TechNote

Icons disappear from the Application Bar and Arrange Documents menu in Photoshop CS4 (Windows)

Issue

In Adobe Photoshop CS4 on Windows, you experience the following issues:

When you move your cursor over a button in the Application Bar, the icon for that button disappears.
When you click the Arrange Documents button in the Application Bar, the menu appears but the icons for each of the layouts are not visible.

Solution

Do the following solutions in order.

Solution 1: Remove conflicting plug-ins.

The following plug-ins have been known to cause this issue:

Imagenomic Portraiture 2
Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0
onOne PhotoFrame 4.0.0
onOne Plug-In Suite 4.1.x

If you have installed one or more of these plug-ins, then close Photoshop and remove the plug-ins. (For instructions, see the plug-in's documentation.) After you have removed these plug-ins, start Photoshop and then try to re-create the problem. If the problem does not recur after the plug-in is removed, check the plug-in manufacturer's Web site for updates.

If you have not installed any of the plug-ins listed above, or if the problem recurs after you have removed these plug-ins, then proceed to Solution 2.

Solution 2: Troubleshoot other third-party plug-ins.

For instructions, see "Troubleshoot plug-ins (Photoshop CS4 on Windows)" (TechNote kb409112).

If you have not installed any third-party plug-ins, or if the problem recurs after you have completed the tasks in TechNote kb409112, then proceed to Solution 3.

Solution 3: Re-create the Photoshop preferences file.

Re-create the Photoshop preferences file to eliminate problems that a damaged preferences file might cause.

Note: When you use this solution, Photoshop will create a new preferences file and you will need to re-establish any custom settings associated with your current preferences file.

To re-create the Photoshop preferences file:

Close Photoshop.
In Windows Explorer, navigate to one of these locations:
- Windows Vista: C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Adobe Photoshop CS4 Settings
- Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Adobe Photoshop CS4 Settings
Note: These folder paths include hidden folders. By default, Windows Explorer does not display hidden files and folders. To show these hidden folders, see "Show hidden files and folders (Windows XP, Vista)" (TechNote kb402324).
Rename the Adobe Photoshop CS4 Prefs.psp file to, for example, Old Adobe Photoshop CS4 Prefs.psp. (You may not see the file name extension .psp.)
Start Photoshop. Photoshop will create a new preferences file.

If the problem recurs, then a damaged preferences file is not the cause. To restore custom settings, close Photoshop, delete the new Adobe Photoshop CS4 Prefs.psp file, and then restore the original name (Adobe Photoshop CS4 Prefs.psp) of the file that you renamed in Step 3 above. Proceed to Solution 4.

Solution 4: Update the graphics driver.

Photoshop CS4 tries to use the hardware acceleration feature of your graphics card or chipset to display the different elements of the Application Bar. If the graphics driver is out of date or damaged, then graphics hardware acceleration may not function correctly.

To resolve problems with the graphics driver, see "Update the graphics driver (Windows Vista)" (TechNote kb409116) or "Update the graphics driver (Windows XP)" (TechNote kb409115).

After you have updated the graphics driver, start Photoshop and try to re-create the problem.

If the problem recurs, then proceed to Solution 5.

Solution 5: Disable graphics hardware acceleration.

For instructions, see "Disable graphics hardware acceleration (Windows Vista)" (TechNote kb404885) or "Disable graphics hardware acceleration (Windows XP)" (TechNote kb404863).