is being deprecated; Apple has declared the end of life for the current hardware in favor of Apple silicon. All these changes come from great promise, but realistically, attention to the old stuff is bound to take a back seat to the new and exciting future. Dropping back a couple OS versions is dropping back to the time before many of these transitions started; I'll leave it up to you to determine whether that's better for your workflows or not; and again, not being sarcastic; you may be 100% right about that older stack working better for you.

But there is good news, too. In the limited time I've had acces to Apple silicon hardware, it's pretty great. Photoshop launches in 3 seconds (compared to my previous, more expensive Mac system); file I/O tests are so much faster on the new hardware stack, as are especially a few features that have been tuned to that hardware (Content Aware Fill, Select Subject). According to Apple, Big Sur is optimized for Apple silicon. So it's not just bleak transition news; there's great changes coming, both for the operating system and Photoshop. And newer, beefier hardware is likely on the way, too.

[Lumigraphics]

And just to note, High Sierra is no longer supported or getting security fixes from Apple. I don't advise using it online.

And let's be realistic. In the desktop space, my guess for the four largest installed bases would be Chrome, Office, Acrobat Reader, and Photoshop (outside of the OS install.) this means that any small quirk or unusual system setup will turn up as a bug report. OP, your issue is almost certainly something with your particular system and not a PS bug or we would see thousands of reports.