Wacom Intuos pen not working properly [Mac OS 12.4]

[Rhubarb Pie]

The Wacom pen I'm using has suddenly stopped functioning properly in at least 2 ways. (1) There's a lag; the cursor is slow to follow my movements. (2) The pen pressure has stopped working. There is no change to the size or transparency of a brush stroke as there should be for the brushes I'm using. How do I fix this? It's completely interefering with my workflow.

I'm on a Mac. I've updated to the most recent version of Photoshop and I've restarted my computer, but that didn't fix it. I checked to make sure that the Wacom driver is up-to-date and it is. I completed Wacom's diagnostic test for this pen and could find no issues. Please help!

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Go to Apple System Preferences/Security and Privacy:

1. Full Disk Access:

• Make sure PS is there and checked.
• Then - Wacom Tablet Utility App, Wacome Desktop Center in and checked.

2.  Input Monitoriing:

• Wacom Tablet Driver
• Wacom Touch Driver
• Wacom Desktop Center
• com.Wacom.IOManager.app
• Wacom Tablet Utility.app
• FirmwareUpdater.app
• com.Wacom.DataStoreMgr.app

3. Accessibility:

• com.Wacom.IOManager.app

After youve confirmed or added all these - restart your computer.

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Go to Apple System Preferences/Security and Privacy:

1. Full Disk Access:

• Make sure PS is there and checked.
• Then - Wacom Tablet Utility App, Wacome Desktop Center in and checked.

2.  Input Monitoriing:

• Wacom Tablet Driver
• Wacom Touch Driver
• Wacom Desktop Center
• com.Wacom.IOManager.app
• Wacom Tablet Utility.app
• FirmwareUpdater.app
• com.Wacom.DataStoreMgr.app

3. Accessibility:

• com.Wacom.IOManager.app

After youve confirmed or added all these - restart your computer.

[Rhubarb Pie]

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond, Kevin. I have done what you suggested, with the exception of step 2 because I'm not able to find all of those items on my machine in order to add them. I'm attaching an image to show what I do have.

After restarting my computer, unfortunately I'm still having the same issue with the pen. 😞 

Any other ideas?

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Are your brushes utilizing the pressure controls in the top option bar?

Also what do you have set for Smoothing Options?

Last - what version Mac and OS are you on? It could also be a matter of graphics card compatibility.

[Rhubarb Pie]

Thanks again, Kevin.

I tried clicking on each of the little icons you circled in the top option bar (individually), and then making a brush stroke, but there's no difference. My smoothing options are the same as what you show.

My Mac OS is 12.4:

Any other suggestions? I'm getting desperate here; I have a work deadline EOD tomorrow and I can't complete this project w/out the pen pressure!

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

I had another user with similar issues they contacted Adobe support via chat and had them run as a Root User. It worked then.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204012

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Did the pen work before your most recent PS update? If so you can use the CC desktop app to roll back a version:

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/using/install-previous-version.html

if not, you can try updating your Mac OS to current 12.6.

[Rhubarb Pie]

Thanks Kevin.

I tried updating the OS; it didn't fix the issue.

The pen stopped functioning before the most recent PS update. And I had trouble with the pen a week or two ago and updated PS then too. It's hard to understand how it can be that the pen works one minute and suddenly stops functioning even though I haven't changed a thing. 

I guess I will try getting in touch w/ Adobe support via chat as you suggested.

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Uninstall and reinstall the Wacom software completely. Allow all pop ups that come up.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Have you updated the Wacom driver?

https://support.wacom.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407257968663

Or tried rolling back the Wacom driver?

There do seem to be a lot of hits if you look for wacom issues with Photoshop an Mac OS12.4

This reddit post is typical

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/uxjy2r/monterey_124_wacom_cintiq_no_longer_working/

I've changed your subject line to show this is with Mac OS12.4.  That will attract the right p[eople to your thread.  Kevin is doing a stellar job for you right now though.

[Rhubarb Pie]

Thanks for the suggestion, Trevor.

I have now uninstalled and reinstalled the latest Wacom driver. This seems to have fixed the tracking issue I was having but not the pen pressure issue. So, following Wacom's advice, I uninstalled that driver and then installed an older one, which is much faster said than done. It's taken a long time and quite a few computer restarts. Still, the pen pressure issues persists. So I followed Adobe's advice and uninstalled all Adobe products then installed an older version of Photoshop. Still, the pen pressure issue persists.

I don't know what to do now!

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

After installing the new software, did you go back to the Apple System preferences and make sure the settings are the same as above?

[Rhubarb Pie]

Thanks Kevin. Yes, I did that. Although there are two items for the Input Monitoring list I wasn't able to find on my machine in order to add them: 

• com.Wacom.IOManager.app
• com.Wacom.DataStoreMgr.app

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Thats interesting the IOManager especially should come with newer Wacom drivers.

Do you have the same issue with Pen Pressure in other applications like Illustrator?

[Rhubarb Pie]

I don't use Illustrator extensively so am not as familiar with it. Which tool would I select in order to test the pen pressure in Illustrator?

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Select the brush tool and then open the brushes panel. There are art brushes and other brush settings you can utilize pressure for (double click a brush type in the panel).

[Rhubarb Pie]

Thanks Kevin. OK, I tried that—I found an Illustrator brush that utilizes pen pressure, and it works. 

However, before that, I decided that I'd better just attempt to complete my project to meet my deadline today, using Photoshop but making do w/out pen pressure. And then, at some point, pen pressure just suddenly began working again. I didn't do anything to precipitate the change, so I can't explain it. But it seems to be working now.

I don't consider the problem solved, because this is the second time that that pen pressure stopped working and then started working again on its own. I wish I knew how to prevent it from happening because it sure wasted a lot of my time.

[Rhubarb Pie]

Some hours later, issue 1, the lag time with the cursor, has resurfaced. 😞

[War Unicorn]

This is probably going to sound dumb, but are you connecting via USB, or wirelessly via Bluetooth? If the latter, Bluetooth can be picky with distance. Just having my Intuos a few feet from the Bluetooth receiver causes lagging issues. Bring it closer, and it all goes away.

[Rhubarb Pie]

Thanks for the suggestion, War Unicorn. My tablet is connected w/ USB, though of course the pen itself isn't connected to anything.