Photoshop CC 2015 is so slow it is unusable on my system

[DG. David Escalante]

I have no idea what is wrong here but this version of PS its horribly slow.

Here is a video i just captured about this issue:

http://cl.ly/2W0P381A1G1y/60fps-PSCC2015-slow.mp4

There is not difference with GPU enabled, there is no difference if I have or not rules enabled. I never experienced something like with with CC 2014.

MacPro with 12 cores and 64GB RAM

Its there something I could do to fix this?

[serewrw]

I feel the same way. Photoshop 2015.1 just feels sluggish. It starts with the startup.  PS 2014 is ready to use immediately when I see the user interface, while PS 2015 is unresponsive for 5-10 seconds. The whole PC slows down when the program is loading. Other operations feel slower too. Simple stuff like zooming in or out on an image in the backgroun when a filter window has the focus is faster in 2014 compared to 2015. Same goes for loading images.

I couldn't stand 2015.1 and went back to 2014.

[Adam Jerugim]

Disregard the suggestion to disable wifi.

I have two more tests that I'd like everyone to try to see if it helps with PS CC 2015.1 performance.

1.  Disable Device Preview - choose Window > Device Preview and then use the fly-out menu to close the window (quit and re-launch after this step)

2.  Disable Generator - go to Preferences > Plug-ins and uncheck "Enable Generator" (quit and re-launch after this step too)

Do either of these changes help with overall performance?

Thanks,

Adam

[FrancisDC]

Hi,

Followed instructions. I'd say that #1 didn't do anything.

However, adding #2 might have helped a bit: I noticed less lag when I switched, via keyboard, from tool to tool (Marquee is a big offender. But then again, Text Tool and others did as well. Might not matter which tool I am choosing?). I'd say that, yes, overall there was an improvement in lagtime after step #2.

Interesting, that, in general, there were times when I was just looking at cc2015 and the beachball would appear. What is it thinking about, processing, who's it talking to? Even while I am doing literally nothing? Hm!

(it's often very spotty. For instance, I poked around at my deliberately chosen 2300px wide image with the Eraser and things bogged down and yet a few seconds later I was erasing all I wanted with no issues. Ah, but then switch TASKS like just deselecting via keyboard shortcut and the beachball appears. Only for about 1-2secs, but it happened. However, if I am using the Marquee tool and deselect, I don't think I have seen the beachball)

Francis

[gener7]

Have you tried reducing the History States in Preferences > Performance from 50 to 25 (Restart PS)?

[FrancisDC]

gener7,

I just tried that on your recommendation. Doesn't seem to have an appreciable effect.

If anything speeds up performance, it might be working with a smaller version of the same image. Ehhhh...but even then I get lag at the most odd of times; just now I zoomed into my 20%-of-original-size image and got a beachball for a few moments. It's hard to predict!

[gener7]

Ok. I'm running OSX 10.10.5 on a mid 2009 Macbook, so I don't know what problems happens with others. If I think of anything else, I'll certainly leave it here.

[estdesigns]

I tried these two steps as well with no real noticeable improvement. Similar to Bonkersforever, I notice the delays and lag time for some period and then no issues at all for a couple minutes and then it's back to the spinning beachball, while I'm doing nothing.

Not sure if everyone else has this as well, but I'm noticing the exact same issue in both Illustrator and InDesign.

[estdesigns]

I don't know if this will help everyone, but it made all the difference for me. Since I was having the same delay and hesitation issues in all my Adobe CC apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), I tried force quitting out of the Creative Cloud desktop app via the Activity Monitor. Immediately all my apps came back to life. I left it off for awhile and then restarted it and all my apps are running as expected, currently.

It's not really a viable fix since Adobe requires you to be signed in, at some point, to use your apps, but it's helped in the meantime.

[Digitaluke33]

I've tried:

• Disabling font preview
• Disabling library panel
• Changing history states to 15
• Disabling Device Preview
• Disabling Generator
• Killing the Creative Cloud app and the CCLibrary.exe process

Still, only reverting to 2014 helps. PS 2014 flies, as do all other programs – including 3DS Max.

