Crop tool does not contain crop handles on image when running as an action in photoshop 25.12

[marcdwelis]

When running the crop command as a recorded action in the latest versions of Photoshop (25.12) and Photoshop Beta (25.13) on Windows the crop handles are missing and reposisioning is sluggish. The crop tool works as expected when not run as an action.

[Sameer K]

Hey, @marcdwelis. Welcome to the Photoshop Community. I'll move your response to discussions for now. I'll need more info to help you figure this out. Please share the system info from Photoshop Help > System info > Copy and paste into a text document > upload and attach here. Actions are custom workflow, and it'll help if you export and share the action file for us to test this.

Ensure there are no stale preferences in your Photoshop. Go to the location of the preference folder below and rename it to backup.

• Windows 10/11: Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop [version]/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings
• You can press Press the Windows key > Enter 'Run' > Enter %APPDATA%\Adobe
• Rename the Adobe Photoshop folder by adding a .old at the end. (Adobe Photoshop 2024 > Rename > Adobe Photoshop 2024. old), you can later restore these preferences if needed.(https://adobe.ly/4860qM9)
• Restart the computer.

These changes will give a fresh start to Photoshop as a fresh install. Let me know how it goes.

Thanks!
Sameer K

(Use '@mention' to tag me when you reply)

[marcdwelis]

Hello Sameer,

Thanks for your reply. I am attaching an image of the how recorded crop action runs on both Photoshop version 26.3 (when the crop tool is missing its handles and reponds sluggishly) and Photoshop 25.11 (the last version when the recorded crop command responds correctly). I have reset preferences with no effect. Thank you.

@mention

[Stephen Marsh]

For what it's worth, I'm sure that I have seen this before as well in other versions, I think that I either zoomed in/out or showed extras or something else to "refresh" the screen and the crop handles appeared.

[marcdwelis]

Hello Stephen,

Thanks for your reply. When running the crop command as a recorded action is missing its crop handles in every verson of Photoshop after version 25.11. Zooming, showing extras, or any other movements are not available when running actions. Please consider that the crop command is not the only command running in the recorded script.

[Stephen Marsh]

Hello Stephen,

Thanks for your reply. When running the crop command as a recorded action is missing its crop handles in every verson of Photoshop after version 25.11. Zooming, showing extras, or any other movements are not available when running actions. Please consider that the crop command is not the only command running in the recorded script.

By marcdwelis

Well, I naturally assumed that you had the modal control active on the action step for an interactive crop.

Anyway, I downloaded Photoshop 2025 and had no problems with cropping with a modal control active, the handles were there.

I played around with the gear/cog icon and turned classic mode on and off and crop shield etc... Then I lost the handles!

Resetting prefs on quit didn't fix things.

Running the modal action step, and going to the gear/cog icon and turning classic mode on and off and crop shield on and off etc. didn't fix anything.

I exited the action.

Next, I manually used the crop tool without using the action, again playing with the various options and my crop handles returned! The next time I ran the modal action, it was reset and the handles were again visible.

Hope this works for you!

[marcdwelis]

Hello again Stephen,

Thanks again for your imput. I have noticed that occasionally the crop as a recorded action will work as expected when using the newest versions of photoshop but, sadly, when they are continually used they will fail again. Please keep in mind that I use the crop command as a recorded action on countless images in my workflow. Failure is simply not an option for many reasons but mostly because of efficiency. My work around as I have mentioned in other responses is to simply install version 25.11. This version runs as expected. What happens, though, is I open photoshop to begin a session and run the command just to find the crop handles missing. What has happened is Creative Cloud has updated without my permission. The fix is to revert to 25.11 and begin the session again. One concern I have is that reverting to 25.11 may become unavailable. So, as I've worked I have considered what my work around might become. I beleive the only solution under that circumstance will be to remove the crop command from the action and crop manually before running the other commands included in my current action. Not my first choice but can be done.

I appologise that I seem to be unmovable regarding this specific problem but missing crop handles and sluggish response is unacceptable when it works in one version and not another.

Thanks again,

Marc

[creative explorer]

@marcdwelis have you tried View - Extras 

[marcdwelis]

I have extras selected in the view menu. Unselecting and reselecting has no effect.

[Bojan Živković]

Functions as intended in the latest version 26.3.0 of Photoshop on Windows.

[marcdwelis]

Hello Bojan,

Thanks for your interest in this problem. I'm sorry, though, the crop handles are missing when running a crop command as a recorded action in version 26.3.0. The last version that the crop handles appear correctly is 25.11

[Bojan Živković]

Just tested, you are correct. Would you mind recording the set path or inserting the path step followed by the transform path step, with a modal for the transform path allowed to temporarily solve the problem? In the past, I recorded several commercial actions and never used the Crop tool; I always opted for Insert Path, followed by Transform Path if necessary.

[marcdwelis]

Thanks again Bojan for considering this problem and suggesting a work around. I have been using the crop tool as a recorded action for decades and so seems unneccessary to change a command that is so simple and effective only to chase a problem with current programming. I use these actions to automate the processing of tens of thousands of images and would rather use a version of photoshop that continues to work. Ocassionally I check the newer versions of photoshop and the beta hoping that this problem will be resolved. As of now it hasn't been. In the beginning this problem was presented directly to adobe but they chose to move it to this discussion board rather than address it themselves. As is typical, they pointed their finger at my system or maybe my corrupted preferences. This I have seen before with other users and problems. I currently use multiple machines running varying operating systems and the problem is present in all of them. I don't mean to go on and, once again, I appreciate your time and expertise. For now it seems I will continue to revert my version of photoshop back to 25.11 following each update. Which, by the way, happens regardless of how many times I turn off automatic updates. To finish, photoshop is a critical piece of my workflow and this problem is minor in the long run.

Thanks again,

Marc