P: Support for native full-screen mode on macOS

[hijax_pl]

I must say that full screen apps is a wonderful idea. I can start in such a way some of the apple apps (safari, imail, numbers) - I like switching between them. It will be desirable to enable this option for Ligtroom & Photoshop (both CS and Elements) to behave in similar way under new Mission Control stuff...

[Polo Freitas]

Finally resolved with today's update 25.4😀

[Jeff Arola]

There is an issue with the Native Full Screen Mode and that is if you have floating documents the actual Photoshop interface

opens in one Space while the floating document windows stay on the Desktop.

When Normal Screen Mode in Photoshop with floating document windows pressing the F key to go Full Screen puts the front

most floating document in a Space while the main Photoshop interface along with any other tabbed and/or open floating

document windows remains on the desktop.

Using macOS Sonoma 14.3 with one screen/monitor.

Perhaps in addition to the default of the Application Frame being turned on when Enable Native Full Screen is enabled in the

Photoshop preferences, document tabs should also be the default.

[jackthegiantslayer]

Phenomenal that Adobe considers this a new feature to laud, rather than something that should have existed from the beginning. Now I don't feel as bad about being ignored in the After Effects forum.

[Brumby17]

The full-screen mode feature implemented in v25.4 is welcomed, but there are a few issues with the way it has been implemented:

1) the tabs aren't displayed

2) when pressing (accidentally) the Esc key, Photoshop exits the full-screen mode, which is very annoying

3) the far right part of the image canvas is hidden behind the panels:

Please address these issues.

[Lumigraphics]

This is listed as why Adobe didn't implement native full screen. Because it wouldn't work the way users might want and expect. I don't think there is any "fix" here, just two different ways of using the program.

[Conrad C]

2) when pressing (accidentally) the Esc key, Photoshop exits the full-screen mode, which is very annoying

By @Brumby17 

That is standard macOS full screen behavior. Put any standard Apple app in full screen mode (Safari, a Finder window, Disk Utility, etc.), press the Esc key, and it will exit full screen mode. It may be annoying…but escaping full screen mode with the Esc key is Mac standard, and therefore unlikely to be changed.

[Brumby17]

This is listed as why Adobe didn't implement native full screen. Because it wouldn't work the way users might want and expect. I don't think there is any "fix" here, just two different ways of using the program.

By @Lumigraphics 

@Lumigraphics  Just look how the full-screen mode has been implemented in Pixelmator Pro and Affinity Photo:

Pixelmator ProAffinity Photo

They have almost none of the aforementioned issues. Adobe should follow their example

[Brumby17]

That is standard macOS full screen behavior. Put any standard Apple app in full screen mode (Safari, a Finder window, Disk Utility, etc.), press the Esc key, and it will exit full screen mode. It may be annoying…but escaping full screen mode with the Esc key is Mac standard, and therefore unlikely to be changed.

By @Conrad C 

@Conrad C, Although it is considered standard behavior, it is very annoying. That is why so many people, including myself, have been complaining about it for a very long time:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255019670?sortBy=best

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArcBrowser/comments/16jm185/escape_key_causing_undesired_fullscreen_exit_on...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Safari/comments/w2xjjl/do_not_exit_fullscreen_on_esc/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/tbky9l/disable_esc_to_exit_full_screen_shortcut_for_ms/

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/110569/disable-esc-shortcut-to-quit-fullscreen

https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-Elements/issues/2110

https://superuser.com/questions/315949/dont-exit-full-screen-when-pressing-escape-in-apps-like-safar...

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47851333/how-to-disable-esc-to-exit-fullscreen-macos-high-sierra

Fortunately some developers took these complaints into account and fixed this issue in their apps (such as Chrome, Affinity Photo, etc.). IMHO, Adobe developers should do it as well.

[Lumigraphics]

You wanted native full screen and you got it but now you want something different. Oy vey. One of the biggest attractions of the Mac is that every app doesn't go off and work its own way (unlike Windows and Linux.) You learn how to use it ONCE and it should work the same everywhere.

