Photoshop isn't showing changes made

[sarahpeller]

I have the latest CC version of Photoshop and I'm having issues right now where the program won't show changes I've made to a file unless I move the layer I'm working on with the cursor, or delete it or various other actions that seem to trigger the change.

I tried restarting the computer and restarting the program. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Ko.Maruyama]

Is it possible that it's an issue related to your graphics card?

What's your card spec?

What's the size of the PSD that you're working on?

[sarahpeller]

Hmm... maybe. I am realizing that I'm having trouble with all of the Adobe programs right now. In InDesign, weird black triangles and distortions are appearing on my files when I make changes. In Illustrator, I can't get the tool to change from the pencil tool to another tool...

This is what is says under "graphics" when I look up info for my mac: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB

The file size that I was working on yesterday in Photoshop was 111 MB

What do you think it might be?

I already tried resetting preferences for Photoshop, btw. It didn't work. But then I restarted my computer again and photoshop has been working for the time being. But this has happened before, so I fear that I might have the same problem again...

[Ko.Maruyama]

yechhh. not a good thing in any circumstance, but if they're all having troubles displaying graphics - - - ick. it may probably be the graphics card.

I've had the misfortune of having several cards die under my watch. 

The photoshop document isn't *that* big.  And your video card is MORE than capable, but that model is a little old. 

If you can't diagnose it yourself, it's worth taking it into an Apple store, or a store you trust to get a quick look at it.

[deliverance]

Try updating or reseting Photoshop How to delete/reset Photoshop preferences

[Ko.Maruyama]

This is a good reference.

but I dunno if this will help all of the graphics issues through the other apps... sounds hardware related.

[Warren Heaton]

Your scratch disk location could be running low on available storage space.

How much space is available on your Macintosh HD?  (Apple Menu > About This Mac > Storage).

Some other things to try when software starts to do something unexpected:

• Create a new macOS X user and try using Photoshop under that account.  Use PS as you would normally to see if the problem persists or goes away.
• Create a new boot drive that has only macOS X and Photoshop installed.  A USB3 Flash drive will work (but it'll be slow unless it's a newer, more expensive high-bandwidth ones).  Use PS as you would normally to see if the problem persists or goes away.

-Warren

[sarahpeller]

I've been observing this issue for a while. For about a month or so, I didn't have any issues with the programs. Now it seems to only be Photoshop that is acting up. Pretty much every change I make to my document doesn't appear until after I switch to another document or make the next change, which seems to sometimes trigger the previous change.

I just checked my available space on my HD, as suggested. I have 50 GB free, which seems like a lot to me... What do you think?

Photoshop seems to have no issues when I use it from another user account.

What does this mean and does it point to a possible solution?

Thanks so much, everyone!

- Sarah