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If Photoshop’s Home screen is blank or the app crashes, your image files may still be safe. First check File > Open Recent: if your files appear there, Photoshop still has their recent-history entries and the problem is likely with the Home screen or its settings. If Photoshop crashes, work through the low-risk checks below before resetting preferences, which can remove custom settings.
First, find out whether the files are missing or just the Home screen list
Photoshop’s Home > Recent section is a list of document shortcuts, not a backup or storage location. The original files remain wherever you saved them: on your computer, an external drive, a network location, or cloud storage. Adobe describes Recent as documents you have worked on recently (Adobe’s Home screen overview).
- Open Photoshop, if it stays open long enough.
- Choose File > Open Recent and check whether the expected documents appear.
- If an entry opens, the file is accessible and the failure is limited to the Home screen display or related settings.
- If an entry is listed but will not open, check whether the file was moved or renamed, or whether its external drive, network share, or cloud location is available.
If the list is missing from both Home and File > Open Recent, check the recent-file count and whether Photoshop is clearing or failing to save its settings. A crash can interrupt that process. The image itself is not necessarily deleted.
Try the reversible Home-screen and recent-list checks
Check the Recent File List Contains setting
Open Edit > Preferences > File Handling on Windows, or Photoshop > Settings/Preferences > File Handling on macOS. Check Recent File List Contains and choose a practical count, such as 20. A value of zero suppresses the recent list.
Adobe Community guidance for this particular symptom suggests changing the count to 0, clicking OK, then setting it to 20 or higher as a refresh. This is a community workaround, not a guaranteed fix. It may temporarily clear the visible history, so use it only after confirming your original files are safe (Adobe Community report and guidance).
Confirm that Photoshop is set to show Home
Go to Edit > Preferences > General on Windows, or Photoshop > Settings/Preferences > General on macOS, and check Auto-Show the Home Screen. This controls whether Home appears when no documents are open; enabling it does not guarantee that Recent will populate.
As a low-risk refresh, turn the option off, click OK, quit Photoshop completely, and relaunch. Turn it back on, then quit and relaunch once more. This sequence is a troubleshooting step, not a guaranteed Adobe fix.
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Save work if possible, quit Photoshop, and restart the computer. Then install any Photoshop update currently offered in Creative Cloud. Check the version shown in Photoshop or Creative Cloud rather than relying on an older report or an assumed “latest” version. Adobe includes updating Photoshop among its crash and freeze troubleshooting steps (Adobe crash and freeze troubleshooting).
Keep working if Home itself triggers the problem
If Home freezes or crashes Photoshop, bypass it temporarily: turn off Auto-Show the Home Screen, open documents with File > Open, or use File > Open Recent when available. You can also open a known-good project from Finder or File Explorer. Adobe documents disabling Home and using the legacy New Document dialog as workarounds for Home-screen problems (Adobe Home-screen troubleshooting).
Bypassing Home can let you work, but it does not repair the cause. If Photoshop crashes only when Home loads, a Home-screen component or its settings become more plausible; if it crashes while opening any document, investigate broader app, plug-in, GPU, font, or permissions causes.
Isolate crashes before changing settings
Launch without optional plug-ins
Quit Photoshop. Relaunch it while holding Shift; Photoshop can then skip optional and third-party plug-ins. If the crash stops, update or remove plug-ins and re-enable them individually to identify the conflict. Adobe recommends this as a diagnostic test (Adobe crash and freeze troubleshooting).
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Test without GPU processing
If Photoshop opens, go to Preferences/Settings > Performance, disable Use Graphics Processor, restart Photoshop, and test again. If that changes the behavior, update the graphics driver and investigate the GPU or a GPU-feature interaction. Treat disabling GPU processing as a diagnostic step, not a universal permanent setting: it can reduce performance or disable GPU-dependent features.