[Brumby17]

You wanted native full screen and you got it but now you want something different. Oy vey. One of the biggest attractions of the Mac is that every app doesn't go off and work its own way (unlike Windows and Linux.) You learn how to use it ONCE and it should work the same everywhere.

By @Lumigraphics 

@Lumigraphics 

We wanted a well-implemented full-screen mode, not a poorly executed one with all of these aforementioned flaws. Don't act as if they are the same thing.

[defaultc5k0o0z0c1i0]

It's been a while since I was getting a bit fed up with Adobe ignoring this for so long and have been using Affinity. I have to give props though, looks like they finally did it. I haven't been able to use it yet, but I'm going off of what others have posted in here.

I'm more than satisfied that they added it. Using Affinity for a while, the native full screen just cleans up the workflow more than one can imagine. It's insanely helpful, and would likely fix those annoying canvas snapping errors you'd get on windowed mode, and the placement errors I'd get on Photoshop's full screen mode.

Regarding the 3 issues I've seen, pressing ESC exiting full screen mode: that's a macOS behaviour that Adobe can't fix. I have no qualms about that myself, I'm never reaching for that key using Photoshop.

The portion of the canvas hiding behind the panels, I'd think you can just scale down the canvas so it doesn't get hidden? If I need to work close in on an image, I already know I'm sacrificing the edges for a little while until I zoom back out.

However, the tabs not showing thing (I'm guessing due to scale), that I imagine has to be addressed. I often work with multiple documents open at once, sometimes dragging elements between tabs too. Maybe I'll even drop a colour or sample something to use across documents. There needs to be a way to see the tabs. I'd imagine they ultimately shrink the workspace down a couple notches to fit it or something, but that's the one I'd be concerned about. I think tabs are a core enough necessity that they'd have to address it, not too worried about it. Just finally getting native full-screen after this long is a huge win in my book.

[jane-e]

@defaultc5k0o0z0c1i0 wrote on 29 Jan 2024: However, the tabs not showing thing (I'm guessing due to scale), that I imagine has to be addressed.

Adobe Staff knew this and warned us twelve years ago:

@J453 wrote on 28 March 2012

If we replace Photoshop's Full Screen mode with the native 10.7 full screen mode, then our users will loose the following functionality:

• The ability to use multiple displays while in fullscreen mode
• The ability to switch between different document windows while in fullscreen mode

[Conrad C]

Adobe Staff knew this and warned us twelve years ago:

@J453 wrote on 28 March 2012
If we replace Photoshop's Full Screen mode with the native 10.7 full screen mode, then our users will loose the following functionality:
The ability to use multiple displays while in fullscreen mode
The ability to switch between different document windows while in fullscreen mode

By @jane-e 

Yes, but the tabs issue is legitimate and needs to be fixed. This is because it’s standard for macOS full screen mode to support multiple tabbed documents. For example, when Safari or Apple Pages are in macOS full screen mode, the tabs are there, and they work. This is also true for at least two of the photo apps that compete with Photoshop.

When Photoshop is in macOS full screen mode, it is not possible to work around this problem by floating a window and docking a tab to that. (well…you can, but the floating window ends up in a different Space.) Related to that, Window > Application Frame is dimmed. Which is interesting because it looks like when Photoshop is in macOS full screen mode, it does not fully support all of the features of macOS full screen mode or the Photoshop Application Frame…it’s in some kind of mystery zone between them.

Hopefully their intention is to continue to refine it so that it works more as expected.

[defaultc5k0o0z0c1i0]

Not a valid defense, in my opinion. This isn't a thing that is breaking the foundations of the interface, native full screen essentially has expanded the canvas a tiny bit past what it was before. Is it going to require possibly resizing some elements? Yes. But that's why you develop these things. Resting on your imperfect laurels and saying this shouldn't be where it is because of a couple scaling differences is insanely narrow-minded.

We can either celebrate this was finally implemented, report necessities and let the developers slowly fix them to make an ultimately better product, or we can sit in the old days forever and intentionally accept all the other problems that existed without native full screen.

