How to fix black background issue with PNG files in Photoshop

[deadkitty]

I am experiencing an issue with all transparent png files copied from Chrome and pasted into Photoshop CS6. The background is black rather than transparent. These images are one I created and exported using "save for web". It worked fine in CS5 so it must be a bug.

Does anyone know of a fix or workaround? I constantly have to edit images taken from our website so being able to copy an image quickly with transparency intact is very important. I'm running CS6 in Windows.

[conroy]

A workaround could be to drag the PNG image from Chrome to the desktop, which should create a PNG file, then drag that file into Photoshop.

[deadkitty]

Yeah, that is the easiest way as far as I can see. But it sure would be nice if it just worked correctly.

[deadkitty]

This has already been explored on Google's support site (because other people have come across it) and the problem does indeed lie with PS. Not to mention the fact that I started having this issue the second I upgraded to CS6.

[conroy]

On a Mac, both Ps CS5 and Ps CS6 fail to honour the transparency of an image on the clipboard that was copied from an application other than Photoshop: the pasted pixels will be composited with white. Other image editors (which cost a tiny fraction of the price of Photoshop) do honour the transparency: when you paste into them, the correctly transparent pixels are pasted instead of the fully opaque rubbish that Ps produces. Even Adobe's own Illustrator gets it right. I imagine that the only modern application which fails to do this correctly is Photoshop.

[deadkitty]

Yeah I think that is due to it being an indexed png (from the research I have done).

[conroy]

The problem I'm seeing in CS5 and CS6 on OS X is not limited to the source image being a PNG, indexed or otherwise. It's simply that transparent pixels in the clipboard, which have been copied from any source except Photoshop, are pasted into Photoshop as an opaque composite with white.

[Timobkr]

Hi, I was facing a similar problem. The black background was appearing in Adobe Illustrator. Thanks to your comment, in PS, I changed from indexed image to RGB and the image now appears correctly in Illustrator.

[Gladwill Design]

One thing you can do if you want to avoid having to save the file is just copy the image link, then go into Photoshop and from the file menu -- File > Open (or Ctrl + O) and paste the url directly into the filename field, click "Open". I know that this works on Windows 7 and 10, not so sure on OSX

With this method, you're still downloading the image, but it's going into your temporary images so you can avoid cluttering your desktop or downloads folder.

Hope this helps someone.

FYI: I know this is an old thread, but it places in top search results.

[morgyface]

Great tip jgladwill​, cheers for that!

[jamesm29191048]

Wow, every year or so I check to see if Adobe has fixed this bug - and every year or so I'm disappointed. This is just another example of programmers who don't really use their own software.

[lbrew005]

This is not Adobe's fault.

This is Windows clipboard's fault.

When you right-click --> Copy a PNG, Windows discards the transparency information when it stores it in the clipboard.

After that, if you paste the contents ANYWHERE, it will have a black background.

Best way to try it is to paste into Windows Paint, you'll see the same behavior.

[jamesm29191048]

Hmm, just tried Paint and it does exactly that. But pasted again into MS Word and the transparency was fine, so the info is in there. Then immediately pasted into PhotoShop and, as usual, black square. Maybe someone should introduce the Microsoft devs to the Adobe devs and also to the other Microsoft devs. I don't think they have all met.

[imTheSupremeOne]

Itz working in Paint.NET...

[Brazzell MA]

This is incorrect. Copying PNGs from Chrome and pasting into Word preserves the PNGs transparency.

[Jargs]

@Brazzell_MA, looks like you might have misread jamesm's comment. It says transparency was fine in Word.

[Pxhyre]

It may be a year old but I'm annoyed that you're trying to protect adobe on this, just because it doesn't work on Paint and everywhere else that doesn't mean that it isnt adobe's fault. Paint comes with windows, Photoshop is something you have to buy.

[CManSipper]

I would love to know how this was marked as the correct answer. There are several programs that do retain the pasted image's transparency. Which means Windows isn't discarding transparency. All that Ibrew proved here is that Photoshop is as bad as MS Paint 😂

[eqwqwdeeee · Accepted solution]

Here is a possible work around.

Rather than copy the image in Chrome Right click on the image and select "Copy image address". Then in Photoshop use Place Embedded and Paste the URL where it asks for filename. This will download the image straight into a Smart Layer where you can Edit Content or Rasterize Layer.

[gmzaustin]

Confirming that this works! Where has this answer been for the past 6 years!!!! This should be listed as the 'correct answer' to this question!

[rowang68961561]

100% Agree! This is the way to do it (until someone fixes the obvious glitch) Also works into Illustrator.

[heidid47159563]

THIS ABSOLUTELY WORKS!!! I tried all the other suggestions, but no luck. This one did the trick. It's crazy that they can't fix this so that a work around isn't necessary. Thank you!

[Heemo]

Your a flipping life saver. Ive been saving junk on my desktop for years

[TrapTurkey]

What I found to work was saving the original PNG file to the computer, then opening  that image onto photoshop. In my experience the image that was saved still has it’s transparent background when opened in photoshop in this way. Then if you are pasting the image onto a white background, add a white background layer below the png image. After this I believe you can save it (either png, pdf, jpeg) then you should be good to go from there. Hopefully this helps!

[kotur]

Just now found an easy way - saved picture as PNG in to computer - and then opened in PS - I got the image with transparent background ..