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Compare what works
| Test result | What it suggests | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Home is blank, but File > Open Recent works | The recent history exists; Home may not be displaying it correctly. | Check Home settings, then consider a preferences reset. |
| Home freezes, but a document opens directly | The Home screen or a related component may be involved. | Bypass Home while troubleshooting it. |
| Photoshop crashes only when Home loads | A Home-screen, settings, or startup interaction is more likely. | Test with Home disabled and reset settings if needed. |
| Photoshop crashes while opening any file | The cause may be broader than Home: plug-ins, GPU, fonts, permissions, or the application or operating system. | Use the plug-in and GPU tests, then continue with the checks below. |
| Photoshop works when launched with Shift | An optional or third-party plug-in may be responsible. | Update, remove, or re-enable plug-ins one at a time. |
| Photoshop works with GPU processing disabled | A driver, hardware, or GPU-feature interaction may be involved. | Update the driver and test GPU processing again selectively. |
| The problem returns after repeated launches | Settings may be getting overwritten or removed. | Check permissions, cleanup tools, managed or roaming profiles, and whether another Photoshop version is being launched. |
Reset Photoshop preferences without losing your custom setup
Adobe identifies corrupted preferences as a possible cause of unexpected behavior and recommends resetting them. A reset can also remove custom configuration, so first record or back up keyboard shortcuts, workspaces, actions, brushes, patterns, gradients, swatches, presets, plug-in settings, color-management preferences, and scratch-disk or performance choices. Resetting preferences does not delete your PSD files, but it is not a guaranteed fix (Adobe’s preference-reset instructions).
Reset while launching
- Close Photoshop completely.
- Launch Photoshop while holding Alt + Ctrl + Shift on Windows, or Option + Command + Shift on macOS.
- When prompted, confirm deletion of the Adobe Photoshop Settings file.
Reset on quit
If Photoshop opens reliably, choose Edit > Preferences > General on Windows, or Photoshop > Settings/Preferences > General on macOS. Select Reset Preferences On Quit, click OK, quit Photoshop, and launch it again.
Rename the settings folder manually
Copy the settings folder somewhere safe, then rename the original rather than deleting it. Relaunch Photoshop so it can create fresh settings. Adobe gives these general locations:
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems- Windows:
C:Users<username>AppDataRoamingAdobeAdobe Photoshop <version>Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings - macOS:
/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop <version> Settings
The folder name varies by Photoshop release. Use the folder for the version you are troubleshooting; do not assume a path copied from instructions for another release is the one Photoshop uses.
If Home is still blank or frozen
Adobe’s Home-screen troubleshooting includes renaming the shared Adobe UXP folder. This is an advanced step: close Photoshop and other Adobe applications first, make a backup, and rename the folder rather than deleting it. Because UXP is shared, this can affect components used by other Adobe applications. Follow the current instructions in Adobe’s Home-screen troubleshooting guide for the applicable operating system; do not delete the entire Adobe folder.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Check other crash causes if Photoshop remains unstable
Fonts and font cache
A problematic font or font cache can cause crashes that are unrelated to Home. Adobe’s documented font-cache locations include /Users/[user name]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop on macOS and Users[user name]AppDataRoamingAdobeAdobe Photoshop <version> on Windows. Adobe says to quit both Photoshop and Creative Cloud before deleting the CT Font Cache folder so it can be rebuilt. Consult Adobe’s crash troubleshooting instructions before changing cache files.
Security software, permissions, and managed computers
Security software can conflict with Photoshop, but do not leave antivirus protection disabled. If a controlled test is necessary, follow the security vendor’s guidance or create an appropriate application exception, then restore protection.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsOn macOS, check that Photoshop has the privacy and file-access permissions required for the locations involved, especially protected folders, external volumes, network shares, or cloud-sync directories. The exact permission controls vary by macOS release. On a managed Windows computer, a roaming profile, redirected AppData, corporate policy, or cleanup script may repeatedly replace or remove Photoshop settings.
Operating system or Photoshop version
Keep the operating system and graphics driver current, following Adobe’s troubleshooting guidance. If the problem began after a Photoshop update and persists through the isolation steps, consider installing a previous Photoshop version through Creative Cloud as a last resort. An older version is a workaround, not proof that the newer version is defective; do not assume a reinstall will remove damaged preferences.
When to contact Adobe
If the crash persists after the reversible checks and targeted resets, collect information before contacting Adobe Support or posting in the Adobe Community. Adobe Community staff have requested Help > System Info and a copy of the preferences folder for a report about missing Home-screen Recent files (Adobe Community report).
- Photoshop version and build, plus the Windows or macOS version.
- Computer model and GPU.
- Whether the failure happens on launch, when Home appears, or when opening a particular document.
- Whether File > Open Recent works.
- Whether skipping plug-ins or disabling GPU processing changes the behavior.
- Crash reports, relevant system information, and steps that reliably reproduce the problem.
Missing Recent entries and crashes are not, by themselves, proof of a confirmed bug in a particular Photoshop release. Community reports document symptoms, but they do not establish that every user has the same cause.
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