The system is plenty fast enough with 32GB RAM, SSD, and dual Quadro cards.

[Digitaluke33]

It may make my problem unique from other users experiencing this slowdown in PS2015...but I'm wondering if it's an issue between PS 2015 and the NVIDIA Quadro cards.

My drivers are up to date, and again PS 2015 is the only area I've noticed the issue so far.

But really I'm just grasping at straws here.

[Digitaluke33]

Ok I don't know if this qualifies as a solution, but I can get PS 2015 running almost as fast as 2014! (As a reminder, none of the steps below need to be done to get PS 2014 running fast, it just does.)

My conflict seems to revolve entirely around Photoshop CC 2015 and Google Chrome.

On startup, a chrome process loads in the background. It has low memory usage and allows for easy Hangouts connections, so I allow it.

However, if even this tiny Chrome process is running, PS 2015 craaaawls. My benchmarking test was launching the Effects Panel(fx), which would take 20-30sec to load in PS2015! Ex: http://screencast.com/t/jlrOuqrm‌‌‌ -- PS 2014's Effects Panel launches instantaneously.

But if I kill Chrome completely, not just close it, PS 2015 can open the Effects Panel in 1 second. A strange aberration here is if I kill Chrome before launching PS 2015, PS will run relatively fine even if I relaunch Chrome! The Effects Panel launches in 2~sec, with Chrome happily running alongside.

To reinforce the connection between Photoshop 2015 and Google Chrome as the culprit, I Loaded up Firefox and IE with tabs, and ran Illustrator, Spotify, Bridge, After Effects, Brackets, InDesign and SpeedGrade simultaneously --- with no effect on PS 2015's Effects Panel loading speed. It was right at 1~sec.

This is frustrating because PS and Chrome are my two most-used applications, but it looks like I'll be running back to Firefox or at least be making sure PS launches before any Chrome process.

Finally, I think this issue extends beyond just PS 2015. I've noticed slowness in Premiere and After Effects 2015 and will be testing the above steps with those programs as well.

Hope this helps someone!

[alexandyr]

Quitting Chrome before opening photoshop seems to have fixed this.  Previously photoshop would hesitate for 1-3 seconds before every click (including menus).

No idea if this is a Chrome issue of PS issue, but both are important parts of my workflow!

[Chris Cox]

Please let Google know about your issues with Chrome so they can get it fixed ASAP.

(note: Chrome has had issues like this before)

[nathane80105428]

Yeah PS 2014 works like a dream - i've given up on trying to figure it out, I need to get work done

[MadameM]

Everything is running fine and dandy, once I can get the program to load (running 10.10.5 on a 2013 iMac standard graphic card etc) which could take literally  5 minutes. (yes I timed it) and if any thing else is running (cloud pull, back blaze, chrome updates, it would go into the classic mac spin. So yes, I started it without wifi and for me that did make all the difference in the world. Loaded in a speedy 1 min. So I guess it would depend on the problem. If it is a cloud based program, would that not perhaps effect it?

As far as the comment from Tidal Wave Creative about users being beta testers- I personally find they ARE the best testers, as they are the ones who use the programs day in day out in the real world. I am a beta tester for the NYT Android app and I know 1% over nothing about the tech side of things. Just what works for me.

[Tidal Wave Creative]

I just updated my Photoshop CS 2015 and the application has become completely unresponsive. If I open a file or try to change a Preferences setting I get the spinning beach ball and it just spins and spins and spins. To make matters worse PS CS 2014 is also not usable. I have to force quite the applications. Luckily I kept CS6 still and that version works. Illustrator CS 2015 works as does InDesign CS 2015 and Dreamweaver 2015.

Why have we software purchasers become the bug testers for multimillion dollar corporations too cheap to do it themselves? I've wasted a half day trying to find a solution to be able to work for my clients. So frustrating!!! Not OK Adobe!!!

[zbir tatar]

I've just found out that it might be a problem not with Photoshop itself, but Libraries.

When I've pasted vector graphics from Illustrator with 'add to my libraries' checked - everything started to freeze - changing tools, nudging, etc

After I've unchecked that, Photoshop started to work like it should.

