A Letter to Our Photoshop Elements Users

[#1]

Dear Fellow Photoshop Elements Users,

With the new Mac OS 10.15 Catalina release, there have been a lot of questions regarding what the impact upon Adobe products will be. As a Mac and Adobe product user myself, I can empathize with your concern.

I know many of you have reached out via email to ask specific tech questions and about system requirements. I would recommend reading this thorough Helpx article written by our product experts

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/elements-mac-64bit-compatibility.html

. Our team is actively testing and logging known issues, and our product team is diligently at work to resolve them for the next release. We are keeping a rolling log of known bugs that we are working to address here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/macos-catalina-compatibility.html

Additionally, users have had issues with third party plug-ins that are not compatible. You can read more on this issue here: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/crash-incompatible-plugins.html

I also wanted to do my best to address the larger question from the User community regarding CS6 incompatibility with 10.15, and the current subscription-based model. Technology innovation continues to forge ahead at an unprecedented pace, and our OS partners are releasing new versions faster and more frequently than before. Adobe must also move with our technology partners and update our applications with new OS releases to provide you, our creative users, with the best experience. If you’ve upgraded your OS to 10.15, you will discover that the installer for CS6 no longer works. Unfortunately, CS6 is built on technologically that isincompatible with the new OS at a foundational level.

If you are used to a perpetual license, the switch to a subscription may seem daunting. I remember when I made the switch myself and waiting for buyer’s remorse to set in. It didn’t. As a user, I discovered that bug fixes and improvements to the user interface were continually being updated. I was thrilled to find that my Adobe creative software was always in lockstep with my computer updates. When I had a hard-drive failure, I dreaded having to rebuild my vast Lr Catalog. I was overwhelmed thinking about the number of hours it would take to get everything back to where I had it—even having a backup. I cannot tell you what a relief it was that Lr simply downloaded all of my settings and photos from the cloud. I still reconnected my locally stored images and catalog to a newly downloaded Lr app, but a week’s long process took a whole 10 minutes.

I discovered as a user, the subscription-based model enables Adobe to respond to new OS releases actively and quickly push out new versions that address compatibility bugs and issues. Subscription-based models also allow our engineers to develop new features suggested by our user community actively.  Things might feel a little bumpy immediately after an OS release, but we are working hard to ensure that the benefits will be far greater than the temporary discomfort.

Please know that your voice is heard. My team and I regularly share your requests and feedback with our product team. Your feedback is vital to helping us address issues so that we can push out the very best product updates to you so that you can continue to create.

Rebecca

[#2]

I still find PSElements 9 far more complex than I need for my photography and have been using it on my ancient Windows Vista laptop and my 4 year old Mac, until today.

To allow me to re-install on another old PC, I need to de-activate - by uninstalling from the Mac.

I've tried uninstalling, but the 32 bit uninstaller won't run either.

I've tried downloading a new uninstaller from the link I've been given by support, and that can't install because it doesn't have the correct protocol for checking it is clean and safe.

Any ideas, anyone?

Never had this with films & chemicals.

Brian

[#3]

Have exactly the same problem - but google doesn't find a solution. It is a shame for Adobe to have noch 64-bit-deinstaller!

[#4]

Brian2sheds, Uninstalling PSE from your Mac isn't necessary if only to activate PSE on another computer.  You only need to deactivate.  From an open PSE window on that Mac, go to Help>Sign out.  You're now free to install and activate PSE on a 2nd computer of your choice.

If you still want to uninstall it for the purpose of reclaiming disk space see: https://www.howtogeek.com/231496/how-to-uninstall-applications-on-a-mac-everything-you-need-to-know/

[#5]

I've purchased and been an avid user of Photoshop Elements for many years.  My Mac is 64 bit and running the Catalina OS,  so I just got the 2019 version on disk from Amazon.  I'm extremely computer literate, but no matter what I try to open the editor it gives me the message, "installation failed."  I desperately need a working photo editing program and am looking forward to getting Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 to function so I'm not forced to change platforms! 

SAME DAY FOLLOW-UP:  the Adobe technical assistance staff was AMAZING: extremely helpful, came up with an effective remedy and now all is well!  I am very VERY grateful for the assistance that I received. 

