# Not able to see local adjustments on photo, only in navigator window



## hillermoran (Jan 6, 2017)

I've been editing photos with global and local adjustments for the past few hours. Now all of a sudden when I go to make local adjustments such as soften skin or burn or dodge, I can't see the changes on the photo. I move exposure up and down just to see if it does anything and I noticed a change in the thumbnail in the navigator pane. Why would the adjustments all of a sudden stopped showing up as I adjust? I don't even know how to tell if they're actually changing. Thank you in advance for any help.


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## hillermoran (Jan 7, 2017)

So I am able to do global adjustments, but when I use the adjustment brush it only shows a mask of the area I'm editing but then nothing it edited after I select done. Why would this be happening?


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## Tony Jay (Jan 7, 2017)

Hi welcome to Lightroom Forums!

There are two likely possibilities:
The density of the brush is set to zero - I think from what you have said that is unlikely; or
The preferences file is corrupted - this does happen from time to time and is very annoying but the fix is trivially easy.

Close Lightroom.
Find the preferences file here:  /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.Lightroom6.plist.
Move the file to your desktop or somewhere where it is easy for you to locate it again.
Re-open Lightroom and as soon as it starts opening press shift option - a dialog box will open allowing one to reset the preferences.

The above will likely solve the problem.
If it doesn't solve the problem one can always replace the preferences with the old one again.
If it does solve the problem one can delete the old preference file at one's leisure.

Tony Jay


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## hillermoran (Jan 7, 2017)

Tony
Thank you so much for your help. I closed out Lightroom and reopened but nothing opened as I pressed shift option as it started up. How would I go about replacing the preference with older ones? 

Alex


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## Tony Jay (Jan 7, 2017)

For the moment ignore the process of regenerating the preferences file.
It isn't obvious to me that you removed the preferences file as instructed.

The object of the exercise is to see if removing the preferences file fixes the editing problem.

Tony Jay


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## clee01l (Jan 7, 2017)

hillermoran said:


> Tony
> Thank you so much for your help. I closed out Lightroom and reopened but nothing opened as I pressed shift option as it started up. How would I go about replacing the preference with older ones?
> 
> Alex


*Let's back up a bit!.*. Your profile says that you are running MacOS (10.12.x) and LRCC version 2015.3.  Adobe released LRCC2015.8 specifically to be compatible with MacOS  Unless you are on the  current version of LR, I would not recommend anything until you are.  LRCC2015.3 (your stated version) was particularly buggy as have been most update versions since LRCC2015.0.

Can you  verify that you are lon LRCC2015.8 before you attempt to do anything else?


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## Tony Jay (Jan 7, 2017)

clee01l said:


> *Let's back up a bit!.*. Your profile says that you are running MacOS (10.12.x) and LRCC version 2015.3.  Adobe released LRCC2015.8 specifically to be compatible with MacOS  Unless you are on the  current version of LR, I would not recommend anything until you are.  LRCC2015.3 (your stated version) was particularly buggy as have been most update versions since LRCC2015.0.
> 
> Can you  verify that you are lon LRCC2015.8 before you attempt to do anything else?


Yes, this is a fair point that Cletus makes - it is well worth investigating.

Tony Jay


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## hillermoran (Jan 7, 2017)

clee01l said:


> *Let's back up a bit!.*. Your profile says that you are running MacOS (10.12.x) and LRCC version 2015.3.  Adobe released LRCC2015.8 specifically to be compatible with MacOS  Unless you are on the  current version of LR, I would not recommend anything until you are.  LRCC2015.3 (your stated version) was particularly buggy as have been most update versions since LRCC2015.0.
> 
> Can you  verify that you are lon LRCC2015.8 before you attempt to do anything else?





I have the 2015.3 version. Do I need to go online and update my version? I wondered how it updated.


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## Tony Jay (Jan 7, 2017)

hillermoran said:


> I have the 2015.3 version. Do I need to go online and update my version? I wondered how it updated.


Yes.

The process is pretty simple.
Open Lightroom - go to help (last option along the menu bar) and click on "updates."
Adobe Application manager will open and offer you the latest updates on all Adobe apps on your system.
For now it may be helpful just to select the Lightroom updates if you do have other apps installed.
Then click ok.

Tony Jay


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## hillermoran (Jan 8, 2017)

Tony and Cletus,

Ok I updated my LR to 2015.8 and I'm still not able to see any local adjustments. So should I proceed with removing the preferences for LR and trying to restore them? Thank y'all again for your assistance. 

Alex


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## Tony Jay (Jan 8, 2017)

hillermoran said:


> Tony and Cletus,
> 
> Ok I updated my LR to 2015.8 and I'm still not able to see any local adjustments. So should I proceed with removing the preferences for LR and trying to restore them? Thank y'all again for your assistance.
> 
> Alex


There is no harm in trying this plan as originally suggested.

Tony Jay


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