Adobe Photoshop 27.11 (macOS)

A batch of product shots needs the background swapped and the lighting matched across a dozen files. That is where Photoshop still sits on the Mac, same as it did last year. Version 27.10 adds a few new bits to the toolbox but the core — layers, compositing, retouch tools — remains exactly what you expect.

What does the AI Assisted editor beta do?

It brings Prompt to Edit and Markup directly inside the canvas. You type an instruction and the app adjusts the image. It is labelled beta and feels it, but it works for quick object swaps and generating fills from text descriptions.

What editing control is new in this version?

A Light adjustment layer arrives as a non-destructive way to shift lighting without baking changes into pixels. It sits in the Layers panel like Curves or Levels, so you can tweak opacity and masking the usual way.

What file format controls stayed the same?

You still get the customisable Save As and Save a Copy dialogs from the previous releases. Tick boxes let you prune the format list to only the ones you actually use, which cuts through the clutter when handing off assets.

Resampling turns sharp images into soup

Most new users open Photoshop and head straight for the Image Size dialog. They punch in pixel dimensions, hit OK, then wonder why the result looks like soup. Resolution and resampling matter. If you are shrinking, use Bicubic Sharper. If you are enlarging, Preserve Details 2.0 gives a cleaner result. But neither works magic — you cannot turn a 600 px thumbnail into a poster.

Another classic: editing the Background layer directly. You make a mess, save, close, and the original is gone. Duplicate the layer first — Cmd+J — or double-click the padlock to turn it into an editable layer. It costs nothing and saves you redoing an hour of clone-stamp work.

People also ignore colour profiles. They paste an sRGB graphic into an Adobe RGB document, the colours shift, and they blame the app. Set your working space in Edit > Color Settings before you build anything. If you are outputting for web, convert to sRGB at export. Print workflows usually want Adobe RGB or a CMYK profile.

Beginners overuse the eraser tool. Layer masks do the same job non-destructively. Paint black to hide, white to reveal, and you can change your mind six months later. That matters when a client asks for the logo to shift three pixels left.

Native Apple Silicon support requires no translation layer

Does it run on Apple Silicon natively? Yes. Version 27.10 is a universal binary. It runs on ARM and 64-bit Intel Macs without translation. If Rosetta is not present, the installer will prompt for it once.

That is the headline feature Adobe markets heavily, and it phones home to Adobe servers. The AI Assisted editor and Prompt to Edit work locally and are included. Adobe Stock integration is present but you need your own account for assets.

How much disk space does it eat? The base application is large. Factor in the Neural Filters Pack if you extract it, plus scratch disk space for working files. Photoshop uses the system drive for its scratch disk by default, and it likes headroom.

Can I open files from newer Photoshop versions? Generally yes, but some newer features may flatten or strip when opened in 27.10. Text layers with Dynamic Text on shapes and paths should survive. Things added after this build might not.

Route temp data off the boot volume immediately

Set the scratch disk to your fastest drive before opening anything. Go to Preferences > Scratch Disks and move it off the boot volume if you have a second internal or a fast external SSD. Photoshop writes temp data constantly, and a clogged system drive slows everything down.

Customise the Save As dialog early. Tick only the formats you deliver — PSD, TIFF, JPEG, PNG — so you stop scrolling past formats you never touch. The preference sticks and makes export faster when you are batch-saving client proofs.

Extract the Neural Filters Pack if you plan to use skin smoothing, style transfer, or colourisation. The instructions in the package point to the Adobe UXP plugins folder. Drag the pack there, restart Photoshop, and the filters appear under the Filter menu. Skip this step and those options stay greyed out.

If you work with text on paths, try the new Dynamic Text behaviour. Draw a shape, switch to the Type tool, click the edge, and start typing. The text follows the path and stays editable. Adjust the shape and the text reflows. That saves the old workaround of creating a path, typing on it, then manually repositioning everything when the layout changes.

Keep the blocking utility handy. If an Adobe Genuine window pops up during the first few launches, the included utility shuts it down. Add it to startup items once and forget about it.

Missing Neural Filters need a manual UXP folder move

The Neural Filters are missing after install. The pack was not extracted to the correct folder. Quit Photoshop, find the UXP plugins folder — usually ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/UXP/plugins — and move the extracted folder there. Relaunch. The filters appear on the next Filter menu click.

Photoshop feels sluggish on a new Mac. Check the scratch disk location. If it is on a slow external drive or a nearly full internal disk, move it. Also check that the GPU is recognised under Preferences > Performance. On Apple Silicon machines, the Metal acceleration should be listed. If it says "Software only," the GPU driver did not load correctly and a reinstall usually sorts it.

Save As only shows a few formats. That is the customisation kicking in. Go to File Handling preferences and enable the formats you need. If you want all of them back, hit the reset button in that panel.

Prompt to Edit produces odd results. The feature is beta. Be specific in your prompts — "remove the lamp" works better than "make it look better." Use Markup to draw a rough selection around the area you want changed. Masks and active selections also constrain where the edit lands. If the result is garbled, undo, tighten the selection, and try a simpler instruction.

The Adobe Genuine window will not stay gone. Run the blocking utility included in the package and set it to launch at login. That catches the nag before it appears. If it still pops up, check that the utility is actually running in the background — sometimes macOS removes login items after an OS update.

• Light adjustment layer added for non-destructive lighting edits.
• AI Assisted editor (Beta) now inside Photoshop.
• Prompt to Edit and Markup tools for AI-assisted editing.

• macOS 14 or later
• Intel or Apple Silicon Mac