[#6]

i purchased  Elements2020 from adobe online it said it needed

macOS

• 64-bit multicore Intel processor
• macOS v10.13 through v10.15
• 10 GB of available hard-disk space to install applications; additional 12.5 GB to download all optional content (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices
• that is what i have but it will not install  on chat with one of adobe agents said it would not work with Catalina 10.15
• try to get refund no luck yet

[#7]

Hello,

Elements 2020 is compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina. Could you please let me know the exact issue you're facing so that I could help you with the solution?

Thanks,

Medha

[#8]

I purchased element 2020 online from Adobe the system req said

• 64-bit multicore Intel processor
• macOS v10.13 through v10.15
• 10 GB of available hard-disk space to install applications; additional 12.5 GB to download all optional content (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices
• that is what i have with mac os Catalina each time i try to install it get to 4% then come up with error no1 
• I then delete all trace adobe software then try again but the same  it will intall on my old mac
• i went to chat on Adobe surrport and was told by there agent it will not work with Catalina

[#9]

Dear user,

Elements version is expected to work on MAC OS 10.15 without any issues.

Could you please use the log collector tool to collect logs and upload it using the button present in the log collector tool? Please do note down the Folder name that is being uploaded and provide us for reference.

Log collector tool can be downloaded from here: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/kb/cc-log-collector.html

Also you can try the below steps:

1) Check that you have an active internet connection.

2) try on a different location other than the default location.

In case if you are trying with the Light weight installer, You can also try to install the application uisng the full setup present here: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/download-install/kb/photoshop-elements-downloads.html

Please feel free to DM in case of any queries, I would try to reply you asap.

Kind Regards

Vipin

[#10]

Can you please share the "effective remedy" with all of us who have bought Elements 2019?

Thank you

[#11]

I have written down the steps that can be tried as a workaround to get the Elements 2019 activated on your Catalina OS.

Could you please try these steps : Re: A Letter to Our Photoshop Elements Users

Please let us know in case if you face any issues.

Thanks

Vipin

[#12]

"I desperately need a working photo editing program and am looking forward to getting Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 to function so I'm not forced to change platforms!"

Also see:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/photoshop-elements-2019-does-not-work-with-ma...

[#13]

My question is When will we be able to work with Photoshop again without having any bug I can not save files that are too heavy Layers of effects are not supported

[#14]

Hi Laurentm.

Sorry for the trouble saving images: Can you let us know which version of Photoshop you're working with?

Regards,

Pete

[#15]

As I was not able to launch the PSE10 Uninstaller after installing Catalina, would you please provide the list (or link) of the files one must remove to totally uninstall PSE10 as well as associated applications like Organizer. Thank you. J.

[#16]

https://www.howtogeek.com/231496/how-to-uninstall-applications-on-a-mac-everything-you-need-to-know/

[#17]

Unfortunately, adobe applications are not like most mac applications that are self-contained items that don’t mess with the rest of your system. Adobe applications do mess with your system and are not neat self contained applications cause adobe installs stuff all over the hard drive and shouldn't be dragged to the trash. Normally the unistallers must be used.

In the case of macOS Catalina and 32 bit apps that the unistallers will not work, the best thing to do short of going back to an older macOS, running the unistaller, then upgrading back to Catalina is to use the Creative Cloud Cleaner to break all the system connections to adobe software, then you can safely drag all the leftover bits and bobs to the trash.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

[#18]

Jeff_Arola, many thanks for sharing your knowledge about properly uninstalling Adobe apps on Mac.  I wasn't aware of that.

It may hearten forum participants to know that, in my experience, PSE 2019 is far from "shotty" as someone questioned recently.  I use it on both a Windows 7 and a Windows 10 laptop where it gets put through its paces in expert mode regularly without errors, crashes, or the like.  I don't know why I'm not having at least some the problems I see posted in here - there's nothing unique about my setup and I'm no IT guru.  I  love PSE 2019, it just rocks.  Seriously. 

Like many, I installed it from a purchased CD, applied Adobe updates as they came out and I keep Windows up to date.  The only tweak I've made to PSE's default settings is: Preferences>Performance>  uncheck "Use Graphics Processor for Adjusting Facial Features" - which fixed a major text tool problem.  Weird.  That little change may be responsible for calming other quirky behaviors too, and maybe not, how would I know?  Just saying, give it a shot you have nothing to lose.

