Photoshop freezing at 99% when saving file.

[Johnee_Oneal]

Hi. At about a week long I cant save files with smart objects and smart effects. Saving always freezing at 99% and force quit is needed. After Im not able to start PS and I need to restart mac. All the changes I made are lost of course. Is it a bug or is there any solution? Thx

[italosan]

Hi, we are sorry that you are experiencing problems with Adobe Photoshop. Could you please provide us with more information that is inconsistent with the characteristics of your PC and the version of Photoshop you are using?

[HenriGo]

Having the same 99% stuck issues. Frustrating beyond belief.

Have PS 2020, Imac Catalina. Installed update 21.0.2 Even upgraded the Imac's ram.

Seems to be an issue with especially large PSD files. Gets stuck at 99% and you need to reboot the entire computer.

Most of the time the PSD file is then completely unusable and looks corrupt (all colors mixed etc).

Hours of work LOST. This issue needs fixing on Adobe's side NOW to work well with Catalina.

Frankly, I prefer not to read about a blamegame catalina/Adobe,  As a customer, I just want this to work well.

 Please fix this A.S.A.P thank you.

[tinab84487057]

Exactly my issue only mine freezes at 73% and no error messages! I waited hours to see if it would eventually save. Nope. I had to restart computer. The file looked the same as you're describing. Horizontal multicoloured lines! 

[HenriGo]

Hi Tina,

The only thing I do see is that it seems a bit better when using smaller sized PSD files.

Also turn on your activity monitor (mac) and close other programs like safari etc who take a lot of ram.

I have 24GB ram now yet it still seems to be an issue.

Please share new experiences. I appreciate it.

Regards,

Henri

[website removed]

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Are any of you saving directly to an external drive?

If so, please read through this thread as it has been covered extensively.

[rodw17272230]

I have read this thread. The only reference to a solution I've seen is to save to my local drive and then copy to my external hard drive. This is impractical. I have given read and write permissions to PhotoShop for my external hard drive; yet still freezes at 99%. Please tell us how to fix the problem. Thanks. 

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Part of the issues are due to the formatting of the external drive after Catalina updates.

Reformatting the drive to a compatible format resolves that issue.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250727433 

However, others have reported general slow downs on their external drives.

This article goes into details to resolve (without reformatting).

https://appletoolbox.com/mac-macbook-doesnt-recognize-external-drives-troubleshooting-tips/ 

There was another thread on the Adobe forums where someone changed out their USB connection and it resolved.

Either way, a slow drive or not allowing direct write access from Photoshop can cause the stall when saving. IT has nothing to do with RAM or specs other than a recent upgrade to Catalina.

The fact that smaller PSDs save without issue leans me towards the drive slow down issue.

I'm not blindly defending Adobe but in this case it seems to be an issue with Apple and the changes in Catalina. If I weren't having the same issues with larger files from other programs (Excel) I would think it was a Photoshop centric issue as well.

Adobe is aware of the issue and is working to resolve, but if Apple doesn't also make updates to address, I'm not sure what Adobe can do about the system OS. 😕

[richardn]

But the thing is, I’m not using Catalina. I’m still using Mojave.

Sent from my iPhone

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

For Mojave, have you checked your Apple security and privacy preferences?

You need to make sure Photoshop has all disk access and is in the list and checked.

[HenriGo]

Same here, for now this seems the only -very impractical- solution.

[jaijai121]

not any external drive, it's happening with the internal drive. It's even freezing for saving very small size files. It's happening since last 2 weeks.

[rangercarroll]

Same problems and they are major now.  Once the freeze happens the only way to open PS or any again is to reboot the computer - however, that doesn't help as the same problems happen again.  I'm not stuck at home and without PS, LR or Br and it's so sad.

[jacquelingphoto2017]

Hi @jaijai121 and @rangercarroll ,

Photoshop utilizes a lot of memory, and so does the small files created. Your workload, file-size and tool utility will determine how much memory required. The crash is an indication that your physical memory is utilized and virtual memory is overwhelmed. You will need to remove all files you are not working with, including the small photoshop files from your hard drive and do some other adjustments as per suggestion at https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop/photoshop-freezing-at-99-when-saving-file/m-p/11651448#M491...?

Best wishes

JG

Photographer and Nutrition Author

[jacquelingphoto2017]

Hi Johnee,

Sorry about your experience. I assume you are using the Photoshop 2020 version. If that is the case, a crash report dialogue box should pop-up when the freeze occur. I suggest, as it requests, you explain in details what you are doing when you have the freezing, and any other relevant information, complete the other requirements of that crash report dialogue box and send the report. 

Best wishes

JG

[EGhaf]

Hi, I am having the same issue. My file is saving to 99% and not completing the task. Leading me to force quit photoshop and losing all work that has been done.

[jacquelingphoto2017]

Hi Eghaf,

Sorry to hear about your experience. What version of Photoshop are you using?

Did you get the latest update?

Is it absolutely none of your files saving, or does the first one save and then no other except you quit photoshop?

[EGhaf]

The latest 2020 version. I haven't had this issue prior to updating.

None of the file is saving, and trying to reopen it can only open a recovered file. Then I am unable to quit photoshop as it is still trying to save the file. Which has to make me force quit the program completely.

[joaopedrodesign]

The same here. And I need also to restart the camputer in order to have PS working again. 

[kallek29272156]

Same here, mac catalina, external SSD and the latest PS & LR.  Do you have a solution for this now? It has destroyed half of today's work for me. 😞 

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Per Adobe's own guidelines be wary about saving to an external/network drive or risk data loss.

It is even more prevelant with Catalina.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/networks-removable-media-photoshop.html 

Specifically:

"When you save and open files across a network or from removable media, many variables affect application performance. Therefore, some problems occur more frequently when you work across a network or from removable media than from a local hard disk. "

[AmrEzzedeen]

I've the same issue since I updated to version 21.0.3 I can't save any of my work.. I wish if there is anyway I can sue adobe for all the work i've lost!! it is really frustrating .. more worse when it freezes it ruin the psd file!!

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Again - please read the post this is a catalina issue not Photoshop.

Save to your local HD not a network or external and make sure you have allowed PS access to your HD via Catalina security preferences.

[AmrEzzedeen]

I'm still having the same issue. It has nothing to do with local HD or Network or whatever you're talking about. 

obeviously, you don't know 1% about the problem. Photoshop requstes to have access to HD via catalina during the first installation. 

FYI, why other versions of photoshop used to work fine with catalina??? and why I can't save my work on external hard disk drive or network ??? 

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[D Fosse]

I don't know why some people find it impossible to accept that MacOS can have bugs, or that Apple can have any faults whatsoever. Why is that? I'm really curious about this phenomenon.