PhotoShop Elements 15 missing Edit Modes

[notmyrealname]

Hello,

I have had PhotoShop Elements 15 on my WIndows 10 desktop for many years. It has the elive, Quick, Guided, and Expert edit modes along the top.

Recently I bought a new Win11 desktop and went to Adobe website and downloaded to this computer a second copy of my license for PhotoShop Elements 15.

When I launch it on my Win11 computer by selecting Photo Editor, I am presented with the Quick editing mode but along the top it does not say elive, Quick, Guided, and Expert. I have relaunched it several times and no change. Apparently I am stuck in Quick mode.

A similar problem in this forum from 2019 discussed a lack of RAM as a possible cause but my new computer has 128GB RAM.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can fix this?

Thank you.

[Glenn 8675309]

Earlier versions could only understand up to 2GB of ram, didn't matter how much you had installed.

Go here in your preference file and see how much ram the program can read.  Shoulc be found in EDT>PREFERENCES

It may save only 2 GB of ram installed.

ALSO: You may  have "Autohide taskbar" turned on in windows- turn that off, and gerher a whirl and see if you can gt it working. 

[notmyrealname]

Hi Glenn,

Here is how mine looks:

Also, my Win11 taskbar autohide feature was/is OFF.

Do you see anything suspicious?

Sidebar: I notice your screenshot indicates your computer has NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 while mine indicates Intel UHD Graphic 750. Yet, my Device Manager indicates I have two entries:

I'm not saying that has anything to do with this issue, but every little difference, I often notice. Is it saying I have two graphics cards?

Thanks.

[Glenn 8675309]

TRY THIS FIRST:  reset your PSE preferences on the next boot, and restart PSE


Change one:   PSE is not detecting the nvidia graphics card- and you do have an individual card- not one built in.  Awesome computer by the way.  I'm guessing pse is a bit confused about the gpu-

probably that's where your issue is.

Read this stuff- even though its all about PS it wil lguide you in the right direction- seems like I don't need to explain any of it.   

https://helpx.adobe.com/ie/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-gpu-graphics-card.html#Troubleshoot

[notmyrealname]

Uh, oh. What if I told you that I have an All-In-One, seen here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZCYXSB2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I have no tower to fiddle with.

[notmyrealname]

On my screen, it appears our posts are appearing out of sequence, not sure, so I don't want to screw up interpretation. You comment, "Awesome computer by the way", sugeests your post follows the one where I showed you the Amazon link. So, I think I'm in sync with you.

This computer was a Christmas gift and I am not computer savvy as having this computer might imply. I am in over my Element (ha, pun intended).

I'll read that link. Ah, I see the Preferences Reset button. I'll try that first before I delve into that link.

Thanks.

[notmyrealname]

> TRY THIS FIRST: reset your PSE preferences on the next boot, and restart PSE

Clicking Reset didn't provoke an acknowledgement of any kind, but I clicked it three times to be sure then restarted PSE Ohoto Editor. No change.

Now, on to the link...

[Glenn 8675309]

we posted just a couple minutes within each other-- I deleted thatrambling post with the pictures.  That's a totally awesome gift!

[notmyrealname]

Yes, thank you. I have a very generous friend. All that power in that computer and I'm not even a gamer! Maybe he in trying to influence me in that direction! I think once I get the hang of navigating the various windows without having the benefit of the "taskbar tiles" that Win10 uses, I'll be in fine shape.

I had purchased my PhotoShop Elements 15 as a package with Premier Elements 15. They seem to share the same opening screen where you choose between Organizer and Photo Editor and Video Editor so I'm not sure what the advantage is to having both. But, anyway, during our discussion here, you and I, I remembered that I typically update to the latest product every few years anyway, so I updated to PhotoShop Elements 2023 as a package with Premier Elements 2023. Still, I have the same problem in that the Photo Editor gives me only the Quick View.

I tell you all of this to point out that the Video Editor does display at the top the choices of Quick, Guided, or Expert, What I wished I had checked with Premier Elements 2015 is if it, too, had correctly displayed the three choices.

So, before I do any driver surgery per that link, don't you think it's odd that the Video Editor, whether accessed via PSE or via Premier Elements, can display its choices while Photo Editor cannot?

BTW, I pulled a driver list on my All-In-One (henceforth called "AIO") and it says this:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650   31.0.15.1694

While the NVIDIA website, when I search with this criteria:

gives me the following driver, identified with an entirely different number string 527.26, whether you had chosen Studio Driver (recommended by Adobe) or chose Game Ready Driver (apparently recomended by my friend, ha):

I'd be interested in your opinion of why two very different numerical nomenclatures. I see the 527.56 was release only the other day. Makes me nervous to make a possibly unnecessary change to the brew.

That link you provided sounds cool but the very first thing it said to do is not on my PSE Help pulldown list:

Help > GPU Compatibility

but maybe they intended it only for the full-blown monthly-fee Photoshop and not the one-time fee PSE?

My Adobe Help > System Info does not have any glgpu entries as seen in that link, and such absence suggests to this novice's eyes that indeed my fancy graphics card is not seen by PSE Photo Editor even though the Video Editor displays its Quick, Guided, or Expert choices.

So, how can a graphics card problem affect Photo Editor but not Video Editor, even if they both are only accessing the UHD Graphics 750 card?

Comments?

[Glenn 8675309]

There have been alot of changes since pse 2015 was released more than 7 years ago--- 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650   31.0.15.1694= just the basic graphics driver.

The studio driver and game ready driver contain alot more presets and stuff for hundreds of games (I only use the game ready driver to start MS fligh sim 2020).

I'm tapped out now on this subject--- Lot's of smart people in the group which know a lot more than I that wil lsee this thread and jump in. 

