Something wrong in Photoshop CC!

[BW_Ellis]

Hey,

I am running the latest version of PS CC on a MacBook Pro OS 10.8.5 with 16GB of ram. When I started my computer this morning an update from Adobe came up so I ran it.  Now the move tool and the free transform function are not working.  Literally nothing happens when I click drag with the move tool and when I try to use free transform I get an error message I've never seen:

"Could not transform because the initial bounding rectangle is empty.."

Am I the only one experiencing these peroblems?  I was working on this computer last night using PS on the exact same files and did not run into this problem.  Perhaps it was something in the update I ran this morning? The description for the update claimed it added a new version of Camera Raw and added new camera profiles. I don't see how, but its possible that the update effected the way the tools  work, or in my case not work.

Any Thoughts?

Brett

[BW_Ellis]

Wow, and individual file corruption.  I have not seen one of these in over a decade.  The file that I was working with was corrupted and any other file I opened while the file was up also behaved the same way.  When I closed the offending file the rest worked just fine. Talk about a weird one.  Thanks anyway but I got this.

[valeriyar27079422]

HI,

How did you figure out of the file corruption?

I am experiencing the same problem, and getting frustrated here.

I have PhotoshopnCC and Windows 7.

What else can i do to fix the problem?

Thanks

[Chris Cox]

Double check that you're targeting the correct layer -- that error sounds like you were targeting the wrong layer  (an empty area).

[BW_Ellis]

Actually I found the problem.  The file I was working with last night has a corruption in its build code.  Whenever I opened any other file the corrupted function disabled certain tools.  When I closed the corrupted file the other images began to work perfectly.  I am thinking the last time I saved the file last night it made a mistake in the write process and a bad line of code landed on the document.

This morning when I opened the doc the bad line of code started wreaking havoc on the tools and free transform funtions.  Once I closed the file and opened an earlier one the problem went away.

I am an Adobe Certified Expert on PS 6 & CC, the reason I posted this here is because the programmers from Adobe look in every once in a while and this forum is far more likely to produce results than calling the often inadequate tech support Adobe maintains abroad.

No worries though, I figured out the problem and was able to recover the work.  Thanks for the reply.

[Chris Cox]

Do you still have a copy of that "bad" file?  We'd like to examine it and see what is causing problems?

Email/dropbox/whatever to ccox (at) adobe (dot) com.

[BW_Ellis]

Sorrry, I didn't think you would care about it.  It has not been my experience that Adobe pays much attention to us users.  I deleted the file so that I wouldn't accidently reopen it.  If the error occurs again I will send it to you.

[Chris Cox]

I don't know where you got that experience, because we're constantly talking to and working with users!

[BW_Ellis]

I have been using Photoshop and Illustrator since high school in the early 90's.  On more occasions than I can count I have attempted to communicate my concerns about loopholes and issue with various versions of the programs.  I have been hung up on by Adobe personnel, insulted by tech support and generally ignored while discussing most if not every criticism or suggestion I have made.

Recently I had the opportunity to lend Adobe my view and did so, speaking for over an hour with one of your survey companies.  I made several suggestions on how PS, AI and several other programs can be improved but I am not holding my breath. If your track record with me is any indication, the conversation has already been deleted.

For over 20 years I have used Adobe products with an above average track record for reliability and you guys consistently surprise me with the innovations you program into the suite.  This, the fact that Adobe is the industry standard and because you really don't have any serious competition I use your products, not because of your customer service or your responsiveness to my requests for action.  If there was a serious alternative, I would take it.

I don't think Adobe takes its users seriously since we are all disposable to a company as big as Adobe.  Don't get me wrong, I like what you are doing most of the time, but locating your tech support in India is a mistake.  Hosting this open forum is a great way for us to communicate however you're not listening when we speak, at least it doesn't appear so here.

Since Adobe is  the biggest fish in the pond, or the only fish it would seem, they have no real incentive to actually listen to us, just to present the appearance of such for the sake of publicity and so the people who work on the front lines feel comfortable in saying that they do.  If they did, I feel the company would be a different place, and the programs would be better.

[PECourtejoie]

AdeptDigital, Chris, and other programmers of Photoshop help users in this place since a very long time (don't let the date below the names fool you)

Since you are on a Mac, you can recover that file with time machine, can't you?

[BW_Ellis]

If I used Time Machine on a daily basis I could but I don't do that. As much as I like Time Machine I do not need such a dense history of my backups, that and the NAS drive I have is not Mac so the process not only takes forever but slows down my computer.

Helping users with problems is one thing I like about this forum but have you ever had to call tech support?  Not a pleasant experience.  I had a billing issue that took 4 months, several supervisors, and a call to my credit card company to resolve. 

At the end of the process they told me they couldn't refund the money they accidently withdrew from my credit card because it took to long to get them to admit they made the mistake.  Had they done their job correctly the first time I would have gotten a full refund, so yes the ineptitude of tech support personnel cost me money.  I care more about the way I was treated than the $50 that I was inappropriately billed, I value good customer service and loathe bad.

In the end it is more about how the program works and how much money I can make with it. I would just prefer to have the company treat me with the respect and devotion I have shown for the past 2 decades, as yet they have not. They have lost my respect, but since I have devoted so much time to learning and using their programs I have to continue working with them, but I enjoy the process that much less.

[Guyan1]

I have also experienced this problem using Photshop CS6 and was getting a warning box when trying to select a layer that says: "Could not transform because the initial bounding rectangle is empty."

Issue was resolved by deleting the extra channel "Quick mask" in the channels palette. I must've accidentally pressed the Q key by mistake.

[Pic see dust]

I am new to using photoshop, I cannot get the content aware tool to work and am getting this same error.  Can someone please explain this corrupted file issue that Brett is talking about and also the quick mask in the channels palette.  I am running Photoshop CC with bridge and lightroom.  Trying to figure this out asap.

Thanks so much.

Deb G.

[LaxerN]

I got this problem in for my type layers in Photoshop CC 2019. The solutions in this thread were not relevant, but I found another solution that fixed my problem on a different site that might be relevant.

"Photoshop's preference file may have somehow become corrupted. To the best of my knowledge, Reinstalling Photoshop does not create new user preferences. If the problem is due to corrupted preferences, they are probably still corrupted. So, try re-creating the preferences yourself:

Note: This will set your preferences back to the default of course. So, before re-creating them, you may want to write down some of the preference changes you've made previously. That will help when you redo them after the re-creation.

To re-create the preferences files, start the application while holding down Ctrl+Alt+Shift. Then, click Yes to the message, "Delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file?"

Hope this helps."

[dcr222]

I get same message when trying to trim a video in Photoshop on a Mac.  Your solution worked for me.  Thanks! 

By the way:

1.  For a Mac it's Ctrl+Option+Shift

2.  I needed to press Ctrl+Option+Shift immediately after clicking to start Photoshop.  

[samanthaw67607011]

I experienced the same thing but it's 2022 now so perhaps the cause is different. I saved, closed, then reopened the file and I'm good to go 🙂