Save stuck on 0%. HELP! [2019]

Report · Nov 13, 2019

I'm using the latest version of Photoshop 2020 (21.0.1). I tried saving my file and it stuck on 0%. I figured because the autosave is on I can close it and I might lose only the last few things I did. God was I wrong. I lost all my work. I did some work again and decided to manually save it again. Little did I know I have the same issue. Is anyone else experiencing this? I don't know what to do. I don't want to lose everything again. I tried duplicating everything and saving that file bot it didn't work. Please help as this is important work. I'm using a 2017 Mac if that has anything to do with it.

Report · Dec 02, 2019

What OS are you on?

Report · Dec 02, 2019

Saving to external drives especially SSD's can eventually become problematic. If the external is an SSD remove as much of the data as possible then try again. If that's still not working transfer all the data off this drive and format it again. SSD's do not like being very full and performance goes downhill quickly as that space is reduced. Network drives are usually better but any network hickups can also cause a loss of data.

ICC programmer and developer, Photographer, artist and color management expert, Print standards and process expert.

Report · Dec 17, 2019

The same has happened to me since the 2020 update. I cannot work off any external drives and have to copy my files to the desktop. If I try to force quit photoshop when it gets stuck saving, the file gets corrupted and I lose all my work. This has been extremely frustrating...

Report · Dec 17, 2019

It's Catalina, everyone.

Report · Dec 25, 2019

Is there a solution to this issue yet? I just completed a major edit and it won't save. Stays at 0%. I did read elsewhere that a workaround would be to create a composite image of the layers and then duplicate that and then save, but that file won't save either.... Any help would be appreciated. Hoping I don't have to redo tha whole edit (face swap)....

Report · Dec 26, 2019

Are you saving to an external drive? If you are, save to a local drive (e.g. the desktop).

Report · Feb 27, 2020

I tried saving to my desktop and still having the same issue. Also have not updated to catalina yet. It's just since the photoshop update.

Report · Feb 28, 2020

Check your Apple system preferences>Security and Privacy>make sure Photoshop is listed and checked in the Full Disk Access area in Mojave.

Report · Jul 31, 2020

It's a nice try, but you can't authorize full access for an app unless it is not running and you can't close the app or you'll lose your document. While it's probably true that Catalina screwed some things up, Photoshop needs a way to cancel the save action or you can't initiate a save to a different location. What a mess.

Report · Aug 03, 2020

@SirHaakon - I dont understand the predicament - set this up before you start working in Photoshop.

It's not a "nice try" its a preventative measure to get past the stalled save.

Yes you can't do it while the issue is happening, but you resolve the issue and only experience it once, instead of a permanent roadblock?

Report · Dec 26, 2019

I just did something I don't think I have ever done before: I saved a file directly to one of my many external disks. Went without a hitch, on Win 10 pro.

Just mentioning because we've had some Windows users complaining about the same thing.

But again: saving directly to an external goes against every instinct in my body, and I almost had to force myself to do it.

Report · Dec 26, 2019

I am on an iMac and I did upgrade it recently to their new software,
Catalina. I have always honestly saved to an external RAID drive. Why
would that be an issue?

I did try to save the file to my desktop and it still stuck at 0%.

Any other ideas?
--
-Joe Julkowski

Report · Dec 26, 2019

The reason it's an issue now is that Apple changed the rules. It worked with Mojave, it doesn't work with Catalina. Whether it's a bug or a policy decision I don't know, but I suspect the latter.

I have heard talk about the file system (APFS, HFS+, exFAT etc). If you try a new external drive and format it from within Catalina, prior to using it, you should get around the problem if that's indeed what it is. I don't know this, I'm just trying to think logically.

Report · Dec 26, 2019

I appreciate the notes. I am not sure how to solve the issue in the future
but I solved the issue for the meantime by "exporting" instead of saving.
Exporting worked - even to my RAID external drive. I was hoping to be able
to save the photoshop file in case I wanted to do a touch up later but I
wasn't able to save that.

Please let me know if anyone figures out a workaround.

Report · Dec 26, 2019

Check your security settings in Apple preferences to make sure you have allowed Photoshop permission to access the HD:

Open System Preferences.

Select Security & Privacy.

Click the lock to make changes, then enter your system user name and password for your computer.

Select Privacy from the top set of tabs, then select Accessibility from the left-hand column of options

Click the + (plus) button under the list 'Allow the apps below to control your computer'.

Navigate to the Applications folder and select the Photoshop application and click Open.

Report · Feb 03, 2020

Just wanted to say thank you for this solution! I'd been having the same problem for weeks and couldn't figure out why... this fixed it straight away.

Report · Feb 03, 2020

What did you do to fix the issue?
The only thing that I've found is to just save on the cloud than locally.

Report · Feb 03, 2020

The steps in the reply above from kstohlmeyer1 worked for me.

Report · Feb 03, 2020

Where are you trying to save?

If you are saving to your local HD - use the steps I outlined above.

If saving to an external, make sure it is formatting to a Mac compatible (not Windows) format. Catalina does not like NFTS or some FAT formatting.

Report · Dec 27, 2019

As time goes by, a few Windows users are also coming along with similar problems. So perhaps I need to eat up every word I said, and there really is a saving bug in PS2020 after all. In that case the best place to go is the feedback forum, which is monitored by engineers. The link is to the right on the main page here - "submit product feedback".

Report · Jan 17, 2020

I'm having the same issue, stuck on 0%. I'm on a PC and saving locally. Extremely frustrating. Only started since I updated to 2020. I tried uninstallying and re-installing and issue still happens. Did anyone try somethign that worked? Adobe... any advice?

Report · Jan 17, 2020

You would be better served posting this on a new post. This post has to do specifically with Mac OS Catalina and it's security issues. Yours appears to be a different issue.

Report · Jan 17, 2020

Thanks

Report · Feb 03, 2020

Been having this issue for the last 3 days now. Catalina, SSD, and no fix.

The Save to Desktop suggestion doesn't work, as Photoshop is still stuck trying to save from the first time I tried. Then tried creating a new document and moving all the layers over, but again, can't save because it's stuck. Can't X out the save or cancel it, so now I'm losing everything I worked on today.

Pretty ridiculous that this thread started nearly three months ago and there still isn't a solution or even acknowledgement anywhere from Adobe.

Report · Feb 04, 2020

I've been looking around to see if there are any responses to this and I
found this thread that someone from adobe has replied to.
https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/export-stuck-at-0-encoding/td-p/10875191?page=1
I'll try and see if the temporary fix works on my next project.

Save stuck on 0%. HELP! [2019]

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