Participant

Answered

Can't create a layer mask. The button is greyed out.

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
March 3, 2020
12 replies
19565 views

Lately, the create mask button on the bottom of the layers panel will be greyed out for me and it won't create a mask, no matter what type of layer I have selected.

The only way I can create a layer mask is by Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All.

A reboot of Photoshop also fixes it, but it will come back eventually. Is anyone else running into this issue?

I'm on an iMac with macOS Catalina and the most up to date version of PS.

Thanks for your help!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer PECourtejoie

Hello, you should update to Ps 21.1.2, it fixes this very issue: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/fixed-issues.html#photoshop-desktop-fixed-issues

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NilesBrook

Participant

I have the SAME EXACT PROBLEM!!!

G

GeedyGeek

Participant

If you still havent updated nor updated the ps yet, you can try moving any layer into the mask, (you can just undo it after that) then the mask will be unstucked

PECourtejoie

Correct answer

Community Expert

Hello, you should update to Ps 21.1.2, it fixes this very issue: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/fixed-issues.html#photoshop-desktop-fixed-issues

P

phills20654835

Participant

Same problem here. I also have the issue where other tools won't show their full options even though it says that they are selected. I spoke to someone at adobe and they told me to just restart photoshop... Super frustrating!

S

stevew36867685

Participant

Also experiencing this bug, restarting, although inconvenient, fixes the problem

Black Diamond Photo

Known Participant

I was having this same problem... I'm not exactly sure what I did, but I fixed it a second ago without restarting. I went to layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. Then I selected the mask that was created and then selected the actual layer again. I have no idea when, but at some point the layer mask button switched back to normal. Hope someone else can figure it out, I can't test again until the bug comes back 🤷‍♂

M

megcb39

Participating Frequently

I just had the same thing I think. The mask button was greyed out like it was jammed on. So annoying. I wasn't in quick mask or similar. I checked mode and it was just an RGB 8 bit/channel as I thought. It was definitely it's own separate non linked layer. I'm on PC here at work (macbook pro at home).

Restarting the computer fixed it. So thanks v much for mentioning that. Here's hoping this glitch doesn't come back anytime soon.

M

mehebubsekh71@gmail.com

Participant

mehebubsekh71@gmail.com

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

Doesn't appear to be anything in the known issues list

https://helpx.adobe.com/nz/photoshop/kb/known-issues.html

But you are obviously not the only person experiencing this issue. Does this link work any better?

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family?topic-list[settings][type]=problem

D

DW-FP

Inspiring

That link leads to the same forum. I now understand that it's not a "bug report" but rather a separate forum for Photoshop where people can discuss problems. I'm unclear why I'm supposed to have a "Photoshop Family" account vs. my Adobe ID in order to use that forum.

Is there not an actual bug report form to fill out for things like this?

Conrad_C

Community Expert

Adobe makes it a little confusing, but these are the differences:

This website (community.adobe.com) is a user-to-user forum where most questions are answered by users who don't work for Adobe. It's good for general “how do I do this or that” discussions, but not really a place to report bugs directly to Adobe and get them fixed.

The other website, Photoshop Feedback (feedback.photoshop.com) is more useful for reporting actual bugs and submitting feature requests because:

Actual Adobe technical staff often enter the discussions there (though not always), sometimes to gather more information from more users.
It is possible to vote on each submission and see the vote count of all the issues, which helps Adobe set priorities.
If a bug is fixed or a feature request is implemented, its discussion is marked as such.
In the Photoshop Fixed Issues release notes for each update, just about every issue is linked back to its public discussion back on Photoshop Feedback for easy reference.

There used to be an “actual bug report form” for Photoshop at this URL, but Adobe now redirects to the Photoshop Feedback site. This is an improvement. When you used the old bug report form, you'd submit it and it would disappear into Adobe, with no public visibility or discussion, no guarantee of a followup, and no transparency as to if anything was ever done. On the Photoshop Feedback site, bugs are publicly discussed and those that get fixed are publicly documented as such.

As to why you need a separate Photoshop Family login for the Photoshop Feedback site, I think the reason is that Adobe is using a third-party service that is not connected to your Adobe ID, so you should not use your Adobe ID on it.