Error "could not save as because write access was not granted" in Photoshop 2020 and macOS Catalina

[DavidO$]

When I try to save an image in Photoshop I get a message

Could not save as “IMG_9257.tif” because write access was not granted.

I also get "file could not be written" when I try to save in Lightroom Classic

Can any body help me I am running the very latest Catalina update on a Mac and the latest update of Photoshop.

[Akash Sharma]

Hi there,

Sorry that you cannot save in Photoshop as you're getting an error message "write access is not granted". 

Please checkout the steps below:
 
1) Try going to the System Preferences of the macOS, then to Security and Privacy and add Photoshop to the Accessibility under the Privacy tab. Also, grant permissions to Photoshop 2020 under the Files and Folders section.
2) Turn on the Legacy Compositing option in Performance preferences. Choose Preferences > Performance, select Legacy Compositing, quit and relaunch Photoshop.
Let us know how it goes.

Thanks, 

Akash

[john6C2B]

I am having exactly the same issue with the latest edition of Catalina 10.15.6  and the 2020 Adobe CC

I have done as Akash has suggested above and still no joy.

[Fabrice5E7C]

Hi there, I am having the same issue with mac os 10.15.7 (Catalina) on macbook pro 2020 and Adobe Photoshop (2020 and 2021) and Lightroom Classic. So annoying. These things never happened with previous macbooks I've owned. I still don't know how to resolve this. Can anyone please help?

[athletic_coder0D4B]

Same issue!

Tried closing other apps with the mage open.

Tried closing the finder window.

Tried unchecking preview icon in Finder > View

Any suggestions?

[jeromet33494192]

Same problem - solutions offered do not resolve.

[defaulty55vh1ysulw4]

Check that your antivirus program is not blocking access to the folder you're trying to save the image to. Some antivirus programs have a "safe files" list. I was having the same problem and found that Antivirus for Mac had included my "Pictures" folder in its "safe list" and had blocked me from writing files to that folder.

[Shilpa5C05]

worked for me! thank you 🙂

[JenL5 · Accepted solution]

System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy tab > Full Disk Access > check box for Adobe Photoshop

This fixed the problem in Big Sur and probably works for Catalina as well.

Good luck.

[DavidO$]

Thank you I did that and will give it a try.

[DavidO$]

Everything is working good now. Thanks for all the help.

[athletic_coder0D4B]

Thank you 🙏🏼 

Will give your suggestion a go

[714jpp]

Thank you! This fixed the problem on my Mac Mini M1 running Big Sur.   

[Alysha163A]

This works but had to restart my computer as well as update the settings so lost what I was working on but it's now resolved.

[JoshZippy]

this worked like a charm!

thanks so much. ❤️

Josh

[Muhammad23541306xwfy]

I'm using Mojave MacOS, Already do what you suggest but still can't save the file

[JaxLindsay]

Oh my gosh! Thank you! This has been driving me nuts and I thought it was an issue with my hard drive! 

[Daniel278060959aj4]

OMG, I have been dealing with this for 6 months and I finally decided to just search the answer and found this site.  This totally worked for me.  

Thank you so much!!!

[talin gharadaghi]

Thank you! You're a lifesaver. I was going nuts with all the things I tried and it didn't work. My OS is Monterey 12.6.6

It's working perfect now.

[WShields]

Still not working for me. The security folder was already allowing and and i checked the legacy setting and it is good. I restarted my computer several times last night and it still isn't working. I don't have anti virus. What else can i do

[WShields]

Right below the full disk access it has the folders and files. This is what it looks like. Greyed out. don't know how to change that. 

[WShields]

Ugg it says full disc access but I still can't save. 

[Alysha163A]

Hi There,

I am not in any way an expert but have you tried reinstalling the software?

[Alysha163A]

or making sure your system is up to date, reinstall and then try above?

[Luis_MX]

Confirm process for MacOS Catalina, using Photohop 2021 (22.4.3):

-> Give Full Disk Access to Photosop (Security & Privacy Settings)

-> Delete ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Save for Web 13.0 Prefs

-> Delete ~/Library/Preferences/Save for Web Prefs.psp

-> Restart

Now, Save for Web is working again!