Photoshop Error: Cannot use tool becauae of a program error - move tool and pasting

[dennisn9295249]

This has happened to me a few times this past week. I make banners and instagram posts for the company I work for and never came across this error before. I try to make the banner and the instagram post similar, but when I copy something from the banner to put in the other post, I get the error; 'could not complete the Paste Layers command because of a program error.'

So I tried moving the layer over and got a similar response; 'could not use the move tool because of a program error.'

It's only on certain layers. And they aren't locked. It seems like it's only not working when the layer has some type of layer effect on it, which I was able to move last week with no problem at all.

Any suggestions to fix it?

[Guest]

Hi

Have you tried resetting Photoshop preferences

[dennisn9295249]

I had not tried that, however I just did and I did not work for the layer that I was trying to move over. It did let me now with another layer that wasn't moving earlier.

[heejin0646@gmail.com]

I'm using Photoshop cs6 version.
Could not use the move tool because of a program error keeps popping up. How do I fix this?

[JJMack]

What version of Photoshop are you using.  I find on my system CC 2018 19.1.6 is unstable and randomly crashes my problem may be related to my system hardware and software.  However CS6  and CC 2014 are very stable on my system.

[dennisn9295249]

I am on 19.1.6, which I updated Monday after first getting this error thinking that it needed to being updated. Maybe I should try CS6 or CC 2014

[hekselsior]

I also have this problem sometimes. It usually occurs when I dragged (copy) one layer in a document to another document via 2-up window display in Photoshop (I usually do this when copying a layer to another opened document). I thought the complex layers and big PSD file caused this, but just now I just got the same problem even when I work with a small sized PSD and few layers. It doesn't happen frequently though, but when it does, it is really annoying. I couldn't transfer the layer between 2 documents. Even the layer was transferred, I couldn't move the layer within the document. The move tool cursor icon will be changed into a non-clickable (or whatever its name) cursor icon.

The simplest solution for me is saving the current work and quit Photoshop, and restart it. Open the previously saved file and the PS works normally. Surely it's way better if it's fixed since I knew I never got this problem when I was using the Creative Suite version.

[Guest]

Hi, I know this is an old post, but I was wondering if people are having this problem in 2020? I'm having what I think is this same issue now on PS 2021. 

It happens occasonally when I duplicate a layer... It seems to happen at total random and tends to put me in a Catch 22 - I can't close PS without saving the files, which I can't do because of the layer causng a program error.

Ocasionally, if I then REDUPLICATE that layer so I have two duplications of the same layer, so the "Original", "Original Copy 1" and "Original Copy 2", then delete the first duplication ("Original Copy 1"), it will then allow me to save without the error. It does seem liked to the layers somehow ad  dmit, I'm, not the most... organized when it comes to my layers.

Resetting preferences didn't help, nor did messig aroud with the scratch discs (which tends to fix a few things.) 

[Glevity]

Yes, I am regularly getting this error with no clear resolution.

[Guest]

Urgh. Hopefullyu this is something that will be fixed in an update

[Emma5CF8]

Same is happening to me, sometimes it works when I select the layer I want to copy and press Ctrl A to select the full layer and then do the copy and paste 

[osborn4]

I just hit this (Adobe Photoshop Version: 25.4.0 20240118.r.319 67d7f0b x64). I duplicated the layer and then deleted the original. I was able to move the duplicate.