How to fix freeze, stutter, lags, slowdown and stylus pressure problems in Photoshop (MagicPicker and other panels can be affected)

This only affects Windows/Adobe Photoshop CC Users that have installed Windows Creators Fall Update. The symptoms in Photoshop CC may include (but not limited to):

  • The stylus is lagging when you click and press on the panel
  • You can click and select a color with it, but you can’t drag the sliders
  • The plugin won’t recognize the stylus when pressing and moving across the color picking areas
  • If you click on the panel with Wacom pen then the color updates. But if I press and drag the panel does nothing. You can only tap
  • When you want to pick a color and move it with Pro Pen on Cintiq then you can’t move it. Only double click works. Also it still works with mouse
  • You lost pen pressure sensitivity on Photoshop

All those problems are connected to Photoshop CC’s bug with stylus and tablet, in most cases it’s a Wacom tablet-only problem but it affects other tablets as well.

The good news it’s very easy to fix! Please do the following (the fix bellow applies to all versions of Photoshop you just need to replace Photoshop’s version in the path):

PSUserConfig

1) Go to your Wacom preferences and disable “Windows Ink” or “Windows Freehand” (the name depends on your Wacom drivers version)
This is not all! After this step you will probably lose pen pressure sensitivity, so follow next steps to avoid it:

2) Go to C:\Users\“YOURNAME”\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC2018\Adobe Photoshop CC2018 Settings\ and modify a file called PSUserConfig.txt (create a new file if it doesn’t exist). You need to add the following lines:
# Use WinTab
UseSystemStylus 0

3) Restart

That’s it! Those simple steps will make sure you will keep pressure sensitivity on your tablet while fixing the problem with Adobe Photoshop.

Tip#67: Work with filtered Tool Presets in MagicSquire 2.2

Use Live Search on Brush or Tool Presets in new MagicSquire 2.2, and then you can Drag’n’drop, Delete or Edit filtered brushes without clearing the search field! Quickly rearrange only specific #Photoshop brushes and tools inside groups.

MagicSquire 2.2 live search for Tool Presets
MagicSquire 2.2 live search for Tool Presets

In addition to that MagicSquire 2.2 update features:
– Improved behavior on CS5/CS6, including drag’n’drop in some scenarios
– Fixed a problem when a .tpl file could not be loaded when tools were named in a specific way
– Fixed a rare issue connected to Tool Presets on CS5/CS6 which led to a panel crash
– Fixed loading of very large groups on CS5/CS6
– CS6: Fixed selection problems in varios list modes
– Improved quality of icons for Tool Presets
– Improved drag’n’drop on Photoshop CC in Horizontal layout
– Improved UI on Photoshop CC2015 and CC2014

Upgrade MagicSquire here

Read more about MagicSquire, the advanced Brush & Tool Preset group manager in Adobe Photoshop

Tip#66: Simplify MagicSquire’s interface with PRO Mode

Activate MagicSquire’s new PRO Mode to hide buttons, menus etc – and work with brushes and tools directly! This mode also hides all closed groups on the panel.

  1. Go to MagicSquire fly-out menu
  2. Click “PRO Mode”

Works in Photoshop CS5, CS6, CC, CC2015, CC2015.5, CC2017, CC2018.

MagicSquire 2 brush/tool organizer - PRO Mode
MagicSquire 2 brush/tool organizer – PRO Mode

Big update! MagicPicker 5.3, MagicSquire 2.1, MixColors 2.2

MagicPicker color wheel 5.3, MagicSquire brush organizer 2.1
MagicPicker color wheel 5.3, MagicSquire brush organizer 2.1

MagicPicker color wheel panel 5.3:
– Improvements to Compact Mode
– Support for recent Adobe platform updates
– Improved right-click behavior in Color Scheme mode
– Improved Compact Mode
– Improved activation
– Fixed linking background and foreground in Traditional Color Wheel mode
– Improved Color Temperature Wheel in different scenarious
– Improved loading time of the panel

MagicSquire brush organizer 2.1:
– Improves loading of very large .abr files
– Supports all Adobe Photoshop updates

MixColors color mixer 2.2
MixColors color mixer 2.2

MixColors color mixer 2.2:
– Streamlines Color Swatch Groups
– Loads faster
– Improves support of Adobe Photoshops

Tip#64: Load multiple brush & tool preset files at once into groups

With MagicSquire 1.7 you can automatically convert a group of your brush files (.tpl/.abr) into groups of brushes in Photoshop with a single click!