Really annoying bug

[jacograaff]

I do not think it is going to help at all. I have complained and even cancelled one of our subscriptions. My biggest hurdle is I simply do not have the time to move to other platforms right now. I am slowly adopting other solutions and will jump ship once I feel I can do without Adobe's tool set but it could take 2 years. As someone that has been using Photoshop since 1992, AE since 94 etc... it is painful. I am loyal to the software but Adobe has let me down.

At the moment Adobe is not listening. They are having short term success on the wave of all the additional fun mobile apps and acquisitions of complimentary services like cloud-storage, font-hosting and stock-libraries (One dollar photo-club). Most of it is just alternatives for Dropbox and other services I have been using. The productivity tools are suffering most likely because of funds being channels to those acquisitions which brings in more revenue to Adobe on top of our captive subscriptions. The investors would be happy because of potential short terms results. Upper management's loyalty and responsibility, and as such personal bonuses and promotions, lies fist and foremost with investors.

The only way to force a change is mass-action. Loosing a large amount of subscribers in a short period and not just a trickle will help. This will most likely not happen because most organisations, agencies, individuals (like myself) will take time to adopt new platforms.

The alternative mass-action is determining if a process can be started to investigate mass-action through a class-action. Such a step can be taken without stop paying for your subscription. Other subscribers can also then similarly investigate joining in and at least show their fealty to the movement of trying to get Adobe to get it's act together and balance their responsibility to investors with their ability to produce productive tools for clients.

Your couple of $$ a month will have no effect. But multiply that with 10 000 and you can get Adobe to respond.

It was much easier when I had to decide whether to upgrade or not depending on the last year's effort Adobe put into making my tools better. This is exactly the reason so many of us saw the writing on the wall once Adobe went completely subscription/rental based with their licensing.

[Bobby Henderson]

The issue with Adobe doesn't seem unique to me. Investor demands have created a tail wagging the dog situation with a great deal of the personal computing industry. Investors wonder why sales of new PCs are in the toilet, but they fail to realize they're part of the answer to why. Investors have forced developers to throw lots of resources into making software for tablets, phones, watches and other toys. These people must have serious ADHD issues. News flash: I still do the vast majority of my real computing work on a real personal computer. The computing industry needs to return its focus back to PCs and stop having developers running madly in circles (not to mention off-shoring so much of that work).

The current Mac Pro "tower," which looks more like a little coffee bean grinder for the kitchen is a clear sign the money people have no clue just what power users need. That little micro tower was built so it could only accept any expansion cards made specfically for it. For video acceleration it is stuck with mid-range level AMD D300 and D500 FirePro cards. Top of the line beasts like the AMD FirePro W9100 or nVidia Quadro M6000 won't fit in that little dinky cylinder. Meanwhile an off the shelf PC tower can fit 2, 3 or even 4 of those cards, provided the buyer's wallet is deep enough.

I've tried playing around with some of the mobile apps Creative Cloud has available for Android. The novelty wears off very quickly. The tools are too primitive. The Samsung Note 5 screen is big for a phone, but it's too tiny for getting real work done. At best I can only get started on something, but I still have to take the project to a real desktop PC or notebook to get it finished.

It would be nice if there were real viable alternatives to Adobe's software. From what I'm seeing, Adobe's rivals don't have their act together any better.

I use Corel DRAW for a great deal of my sign design work since its technical drawing tool set just blows the doors off Adobe Illustrator. The Illustrator team can't make something as simple as anchor point alignment easy to do. In Illustrator it takes lots of extra clicks to do something I can get done in Corel in only a click or two. With that being said, Corel DRAW has its own problems. I frequently deal with the same kind of choppy performance I've been seeing in the Adobe applications running on my workstation. This is why I suspect there are even larger issues present in Mac OSX and Windows. Corel DRAW still can't do some simple things Adobe Illustrator has always been able to do, like paste vector paths into Photoshop.

I've tried all kinds of graphics applications over the past 20 or so years and have yet to see anything that would be a truly worthy replacement to Photoshop and/or Illustrator. Every "Photoshop-killer" that comes along always has some serious limitation to it. Until Adobe's rivals can step up their A-game Adobe will continue to have much of the graphics market cornered.

