# Lightroom Panels Disappearing



## JohnPMcAlister (Dec 19, 2016)

I have been using Lightroom for about 18 months.  I have a CC license.  The new update (2015.8) was just installed this past week.  Today when switching from Library to Develop modules, all panels disappeared.  I could not find any way to get them back.  (The standard ways of re-displaying panels did not work.)  I returned to Library from the menu system.  Upon reentering Develop, the panels were there.  The same thing happened when going from Library to Print Module on the second or third time I entered that module.  I was only able to get the panels back by quoting LR and restarting it. I suspect this is a bug in the new update version.  Anyone else have this problem and a solution?


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## clee01l (Dec 19, 2016)

Welcome to the forum.

Disappeared?  As in went black?  This is a bug in LRCC2015.8.  It has been reported.  Restarting LR will recover from this bug.

Disappeared, as in collapsed into the sides?  This is controlled by the F5,F6, F7, & F8 function keys.


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## JohnPMcAlister (Dec 19, 2016)

Thank you for confirming that this is a reported bug. (They disappeared completely - went black.  No normal recovery of the panels (e.g., F5, F6, F7, F8) nor CMD-click etc. could recover them.)


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## J G Coutts (Jan 31, 2017)

So annoying. Any idea when they will address this.
I'm running Lightroom CC on a Mac and once a day or more all my panels disappear.  The header, the navigation side, the info side, film strip.  The little grey arrows still point out so these panels haven't been reduced, they are just gone.  I have a screen shot if anyone would like to see.  To get them back I have to minimize Lightroom and then bring it back but this fix only lasts a few second.  The fix is to exit and restart which then takes time to repopulate the folders.


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## Victoria Bampton (Feb 1, 2017)

J G Coutts said:


> So annoying. Any idea when they will address this.



It'll be the next update... I'd guess sometime this month, although I don't have any information on a date, so don't quote me!


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## John Davies (Feb 10, 2017)

I am having a similar problem. I have been using Lightroom for several years and this is recent. When I click anywhere in the workspace all of the surrounding panels go black leaving only the central picture. I am using a Mac and I find that I can restore everything by minimising the window and restoring it. This enables me to complete one action before the next click recreates the problem. It is getting very frustrating.


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## clee01l (Feb 10, 2017)

John Davies said:


> I am having a similar problem. I have been using Lightroom for several years and this is recent. When I click anywhere in the workspace all of the surrounding panels go black leaving only the central picture. I am using a Mac and I find that I can restore everything by minimising the window and restoring it. This enables me to complete one action before the next click recreates the problem. It is getting very frustrating.


I was bothered with this bug initially, but lately I have hardly seen it.  If you keep LR open and never exit, I think the problem is compounding and appears.  However, if you exit LR at least once a day the bug is not so likely to occur.


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## McPhil (Feb 11, 2017)

Forum members, Thanks for the various ways to fix the black panels bug. I am experiencing the black panels as well. When I am in the Filter mode in Library view (especially custom filter) this bug has occurred. When I did Command L (Mac) to turn off Filters, the missing panels reappeared. Perhaps just a fluke. This happened two days ago.


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## John Davies (Feb 13, 2017)

Thanks Cletus. I have exited and reopened Lightroom and so far the problem has not recurred. The main reason I leave it open is the time it takes to start it up.


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## David Efurd (Mar 4, 2017)

I've been experiencing this same behavior for quite a while now. Still waiting on a bug fix. Restarting LR is the only thing that brings them back. I tend to leave LR open for long periods of times too like others have stated. Tried Cletus' keyboard shortcut for turning on/off filters but didn't work for me - although it's a new keyboard shortcut that I didn't know about - so at least I got something out of this!


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## clee01l (Mar 4, 2017)

David Efurd said:


> I've been experiencing this same behavior for quite a while now. Still waiting on a bug fix. Restarting LR is the only thing that brings them back. I tend to leave LR open for long periods of times too like others have stated. Tried Cletus' keyboard shortcut for turning on/off filters but didn't work for me - although it's a new keyboard shortcut that I didn't know about - so at least I got something out of this!