MagicSquire: load brush files into groups
MagicSquire: load brush files into groups

Select MagicSquire menu -> Add brushes from .ABR or .TPL and select multiple brush files with Shift, Ctrl (Windows) or ⌘ (Mac). MagicSquire will automatically create new separate groups containing new brushes or tool presets!

MagicSquire, brush group organizing agent inside Photoshop

MagicSquire 1.5 update: List with Brush names, more!

New MagicSquire 1.5 displays your brushes and tools in full detail with 2 new list modes! Full brush names & resizable columns that adapt your workspace. Edit names with double-click. Even more!

Brush lists with names with MagicSquire 1.5
Brush lists with names with MagicSquire 1.5

WHAT’S NEW:
– Click new button the top right for two new Brushes/Tools display modes: Detailed list view with Brush/Tool names and adaptive multi-column list
– Direct editing of Brush/Tool names by double-clicking them
– Now you can assign arbitrary colors to the groups by editing MagicSquire.json in Documents folder. Change “colorCode”‘ value to a hex RGB color like “#3197FF” (in quotes)
– Improved handling and displaying of Pencil presets
– Improved UI on CS5, CS5.5 and CS6
– Improved panel behavior when there are many groups of brushes on CS6
– Panel now supports more .abr types
– Various UI improvements and speedups

Upgrade MagicSquire here

MagicSquire, the brush grouping & management panel in Adobe Photoshop

MagicSquire gets performance boost with new update! Version 1.4 is here.

Loading brushes! Boom! Adding new presets! Pew! MagicSquire is now 2x-10x faster in key areas, try it out yourself! The panel proudly supports all recent Photoshops: CS5, CS6, CC, C2014, CC2015, CC2017.

WHAT’S NEW:
– Significantly improved speed when: creating a new brush, loading .abr/.tpl files!
– Memory management improvements
– Compact Mode improvements
– Improvements to the UI
– Improvements to loading of .TPL files

Here goes the video describing all recently added features:

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Get MagicSquire, brush set manager for Adobe Photoshop

Better than the right-click? No click! New MagicSquire 1.3 delivers right-click replacement

MagicSquire 1.3 delivers Compact Mode
MagicSquire 1.3 delivers Compact Mode

– NEW! Use new touchless Compact Mode (click MagicSquire menu, then Compact Mode). Panel shrinks to a one-brush display, when you hover your cursor over the panel it expands to the full brush view! Now click to select brushes. Switch between two views without a single click.
– NEW! ALT-click a brush to use it as a Eraser or any other tool! Works the following way: 1) Alt-click the brush 2) Select the new tool you want to apply the brush to. Paint and erase with the same brush!
– More improvements and fixes to brush/tool handling on Adobe Photoshop CS5, CS6, CC, CC2014, CC2015 and CC2017

Upgrade MagicSquire

MagicSquire, the compact brush organizing plugin for Adobe Photoshop

MagicSquire 1.1 update improves performance, brings tooltips, more!

MagicSquire 1.1 is here with much better performance of brush creation, 4096px/16bit texture support, tooltips with brush names – the new step to the ultimate brush organizing panel!

version11hd

IMPROVEMENTS AND NEW FEATURES:
– Tooltips now display brush names
– Significant performance improvements when creating new brush
– Support of wider range of brushes, including 16-bit and brushes from older versions of Photoshop, Dual Brushes and textures up to 4096x4096px and higher
– Better drag’n’drop on CS6
– More improvements to brush handling on CS6 and CC2017
– more

If you experience problems with performance or errors click MagicSquire 1.1 menu and then “Optimize performance”. That will fix it.

We listen to your feedback! Tool Presets and .TPL support is coming!

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MagicSquire, the colored brush organizing panel for Adobe Photoshop

Tip#59: Move all brushes from Photoshop’s Brush Presets into MagicSquire groups

You can quickly move all your brushes from native Adobe® Photoshop Brush Presets into MagicSquire panel colored groups.

Move brushes from Brush Presets into MagicSquire groups in Photoshop
Move brushes from Brush Presets into MagicSquire groups in Photoshop
  1. Click on Brush Presets menu and then click Save Brushes…
  2. Export brushes into .ABR file
  3. Now you can remove all your brushes from Brush Presets (highly recommended to improve performance!)
  4. Load this .ABR file into MagicSquire using menu -> Add brushes from .ABR…

That’s it! Now you can rearrange your brushes to different groups using color coding inside MagicSquire! Works in CS5, CS6, CC, CC2015 and CC2017+.