Onscreen in image controls for blur gallery not showing

[DavidMacDo]

None of the onscreen in image controls for blur gallery are showing. The preview works and I can see the filters being applied.  I can modify the effect haphazardly by dragging on screen if I am lucky enough to find the right point, but none of the in image  control points, circles, etc. which show me where to drag are showing. The filters are all to all intents and purposes completely unusable.

Mac Studio M1 Max.     OS Sonoma 14.5.    PS 25:11

PS Settings: Use Graphics processor, Open CL, Anti alais guides & paths and GPU compositing, are all checked.

Are there any known issues with the hardware/software combinations shown above?

Are there any settings I may need to change?

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.

<"moved from cc desktop bugs">

[DavidMacDo]

OK Thank you! I do find where to post very hard sometimes.

[kglad]

(no problem)

[Derek Cross]

See if resetting the Photoshop Preferences back to the factory defaults sorts the issue out. You can do that under the General tab in Photoshop Settings, then closing and reopening the application.

[DavidMacDo]

Yes thank you Derek. It's the obvious thing to try. I was hoping not to have too. It's such a pain re-setting them ....... 

........ but you are very probably right. Guess it's inevitably coming up to bullet biting time.

[Derek Cross]

You can do an online search on how to save your settings before you reset them.
By the way, I assume you have plenty of RAM and lots of spare hard disk capacity?

[DavidMacDo]

64GB RAM 700GB SSD swap file. Should do ..........

I'll do what you suggest because I have everything customised.  I have my own external backups for nearly everything but not the main PS preferences. I'll go Library and web digging. Thanks.

[Derek Cross]

How much of the 700GB is spare?
Have fun digging!

[DavidMacDo]

700GB is the free space on a 1TB SSD.

[Derek Cross · Accepted solution]

Well you have plenty of resources.
I put the Saving Preferences question into Co-pilot and received this reply:

To save your Photoshop Preferences before resetting them to factory defaults, you can follow these steps:

1. **Quit Photoshop**.
2. **Navigate** to the Photoshop Preferences folder on your computer:
- For **macOS**: `Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings`
- For **Windows 10**: `Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop [version]/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings`
3. **Copy** the entire `Adobe Photoshop [Version] Settings` folder and **save it** on your computer or backup storage¹.
4. To **reset** the preferences, reopen Photoshop and go to:
- **macOS**: `Photoshop > Preferences > General`
- **Windows**: `Edit > Preferences > General`
5. **Select** the option `Reset Preferences On Quit` and then click **OK**.
6. **Quit** Photoshop again. When you reopen it, the preferences will be reset to their default values.

Remember, resetting preferences will replace all settings with default settings, so backing them up allows you to restore them later if needed¹. If you have custom presets like brushes or styles, make sure to save them separately through the Preset Manager⁶.

If you ever need to **restore** your preferences, simply copy the backed-up `Adobe Photoshop [Version] Settings` folder back into the Preferences directory¹. Make sure Photoshop is not running when you do this.

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 03/08/2024
(1) Quick Tip: How to Reset Photoshop preferences. https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/quick-tip-how-to-reset-photoshop-pref....
(2) How to backup and restore Photoshop settings? - Super User. https://superuser.com/questions/380008/how-to-backup-and-restore-photoshop-settings.
(3) How To Reset Photoshop Preferences - Photoshop Essentials. https://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/reset-photoshop-preferences/.
(4) Preferences in Photoshop - Adobe Inc.. https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html.
(5) How to reset Photoshop preferences - PanosFX. https://www.panosfx.com/installation-troubleshooting/reset-preferences.
(6) How To Reset, Backup, And Restore Your Photoshop Preferences. https://www.bwillcreative.com/how-to-reset-backup-and-restore-your-photoshop-preferences/.
(7) How to Backup Your Photoshop Settings - Memories Renewed. https://www.memoriesrenewed.com/2022/06/how-to-backup-your-photoshop-settings/.

[DavidMacDo]

Hi Derek just found it before you posted! I have backed up the entire PS24 settings folder.

So now I'm about to dive into the deep end. 

Thanks for all your extensive help. I'll let you know. 

[DavidMacDo]

Re-setting preferences does the trick it works again.

But as soon as I restore my backed up personal preferences file the problem appears again. Everything else works as it should except this one filter group.

The reset causes everything personal to disappear.  I lose ALL my preferences (like screen layout, toolbars, shortcuts, etc.) Getting back to where I want is much more than just putting back my preferences in the PS settings dialogue.

So it seems I have two alternatives:

1) Re-build by hand in the settings dialogue and restore workspaces, tools, shortcuts, etc. as best I can from my local backups of these. 

2) Try and find which of the many individual files in the settings folder is causing the problem. Difficulty is that there is nothing obvious I can see that refers to Blur Gallery or it's individual filters.

I have backed up the default settings to an external folder as well as my personal settings. So I can swap files back and forth in the library settings until I find out which one is corrupted. 

I can do this initially in large groups and then drill down to the individual corrupt file. but it's still a lot of work.

I'm not a happy bunny ............ 

[Derek Cross]

Yep it's frustrating – it does seem as if one of the settings is causing an issue.

[DavidMacDo]

Well it's done! So far all looks good.

Thank God I am fairly disciplined and, by habit, any time I change a personal setting (kbd, brushes, actions, toolbar, etc.)  I export the changes to external files. I was able to quickly import them to the new default workspace. I had to go through the main settings dialogue and reset them to my preferences by hand but that is only a few minutes.

Fingers crossed. Thank you for all your help Derek. The info you supplied saved me time.