photoshop 2020 (21.0.2) spinning wheel / lag problems in macos catalina (10.15.2)

[murat_germen]

hello to all,

after a few hours of usage photoshop 2020 (21.0.2) starts go get laggy and slower in macos catalina (10.15.2). i reset prefs by quitting PS, when i open PS again it starts with pretty good performance and in a few hours it turns back into the laggy mode. i reset prefs again, resolves the problem for a few hours and the wheel starts to spin again and again, tired of resetting prefs! very very frustrating and disrupts my work flow... very first time in my very long history of photoshop usage in macos environment!!!

any ideas about how to solve this? help please...

thanks, murat.

[Akash Sharma]

Hi Murat,

Sorry that Photoshop 2020 is lagging on Mac OS 10.15.2.

Could you please turn on the Legacy Compositing option in Performance preferences?
Choose Edit > Preferences > Performance (Windows) or Photoshop > Preferences > Performance (macOS). Select Legacy Compositing. Quit and relaunch Photoshop.
 
Let us know how it goes.
 
Thanks,
Akash

[murat_germen]

hi akash,

thanks for your quick solution suggestion. i selected it and relaunched PS. will let you know ASAP.

very best, murat.

[murat_germen]

hi akash,

it's murat again. i have been trying PS with legacy compositing option on. it felt like it was going better for a longer period but now, after an hour of usage, it started to be laggy again. i tried almost all the suggestions i found on the internet and the problem is still not solved, frustrating indeed...

best, murat.

[Akash Sharma]

Hi Murat,

Sorry that the issue still persists. Would you mind navigating to the System Preferences of the macOS, then to Security and Privacy and add Photoshop to the Accessibility under the Privacy tab. Also, grant permissions to Photoshop 2020 under the Files and Folders section. See https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mh32356/mac

Thanks,

Akash

[murat_germen]

hi akash,

thanks for your reply and suggestion. i had already granted access to PS in all possible security menu items like "accessibility", "full disk access", "files and folders". the only option PS is not listed in is "automation" and i think there is no way to add PS to "automation" menu (bridge is listed there though).

i did not see the spinning wheel or experience remarkable lag for two days in a row. i hope the problem is solved...

best, murat.

[murat_germen]

hi again akash,

when i opened photoshop today i saw that the software acted a bit slower again. i reset prefs as susal and it started perfectly fine and fast. so, until this issue is resolved, i will have to reset prefs every day it seems...

best, murat.

[Akash Sharma]

Hi Murat, 

You shouldn't be resetting app preferences everytime you use it. Keep using the application and let us know if you start noticing any laag. 

Thanks, 

Akash

[murat_germen]

hi akash,

the reason i reset prefs continously is that PS becomes laggy all the time in a few hours. the moment i reset prefs it starts pretty fast, then turns laggy again. endless loop!

thanks, murat.

[bellevue scott]

Mac Pro, 10.14.5

PS 21.1.2 

This started happening yesterday, and I can normally save a 1GB file in under 5 seconds. Even small files would give the spinning wheel of death for 20-30 seconds. I googled and found this thread, and this worked. 

Choose Edit > Preferences > Performance . Select Legacy Compositing. Quit and relaunch Photoshop.

thanks

[murat_germen]

thanks for the suggestion. i tried this option too after your suggestion, no luck. lag never goes away!

PS CC 2019 still works much more smoothly than 2020.

i do not know why adobe does not work on this, very disappointing.

[frances4w]

Have you found a solution to this? I'm having similar issues and am on macOS 10.15.3. I can open PSD2019 but then any action (eg. create layer, type tool) and PSD becomes almost unresponsive.

[Roger_Kean]

B een suffering the problem, death wheel for 2–5 seconds with every move, switch tool, or dialogue box. Destroying Photoshop!

[greg_sloanem70002280]

I've been having the same issue.

[greg_sloanem70002280]

Literally, just navigating the menus, the wheel appears.

[murat-germen]

the very recent PS version 21.2.1 seems to act normally and i guess the problem has been finally solved.

[greg_sloanem70002280]

Not for me—that's the version I'm having trouble with. Never had any issues before. I tried the Legacy Compositing fix mentioned above and there was no difference whatsoever. I purged the cache, etc.

This is really frustrating.

[murat-germen]

adobe suite and catalina pairing has always been problematic in various ways, i don't know what is happening...

[greg_sloanem70002280]

I contacted Tech Support, granted remote access, and they had it sorted out in under 5 minutes. It did not look like anything they could've walked me through. Now it's working properly.

[murat_germen]

thanks greg, this is a valuable information, i will also try this since the
version in my laptop started to get laggy again. the one in my desktop
seems to be ok for now.

best, murat.

[liann4887]

are you saying we have to contact support over the phone, give them remote access to fix it themselves, and that does the trick? this is unacceptable... they need to come up with an update to fix this for every customer. expecting each person to have a personalized fix like this is impossible. Can someone tell me how to get back to PS 2019, since that seems to be the only way out of the constant spinning wheel? I click a menu, and it spins, i zoom in, and it spins...these are small JPGs.. this has been happening for months and is costing me time and money. 

[murat_germen]

i contacted adobe online customer service and i was directed to erase the CC 2020 suite using the cleaner tool and perform clean install. no improvement!

photoshop seems to be fine for a few hours than the lag slowly starts again. i erase the prefs, works fine for some time and gets laggy after a short while. adobe was never able to offer a solution, very weird, cannot understand how this is possible...

i switched back to PS CC 2019, where things work smoothly with no problems. if CC 2019 works i do not understand why CC 2020 does not!!!

[greg_sloanem70002280]

I understand your frustration, liann4887. But honestly, it took them less time to resolve the issue the issue than it probably took you to type your post. I just wasn't up to monkeying around with the various 'fixes' posted above, which seemed to be spotty at best. Best of luck to you! 

[liann4887]

greg, your suggestion that adobe should personally physically fix each individual's problem over the phone is ludicrous. talk about wasting time... your comment was rude and unhelpful. So unless you know how to fix it yourself, (which you obviously dont, given you handed over access to your computer to a stranger who did the work for you) then mind your business please.

I'll spend my time how I like, and in this case, I don't care to "monkey around" with sitting on hold and then giving a random person access to my computer. Good luck to YOU. I'll be ignoring your future posts and replies.

Thank you to Murat for actual helpful advice! I went back to 2019 and things are running much more smoothly. Hopefully adobe actually fixes this issue(s) in the 2020 version, which has gone on for over 6 months.

[greg_sloanem70002280]

.