Welcome to the forum.   I have not seen this bug in a very long time.  However, last night, it appeared again.  When it did, I switched to the Map module and back to the Develop module and the side panels repainted corrected.


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## Woodbutcher (Mar 6, 2017)

Map module, eh?  I'll try that next time.  I had it hiccup like this twice this weekend.  Latest version of LR, if my profile isn't up to date...


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## JAM (Mar 7, 2017)

minimise then resize. Usually does the trick.. I'm glad I found this thread I thought I was having problems with my graphics card


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## DGStinner (Mar 7, 2017)

Sadly, this isn't fixed in 2015.9
Lightroom 2015.7/8: Panels and filmstrip black when switching to Develop macOS Sierra | Photoshop Family Customer Community


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## JAM (Mar 7, 2017)

That's annoying


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## clee01l (Mar 7, 2017)

DGStinner said:


> Sadly, this isn't fixed in 2015.9
> Lightroom 2015.7/8: Panels and filmstrip black when switching to Develop macOS Sierra | Photoshop Family Customer Community


That is disappointing.  For me the issue appeared and then did not re appear until in the last week or so.    However, I have a reliable workaround (#11).  So, it is no more than a nuisance.


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## bob chadwick (Mar 7, 2017)

Hopefully it was resolved in today's update.


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## Johan Elzenga (Mar 7, 2017)

It's not. I didn't make it into this update and is planned for the next one.


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## bob chadwick (Mar 7, 2017)

That's too bad.


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## Woodbutcher (Mar 7, 2017)

Hmm, that link mentions Sierra.  I'm still on el Cap and it happens.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 8, 2017)

They're working with Apple to figure out a permanent fix. It turns out that even some much older LR versions can trigger the issue on El Capitan and Sierra, which would suggest that something changed in the OS. Something in Lightroom is just triggering it much more frequently in recent releases.


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## LouieSherwin (Mar 8, 2017)

I have also noticed some strange behavior where Lightroom panels seem to act more like windows. I've had several instances when I switch between other apps and new app window is tiled in between two of the Lightroom panels just as if each panel is a separate window. This seemed to start with 10.12. This doesnt seem to cause any problem but it sure looks strange. 

-louie


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## Smolda (Mar 12, 2017)

Well, at least I am not completely crazy (yet). The last update didn't fix it. Did anyone tried complete uninstall/install? Just wondering...


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 12, 2017)

Hi Smolda, welcome to the forum!  Uninstall/reinstall is unlikely to help, as it appears to be triggering a bug in the OS. Here's the official workaround: Lightroom UI panels appearing black on macOS


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## snapper (Mar 13, 2017)

That workaround doesn't work if you're using LR in full screen mode


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## JohnPMcAlister (Dec 19, 2016)

I have been using Lightroom for about 18 months.  I have a CC license.  The new update (2015.8) was just installed this past week.  Today when switching from Library to Develop modules, all panels disappeared.  I could not find any way to get them back.  (The standard ways of re-displaying panels did not work.)  I returned to Library from the menu system.  Upon reentering Develop, the panels were there.  The same thing happened when going from Library to Print Module on the second or third time I entered that module.  I was only able to get the panels back by quoting LR and restarting it. I suspect this is a bug in the new update version.  Anyone else have this problem and a solution?


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## Kirby Krieger (Mar 13, 2017)

Fwiw, I'm seeing this (black screen where panels should be) about once a day, using LR for c. 5 hr. each day.  Quit, re-launch is the only repeatable cure I've found.  I'm still on OS 10.11.


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## Oliver-Munich (Mar 13, 2017)

I would be happy to see this effect just once a day. In my case it sometimes appears about every 10 minutes of use. The "official workaround" helps for one interaction then, so it is not a workaround. Quit and relaunch LR is the only thing that helps... for another 10 minutes.