[alejdiaz]

BobbyH5280, I agree 100%

Not that this would be unique in the investor-driven world, but a few years ago I heard something about their (Adobe) structure that if true, even in part, would explain quite a bit:  Essentially higher ups are rewarded for new features that make it to final product, because these are marketable additions to their product line. I.e. you can leverage them to sell more subscriptions, and thus make investors happy.

The problem is that because this is what is rewarded, everything else sort of takes a backseat. If new feature "X" somehow adds large amounts of bloat, affects stability and overall affects negatively other features, it is still pushed forward, because it means more money in the pockets of the lead, and possibly happier investors. Stability is secondary to this.  This is why you see the software get bloated to sickening degrees, and ridiculous additions that really have no use outside of novelty or a very, very small section of the market. If you want a better example of this, look at what went on with Acrobat for years and years. The primary push is newer features, not stability or performance.

Going back to Photoshop CC 2015 issues... I have pretty much given up entirely on this release. I checked again with the last round of updates, gave it about a week of work and still it was a poorer performing, less stable software than 2014CC.  My frustration with the entire 2015CC line has really affected my feelings over the whole Creative Cloud service, to the point where I considered just buying a CS6 license (latest I had was CS3, which served me well until CC came into the picture) and cutting the cord entirely.

Like BobbyH5280 mentioned...I have tried multiple alternatives and sadly end up grudgingly going back to my old tools, the alternatives have made great strides, but in most cases, still aren't there for the most part. But this should never be taken as a victory by Adobe, because what they DON'T have, pretty clearly, is the loyalty of many of their users, and instead we are literally waiting for a new player to step up and get off this train. Adobe still has the opportunity to change this, but I am not seeing anything yet that would indicate they are going to. They seem to me now a company for the investors, not the users.

[AleliSoliman]

For a while I thought of preparing myself to be fired from a job I got a month ago. I have been asked to do creative/watercolor paintings done with Photoshop brushes, that are to be printed in 40x40 canvas for home decoration. In one day, I can barely finish a project and I am required to do at least 4. I currently have Photoshop CC 2015, and wondering why the brushes do that long line when I have to click on the tools panel for tool change. Now I know that is officially a problem and will bring this up to my irate boss.

Thanks for all the comments and pointers.

Will try to go down to PS 2014 if that will help.

[roberts75571996]

I have two iMacs - one running OS X and the other running - thankfully not upgraded - OS 8 Mountain Lion.

I use CS6 to produce very large image tiles(3GB) usually layered.   When I updated my new 4k Retina iMac to OS 9, CS6 performance ground to a halt and in fact I am no longer able to use it.  Even trying to use a small eraser causes the "busy doing something color wheel" to spin for over 5 minutes at times.  Using my old iMac, same files and moves gives me instant results.  I have read on one forum that Mac changed it's memory paging from OpenGL to one proporietary one called Metal.  Has anyone else heard this? 

I'll never buy another Mac until this issue is fixed...not sure whether the Photoshop group are working on a fix or Apple are...but until it is fixed I'll never buy another Mac.

[DG. David Escalante]

There is actually a better and more simple solution:


https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/designer/




Since this performance issue started to show up in Photoshop (and other Adobe products) I looked up for an alternative and I have to say, I have been using AD and I am impressed about what a group of people have come up with.

Its amazingly fast and its a great alternative to Illustrator / Photoshop.

If you need a Photoshop specific you could try their Affinity Photo software with also looks amazing but I have not tried yet.

[grauenwölfe]

David,

Is there any way to purchase Affinity software other than the through Apple Store? Every time I click to buy it opens App Store and I don't want Apple involved in my purchases. I was able to download the trial version just fine a while back. I can't even find an email to send this question to on Affinity's site which is not the best start to a different company but still, getting desperate to have Adobe out of my life for good.

[macspectrum]

have u tried calling them ?

US customers: 1-800 489 6720
Monday to Friday – 4.30am to 4.00pm EST

From anywhere else, please call +44 115 914 2000.

Contact Service & Support – Serif Support