Photoshop 2025 introduced some powerful features — but also a handful of frustrating bugs and slowdowns.
If you’re noticing lag, weird UI glitches, “scratch disk full” errors (even with tons of free space), or broken tools like the Brush or Save As functions, you’re not imagining things. I’ve been deep in the trenches testing this version, and I ran into the same mess. But after tweaking some settings, I got Photoshop running smoothly again — and you can too.
Here’s a quick guide to solving the biggest problems people are facing with Photoshop 2025 right now.
Even on high-end machines, simple things like moving layers or typing text can feel delayed.
Turn off GPU compositingEdit → Preferences → Performance → Uncheck "Use GPU Compositing"
Purge temporary dataEdit → Purge → All — Clears out memory Photoshop might be hoarding.
Lower History StatesPreferences → Performance → History States
Set it to 20 instead of the default 50.
Disable “Generator”Preferences → Plug-ins → Uncheck "Enable Generator"
All of these added up to a noticeable speed boost for me.
This one’s surprisingly common. Photoshop may falsely detect that your drive is full and refuse to open or save files.
Manually clear the Photoshop temp folder
Windows: C:\Users\[YourName]\AppData\Local\Temp
Delete anything starting with Photoshop Temp
Set a different scratch diskEdit → Preferences → Scratch Disks
Choose a different drive if possible.
Free up space on your main drive even if it’s not the one assigned — Photoshop still uses it in background tasks.
After a recent update, users with dual monitors or high-DPI screens are seeing blurry UI, broken scaling, or greyed-out panels.
Force proper DPI scaling
Right-click Photoshop icon → Properties → Compatibility → Change high DPI settings → Check “Override” and set to Application.
Enable Native RulersPreferences → Technology Previews → Enable Native Canvas Rulers
Update or downgrade GPU drivers
For NVIDIA users, the Studio Drivers tend to be more stable than the Game Ready ones.
Photoshop changed the behavior of “Save As” — now you can’t save directly as JPEG unless you enable legacy features.
Preferences → File Handling → Enable Legacy "Save As"
Or use File → Export → Export As → JPEG.
Some plugins — especially WebAssembly-based ones — instantly crash the 2025 version.
Check if the plugin has been updated for Photoshop 2025.
If not, reinstall Photoshop 2024 from the Creative Cloud app (under “Other Versions”) and use that version until plugin compatibility returns.
Digital painters have reported brush strokes showing up as dots or not rendering correctly.
Go to Preferences → Cursors and switch between “Standard” and “Precise”.
Preferences → Input → Disable “Flick Panning”
On tablets, disable Windows Ink if you’re seeing pressure issues.
Still seeing strange behavior? A full reset might help.
To reset preferences:
Hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Cmd+Option+Shift (Mac) as you launch Photoshop.
Choose “Yes” when prompted to delete settings.
Make sure you back up your brushes, actions, or custom workspaces first.
Photoshop 2025 can run smoothly — but many users are running into friction from default settings, GPU conflicts, and recent OS updates. With a few tweaks, you can solve most of these problems without downgrading.
These fixes helped me restore stability, performance, and save a ton of frustration. Hopefully they do the same for you.
If you found this helpful, feel free to share it with someone else who’s ready to throw their laptop across the room.