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## doug86 (Mar 15, 2017)

Happening to me too. Pretty much every few minutes. Using El Capitan and latest CC version of lightroom. Issue started to occur after last LR update, and a week ago. Pretty sure this isn't what I"m paying for....


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## NJ eyedoc (Jul 30, 2017)

Same problem as everyone else; using current software Mac and LR; occurs after printing and returning to Library or Develop.  Only solution is re-starting.  Very annoying and waste of time


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## clee01l (Jul 30, 2017)

NJ eyedoc said:


> Same problem as everyone else; using current software Mac and LR; occurs after printing and returning to Library or Develop.  Only solution is re-starting.  Very annoying and waste of time


Welcome to the forum. Your profile says that you are  running LRCC2015.12 and still seeing the issue.  Did you read this response #24?  I've seen nothing definitive about the OS issue being resolved in 2015.10.1 or 2015.12.  However, I have not seen the problem in some time.   What are you MacOS specs?


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## NJ eyedoc (Jul 30, 2017)

10.11.6; iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009); 12 gB RAM
LR 2015.12; Camera RAW 9.12

I have been following this thread for sometime to see if anyone had a workaround or if/when Adobe would fix this bug.  Any help is most appreciated.


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## clee01l (Jul 30, 2017)

NJ eyedoc said:


> 10.11.6; iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009); 12 gB RAM
> LR 2015.12; Camera RAW 9.12
> 
> I have been following this thread for sometime to see if anyone had a workaround or if/when Adobe would fix this bug.  Any help is most appreciated.


I think most of the workarounds are discussed here.  I have not seen the issue on my 5K iMac since at least March. So I don't know why.  Leaving LR open for long periods seems to cause the problem to appear.  So shutting LR down when not actively using it may keep it from rearing its ugly head.  Amy trick od switching to the Map module and back to Develop has worked for me every time I have tried it.


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## mjmoly (Dec 29, 2019)

I running LR Classic (9.1) on a relatively new Mac mini using IOS 10.15.2) which is the latest versions of both programs. I'm experiencing the problem now.
Any suggestions or indications that Apple/Adobe  is fixing this problem. Most annoying.

Thank you.


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## clee01l (Dec 29, 2019)

mjmoly said:


> I running LR Classic (9.1) on a relatively new Mac mini using IOS 10.15.2) which is the latest versions of both programs. I'm experiencing the problem now.
> Any suggestions or indications that Apple/Adobe  is fixing this problem. Most annoying.
> 
> Thank you.


You are on the latest versions of both It is ab=ny ones guess as to when you will see aMacOS 10.15.2. Adobe tends to update about every month.  So 98,2 might show up in January.  There is no guarantee that this issue will be resolved by then,


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## clee01l (Dec 29, 2019)

mjmoly said:


> I running LR Classic (9.1) on a relatively new Mac mini using IOS 10.15.2) which is the latest versions of both programs. I'm experiencing the problem now.
> Any suggestions or indications that Apple/Adobe  is fixing this problem. Most annoying.
> 
> Thank you.


AFAIK, you're the only person seeing this problem on the current releases of MacOS and Lightroom Classic.

Describe for me if you can what is happening any error messages that you get.  How often do you reboot you computer?   Have you tried turning off GPU


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## mjmoly (Dec 30, 2019)

I get no error message. The panels just disappear. I have not been able to get them to reappear without rebooting my machine.  I reboot my computer fairly regularly--usually once a day. I don't know that I have turned off the GPU--I'm not sure just what that is nor how I would do it.


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 30, 2019)

Disappear as in slide sideways, or disappear as in still there but blank?


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## mjmoly (Dec 30, 2019)

The latter—still there but still blank. Using the slide arrows does nothing. Still no visible panels.


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## Paul McFarlane (Dec 30, 2019)

Could you screenshot for us please? Just in case we spot something?


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## mjmoly (Dec 31, 2019)

I will the next time it happens.


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