Photoshop CS3 Crashes on Font Change on Snow Leopard, (leaving me out in the cold snow)
Written by Rob on August 29, 2009 – 10:59 pm -I feel like Adobe has slammed the door in my face and left me out in the cold, snowy cold. I hate to have to write an article like this criticizing software that is usually a joy to use and has served my wife and I well over the years, but I am not happy with Adobe’s decision not to support CS3 on Snow Leopard and I want them to know it so they can reverse their decision and make their customers happy to be their customers again. Contrary to what they are saying, there is at least one known problem – see my YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1amkkbgpmmk
All I wanted to do is to change a font and Photoshop crashes. Is that too much to ask for? I know that CS3 isn’t “officially” supported on Snow Leopard, and I know they “tested” it anyway, but come on, didn’t they try changing the fonts? I have posted a video on YouTube demonstrating my problem, as well as submitting a crash report.
Jeff Coppedge, Gintas Abarius and Steve Bowen
I am currently laying the groundwork to support my friends’ band, Baltic Avenue (balticavenue.net, the outstanding Raleigh, NC fusion band), so the first thing I am doing is redesigning their website. I just wanted to come up with a better logo than the one they have now, so I thought I’d fire up CS3 to do it, ripping off the iAirGuitar logo style somewhat that my wife’s relative helped us with.
After having it repeatedly crash while changing fonts, I finally got upset enough about it to post a YouTube video, hoping that it will “go viral” and somebody at Adobe will take notice and reverse their decision not to support CS3 on Snow Leopard. I do get tired of spending hundreds of dollars for upgrades every couple of years on my software, honestly, but I haven’t had enough success in my career yet to afford me the time to contribute to free software efforts like GIMP, nor the patience and time to spend the extra time learning how to use free software, which in many cases have steeper learning curves. I haven’t used GIMP in a while, but it used to crash on me constantly. But it may be time to install the latest version to see how much I can bear it, rather than fork over any more money to Adobe?
Jeff Coppedge, Guitarist for Baltic Avenue
I do depend on high quality software to get my work done quickly and effectively and I do pay through the nose for it most of the time (though I refuse to buy some software, like Microsoft Office, for example, opting for the free Neo Office instead.) So please, Adobe (and others), spend the extra money to support your recent software on newer OS versions. If not to make us existing customers happy, then do it to improve your branding experience so you will continue to win new customers. Otherwise, perhaps there is a business model here for a company that trains existing Adobe customers on free software like GIMP and Inkscape?
Please digg this article so we can all convince Adobe (and others) how important it is to support their recently released software to keep their existing customers happy!
Posted in News | 12 Comments »
August 31st, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Hello, I have reproduced your problem in Photoshop CS3 running on Snow Leopard. First and foremost, I am sorry you are having issues. I am in contact with Apple regarding your issue. Hopefully we can figure out a way to resolve your issue.
David Dobish
Photoshop QE
August 31st, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Hello, we believe we have found a work around for you.
1. Bring up PS CS3 preferences
2. Go to Type panel
3. Uncheck Font Preview Size.
4. Close PS
5. Relaunch PS
6. Select Text block
7. Try to change Font via arrow key.
Should now be “fixed”
Let me know if that does not work for you. Once again sorry for any inconvenience.
David Dobish
PS QE
September 1st, 2009 at 9:09 am
We have another work around for you and others. It turns out the problem is with the Menlo Font.
Solution for not crash, “DELETE” the Menlo font from HD\System\Library\Fonts folder (Admin password required)
This should allow you to re-enable font preview size.
Dave Dobish
PS QE
September 1st, 2009 at 10:20 am
Hi David,
Thanks for responding so quickly with a workaround / fix. I will try it soon, but not today, as it’s my 13th wedding anniversary and I will spend some time with my wife Andrea!
I really hope there are no more CS3 problems / crashes on Snow Leopard that take me by surprise. My wife uses Photoshop a lot more than I do now, but I am honestly too afraid to upgrade her machine to Snow Leopard due to the potential “tech support” calls (screams?) I will receive from her. LOL
I guess time & experience will tell as to how well CS3 holds up on Snow Leopard. I know that personally I would much rather have the assurance from Adobe that it is officially supported.
Rob
September 1st, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Glad you get the issue resolved.
September 1st, 2009 at 9:07 pm
I meant to say getted.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:26 am
Sorry to give you the run around on this one. As it turns out Deleting the Menlo System Font is a bad idea. Since this is a required Apple System Font. Please do not do this. We are working with Apple to resolve the issue. In the meantime we suggest turning off font preview as a work around.
Thanks
Dave Dobish
PS QE
September 10th, 2009 at 6:45 am
CS3 is definitely not supported. I have had not end of all sorts of crashes, including Illustrator which crashes everytime it is launched. Problems with fonts too. Called Adobe tech support in India and they gave this usless url: tinyurl.com/abobego. There is no link to it.
September 17th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I also have a problem with CS3 and almost the entire family of programs. I didn’t try all of them, but with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, the programs crash in Snow Leopard whenever I try to open or save a file. Is there something that can be done?
October 7th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I’ve found this blog by searching google for problems with Snow Leopard and Photoshop, except I’m with CS4 and It too crashes like crazy. So much so it’s “scary” to work with, as you never know when you’ll loose a lot of work. Sometimes it crashes just by starting it or closing it. worst yet, it sometimes crashes when saving?!
I must admit I’m thinking of going back to Leopard, for the time being. I’ll wait for 10.6.2 which I think is coming out soon
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:34 pm
I have just been having exactly the same problem and it is incredibly frustrating – as well as expensive.
I just started designing a website (that’s my profession) and Photoshop would crash every time I entered any text.
I have just tried the suggested workaround and seems ok – but I’m on edge. This job has to get done… or no money for me and I may lose the client if I can’t deliver.
Come on Adobe, please address CS3 support for SL. I’ve been a loyal Adobe customer for years.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:58 am
PSCS3 is still a problem for me. In my case, in the first version of snow leopard, it crashed on “save as”. With 10.6.2 it crashes on “save” and “save as”. To use PSCS3 I have to boot into a Leopard disk with PSCS3 installed and run it from there. This problem has existed from day 1 of snow leopard. I am irritated that Adobe won’t support CS3 on snow leopard, as it is only 1 version old, and CS4 didn’t offer enough to persuade me to upgrade. In any event, it looks like CS4 crashes on snow leopard too, so what would be the point of rewarding Adobe for their non-support of CS3 customers by upgrading?