Affinity, Pixelmator, tons of other professional apps like Final Cut Pro, Davinci Resolve and even Adobe's own Lightroom have implemented a native full-screen with a fully operational UI. It's not doomed now that literally the first test phases are launched. Like I said before, this is good progress and I commend them putting it in. I'm just reporting what I think is important to address first now.

[jane-e]

@Conrad C wrote Yes, but the tabs issue is legitimate and needs to be fixed.

When the tab interface works with macOS Full Screen Mode, I'll use Full Screen Mode. Until then, we have a choice, and mine will be to choose the tabbed interface (which to me is essential) over working in Full Screen Mode.

It will be a happy day when we no longer have to choose!

Jane

[Lumigraphics]

I guess you know better than Adobe and Apple.

[Lumigraphics]

I don't like tabs, the application frame, OR full screen. LOL. I would have preferred that Adobe used its engineering resources elsewhere, this is a waste.

[defaultc5k0o0z0c1i0]

@jane-e That's absolutely fair. I always said they should offer an option for both, and now they have. We can all win from this.

@Lumigraphics A lot of times, consumers do know better than corporations, yes. Don't tell me you're still gleefully paying one of the most expensive subscriptions on the planet for the software when they very well can't cater to every single consumer's request and will make some unhappy. God forbid they actually took a really highly upvoted and decade-old request and finally listened to implement it. If you don't want to use it, then don't. But don't insult everyone here acting high and mighty that this can't possibly get better over time and is a "waste of resources". We've reached a really good win here, and it will continue to improve. It's our job as high paying consumers to report stuff and ensure it improves in the right ways.

[Lumigraphics]

I'm not sure why you think this is a "win" but ok. I'd rather see limited resources go to fixing the bazillion real problems. I make my living with Adobe software and this does nothing to help me whatsoever.

[jane-e]

@Lumigraphics wrote: I make my living with Adobe software and this does nothing to help me whatsoever.

David, you've been part of the Photoshop Community since 2014 (part of the time as a Community Expert) and surely know by now that the product developers don't direct their development toward only one individual's requirements. I suspect that none of us use every feature in Photoshop. If a feature doesn't help you, the answer is simple: don't use it. If there are other features you would like to see, you know how to make a feature request.

[Lumigraphics]

Point, counterpoint. And yes obviously, none of us get what we want. This isn't the first time I've wondered about the development roadmap and priorities.

[minty32211]

This is the Adobe forum, it should go without saying that a lot of us make a living off of Adobe software.

Frankly this is an enormous improvement to my workflow sanity, so credit due where credit due, thank you to whoever at Adobe who helped implement the native frame. This was a priority for me!

[Conrad C]

@Lumigraphics macOS full screen mode makes no difference to my Photoshop workflow either. But…I have supported this feature request for many reasons. For one thing, Photoshop claims to support macOS, and macOS full screen is now one of its core features that an application should support if it claims to be macOS compatible, because it is not just about this one feature.

Supporting macOS full screen mode is necessary for an app to also properly support other macOS features such as Split View and Spaces (there are related bugs), so until now Photoshop was broken for those features too. I know many Mac users who live in Split View (I use it on the iPad), and when Photoshop is not set to use macOS full screen, it cannot be added to Split View. Also,  if someone is using Apple Sidecar to make their iPad a second display for their Mac, an app that does not support macOS full screen cannot use the “Move to iPad” command.

Also, I support this because so many Photoshop users have requested it. This is one of the most highly requested features, and you can see that this single feature request thread is 15 pages long.

So, this doesn’t make much difference to me personally, but it helps complete Photoshop support for macOS, and it matters to a lot of Photoshop users so they should have it.

Now, about that other missing core macOS feature that many of us rely on in almost every other Mac & iOS app, the Share button… 🙂

[Lumigraphics]

I would much prefer support for share sheets and cloud services and Finder tags. I make heavy use of Spaces but never use full screen mode- I suspect that Windows switchers find that more useful. And needing to use the Application Frame kills it for me. IMHO the worst feature in Photoshop.

[minty32211]

Those sound great too!

Especially Finder tags, I make extensive use of Hazel for automatically tagging project files.