[notmyrealname]

Thank you , Glenn, for the time you have spent helping me. Merry Christmas.

[Greg_S.]

The problem is almost certainly related to the fact you have a 5K monitor.  Try looking at the solution to a slightly different problem found in this discussion. 

Added:  Obviously, you need to change the path to the program file for Elements 15 which is found in the C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 15 directory.

[Glenn 8675309]

I never even considered something like a 4k / 5k monitor.

[Greg_S.]

@notmyrealname, I've just read more of the discussion here and see that you have purchased or downloaded the trial for Elements 2023.  You can take a look at my post here for the correct path to follow for Elements 2023.

[notmyrealname · Accepted solution]

Hi Greg,

This post has a happy ending but I wanted to delineate the scenic route I took to get to the solution:

Go to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 2023, right click on the PhotoshopElementsEditor.exe file and  click on Properties>Compatibility>Change high DPI Settings>Override high DPI scaling behavior>System Enhanced.

Of the links you provided, I happened to visit this link first:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-elements-discussions/user-interface-on-screen-size/m-p/1337...

and wasn't sure what to do at Step 5, then I got distracted by the Compatibility Troubleshooter found under the Compatibility tab and I clicked it, but it brought up somethign about Windows 8 when it did the test that it didn't say beforehand, saying it fixed an incompatibility but didn't day what. Still, no change. Gosh I hoped I didn't add to the problem!

That's when I got back on track and visited your other link which I wished I would have read first as it talked exactly about my issue:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-elements-discussions/photoshop-elements-2020-1-not-compatib...

and once I ticked the box at Step 5 and selected System Enhanced from the little pulldown menu, did the Update/Apply thing and restarted PSE2023, IT WAS FIXED!! HOORAY!! It now says Quick Guided Expert!

I bet that would have fixed my PSE 2015 on this 5K monitor but, oh well, like I wrote earlier, every few years I get the newer version anyway. It's not a trial, though, it's a no-subscription package with Premier Elements 2023 on sale for $99 until 01/03/23, then it goes back to $149.

I didn't know there were so many dang options under the hood as I never go exploring them. Also, it paid off that I happened to volunteer to post that Amazon link that spelled out the features, including the 5K monitor.

That's the happy ending. Thank you.

I didn't mention earlier but when I had clicked Edit to open the pulldown menu, the font of that menu had been HUGE, stretching all the way down the screen, but now they are the appropriate size. I will say that my icons in the left column, under the headings of View, Select, Enhance, Draw, and Modify are now larger than I think they ought to be, larger that they are in Video Editor, but they appear to be all there. I'm not going to call it a problem but if you happen to have a parting comment to adjust that, I will receive it.

In any case, when I click Edit/Peformance it still says Detected Graphics Processor is the UHD Graphics 750. In light of the happy ending above, is this really indicative of a problem with the configuraton of the cabling inside this All-In-One computer? Or maybe there is another tricky-dicky option in this PSE that would let me direct PSE to my other, better graphics card, my NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650? Yet, this could be an issue unrelated to PSE, perhaps.

Thanks.

[notmyrealname]

Gentlemen,

Never mind about the graphics card cabling question. I can google many instances of otherr people wanting to switch Adobe away from an internal card to an NVIDIA card. No luck, it seems, but that sounds like a separate question for this forum.

Thank you.

[Greg_S.]

@notmyrealname yes, I looked at your Amazon link and saw you have a 5K monitor.  But that would probably have been the first question I would have asked you about.

As for Elements using the onboard graphics chip rather than your more powerful GPU, you can go to Windows>Control Panel>Device Manager and confirm that you have two Display Adapters present.  You can then disable the onboard GPU.  But I wouldn't recommend this unless you know what you are doing.

[notmyrealname]

Hi Greg,

Yes, I have two:

I can right-click on the UHD card and see a menu that includes the option to "Disable Device". Could it be that easy?

I always have fears that stuff like that could turn off my display such that, with a a dark screen, I would be doomed to have no way to see what I was doing to reenable it. Does that ever happen to people?

Or did they program a fail-safe fall-back plan along those lines?

[Glenn 8675309]

Happened to me years ago, but that also involved some rum and coke.....  If you do it, do so atyour own risk, I don't think it should be a problem though.

[Greg_S.]

@notmyrealname said:

I always have fears that stuff like that could turn off my display such that, with a a dark screen, I would be doomed to have no way to see what I was doing to reenable it. Does that ever happen to people?

Yes, that is my main concern for you.  Although it probably won't happen, you have to know enough to get into Windows Recovery Environment to get things back on track if things go wrong.

And as Glenn says, stay away from the Rum and Coke when you are performing this operation.  😁

[notmyrealname]

Yeah, I'm not going to risk it, even as I may read up on Windows Recovery Environment.

But, I have a question around that that I will pose in a new thread. You guys get my two brain cells to collide, which means watch out.

I read somewhere that PSE doesn't need a fancy display card anyway. I also read that individual gaming software can have ways to select from a choice of cards so if ever I would become a gamer, maybe then I would find out if that works or not.

This suggests to me that there could be other (non-gamer) software that has the ability to select between a choice of display adapters. I read that PSE used to do that, but not anymore.

For right now I'll stick to safer stuff like trying to adjust the oversize icons on my PSE workspace.

Thanks.

[notmyrealname]

I wrote:

Yeah, I'm not going to risk it, even as I may read up on Windows Recovery Environment.

But, I have a question around that that I will pose in a new thread. You guys get my two brain cells to collide, which means watch out.

Oh, wait, this is an Adobe help website, so I better post my AIO configuration question in some other forum, like maybe hp.com.