[#19]

I am very upset by my inability to reach anyone at your customer support number. I was on hold for over an hour and gave up. Here is my issue.  On August 2, 2019 I purchased Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements 2019 for the Mac. I was assured by the information from your web site that it was 64 bit compliant. Although I already own several versions of Photoshop Elements,' I needed a 64 bit version for Apples new operating system, Catalina. 

I recently checked to see what apps were not compliant and to my dismay I found that several segments of these apps were only 32 bit. Even the information on the back of the box is misleading, “ acOS 64-bit multicore processor. After 2 months my software is now unusable and the cost for upgrading is almost what I paid for the programs just a short time ago. This is NOT FAIR!

Your company should provide a free upgrade path that replace the 32 bit segments. 

I would appreciate a response to this email.

Sharyn 

[#20 · Accepted solution]

Dear User,

Photoshop Elements 2019 and Premiere Elements 2019 contain some 32bit components which were not designed to work on macOS 10.15 Catalina. However, if you already upgraded to Catalina, and are facing issues launching/licensing the application, you can try the steps mentioned below.

Steps to try in case of Launch Failure in Elements 2019 on macOS 10.15:

1. Install the application if you have already not installed it on your mac.
2. Once the installation is scuccessfully completed, make sure you have an active internet connection and you are able to browse through Adobe.com on your browser.
3. Clicking the below link will download a DMG file on your computer, move the downloaded DMG file on your desktop.
4. Link to download: http://download.macromedia.com/pub/developer/prtk/Adobe_Provisioning_Toolkit_10_0_ALL.dmg
5. Double click to Mount the DMG file on your desktop, once mounted successfully, you shoud see a folder named: Adobe Provisoning Toolkit Enterprise Edition
6. Open the above folder and inside which you should see an executable file named as adobe_prtk

This file will be used to try and solve the problem.

How to use the above downloaded file in order to serialize the application:

1. Open Terminal using Spotlight Search
2. Write 'Sudo' followed by a space and then drag and drop the executable file adobe_prtk from the above mentioned folder, this will look like below:
3. 

    

4. Further depending on the application from PSE or PRE, type one of the below commands:
   1. Photoshop Elements: --tool=Serialize --serial=1057485858554544585454545 --leid=V7{}PhotoshopElements-2019-Mac-GM --regsuppress=ss 
   2. Premiere Elements: --tool=Serialize --serial=11432545254147858451125414 --leid=V7{}PremiereElements-2019-Mac-GM --regsuppress=ss 
5. The final command should look like this: sudo <Path to Prtk tool>\adobe_prtk --tool=Serialize --serial=1057485858554544585454545 --leid=V7{}PhotoshopElements-2019-Mac-GM --regsuppress=ss 
6. 

    

7. NOTE: Please note that the in RED color in the above command needs to be replaced with your 24 digit serial numbers and should not be confused with your redemption code or any other number.
8. Once you have typed the command successfully, press Enter and it should ask you for your password. 
9. Enter your machine password
10. Once correct password is entered and the command used as correct, the below message should be displayed.

 

Now try launching your application.

In case if you get anyother message other than what is displayed in the above screenshot, please share the command that you have used along with a screenshot of the message displayed. Please make sure that you hide your serial numbers before posting anything here, as this is a public forum and we do not want your serial numbers to be published 🙂

Hope this helps you to deal with Elements 2019 launch issue.

If the workaround works for you, please mark the reply as helpful so the other users can also know and try.

(EDITED) Some users have faced an issue that their Editor gets launched with the steps above, but Organizer does not. In this case, we can try the below command for organizer.

sudo <Path to Prtk tool>\adobe_prtk --tool=EULA –leid= V7{}ElementsOrganizer-2019-Mac-GM –eulasuppress

Happy to help you in case of any queries or issues that you encounter with the launch of Elements 2019 on macOS 10.15.

Regards

Vipin

[#21]

Fantastic!

Your solution did work in my case!

Thank you very much.

I sure hope it keeps on working afer future updates of both PSE 2019 and IOS.

[#22]

Hello,

many tks for the workaround.....works fine 4 me 2!

Cheers

Daniel

[#23]

Thank You. Photoshop is now starting, but Organizer does not start...

[#24]

Good to know that this resolved your issue, could you please try the below command for Elements Organizer:

sudo <Path to Prtk tool>\adobe_prtk --tool=EULA –leid= V7{}ElementsOrganizer-2019-Mac-GM –eulasuppress

Thanks,

Vipin

[#25]

Thanks Vipin, your solution seems to have worked for me.