Part of upper and lower panels blacked out

[montaguelord]

I'm using Windows 11 (but the same problem occurred with Windows 10) and have Photoshop Elements Version 21.0 installed. 

As shown in the attached file, part of the upper panel showing basic, guided and expert views, and also part of the lower panel are blacked out. So I have to move my cursor around and guess where the basic or expert views are located, and when I open one of the tools, much of it doesn't show, nor do all the photos that I have opened because they are in the blacked-out area. 

Has anyone run into this problem and found a solution?

[Greg_S. · Accepted solution]

It looks like you are using an ultra wide monitor.  Make sure that you are using the recommended aspect ratio (in Windows>Display Settings). Then try reducing the size of the Elements window so that it is closer to a 16:9 ratio. 

[montaguelord]

Thanks, Greg. That worked.

I hope Adobe fixes this issue soon. Many users now rely on wide-screen monitors and switching to a 16:9 ratio each time one brings up Photoshop Elements is a poor solution unless they only use the program once in a long while. 

[trueLuminus]

That doesn't work for me.  I can now see some of the choices, but not all and that stupid black bar is still there.  I don't have a 16:9 option, as none of my dimension choices match that.

[montaguelord]

Hi trueLuminus, Under Windows > Display Settings, select the wide angle external display (#2 on my screen) and go down to Display Resolution. In the drop-down menu, you need to select one of the options that is equivalent to 16:9, for example, 3840 x 2160, which is equivalent to 16:9. That is 3840/2160 = 16/9. 

Hope this explanation helps. But the best solution, of course, would be for Adobe to fix this glitch. After all, all other Windows programs work on my ultrawide screen. This problem with with Photoshop Elements just seems to be old coding in the program. Ultrawide monitors have grown enormously in popularity in the last 5 years. Adobe needs to get with it.

[trueLuminus]

As I said, there's no such option as 3840/2160 = 16/9. 

[Ideas That Work!]

Thanks, Greg.  Your solution also resolved my issue. 

Thanks again and Happy New Year!!!

[Greg_S.]

@trueLuminus, as an alternative to changing the screen resolution, try my other suggestion of getting out of the  Maximize window option by clicking on the middle of the 3 Windows boxes at the top right of the Editor's window.   You can then reduce the size of the window so that the Editor menu control options become available without the black bar.

[montaguelord]

I tried your suggestion, Greg, but it doesn't work for me because there's no way to knowingly set the 16:9 ratio. 

Has anyone with an ultrawide screen found that Greg's suggestion works? If so, how did you move the aspect ratio to allow the Editor menu control options to become available without the black bar?

Had it worked, it would have been a great workaround to the previous suggestion. 

[trueLuminus]

That doesn't work.

[Greg_S.]

The window does not have to be a precise 16:9. Just move one side in horizontally. If that doesn't work, please show us a screenshot of your entire monitor and tell us what the monitor display resolution is set to. 

[montaguelord]

Greg, attached are two screenshots:

Screenshot 1: Photoshop Elements opened with it already in windowed mode. Result: Editor menu control options become available without the black bar.

Screenshot 2: Photoshop Elements opened in full-screen mode and then changed to windowed mode. Result: Editor menu control options retain the black bar.

My ultrawide screen display is set at the recommended 5120 x 2160 resolution.

[Greg_S.]

@trueLuminus:  So it looks like if you change the size of the reduced window (by reducing the width) the black bars disappear and you have control of the menus.  Given the size and resolution of your screen, I think that is all you can do.  In other words, reduce the size of the window until the bars disappear.

[montaguelord]

Greg, moving around the width and height of the window until the black bars disappear does not work, as I mentioned earlier. 

What worked for me was to (a) open the program (it opens full screen with black bars); (b) click on the overlapping folders on the upper right-hand corner of the window to "automatically" reduced to so-called windowed mode (black bars remain); (c) close the window; (d) open the program again and this time (for me) it opens in "windowed mode" without the black bars. 

I hope this explanation leaves clear the steps that I took to eliminate the black bars. 

Again, this problem does not happen with any other program I've ever used. One would think that Adobe should address this issue on this program. 

[Per4mr]

I have a lovely new 34" HP Envy and had similar black bar issues today with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023. Somehow I was finally able to get to the correct screen after spending almost 5 hours installing, uninstalling, and searching for online help today. Two of those hours were spent in an Adobe Photoshop support chat which wasn't nearly as helpful as what I've found in this string. VERY frustrating! Now that I have the correct screen, I'm afraid to close the program for fear of going through this painful process again since I'm still somewhat unclear about how I got here! I'll try all the things you & Greg S. suggest for the "next time" and keep my fingers crossed! Thanks for your input. It's helpful to know I'm not alone in this quandary.

[montaguelord]

My solution is very simple. When I open Photoshop Elements, I go off FULL-SCREEN mode and adjust the width of the program more or less to around the 16:9 ratio mentioned by Greg S. Then, I close the program and open it again. It'll open to the last ratio (around 16:9). If you don't accidentally return it to full screen, it'll continue to open with the menu items showing. But sometimes it does open full screen again. So just repeat the procedure above. A pain, but less of a pain than setting the entire Windows mode to a 16:9 ratio. My guess is that Adobe wants to phase out the one-time cost purchase of Photoshop Elements and switch to monthly fees, where they'll make a lot more money. So they're not repairing this antiquated program so we become frustrated and switch to the 'new and improved' monthly fee structure sometime in the near future.