Lightroom: Edit In External Editor does not work/function

I dont have a Mac to try on but, if the Mac Lr4 is affected by the same "bug" as the Windows version it appears it NEEDS a photoshop "plist" file much like the Windows version needs a photoshop registry key (even a fake one). Removing probably would be a bad idea. Try reinstalling CS5 if you own it.

I have a bit more time today so I will rewrite whats been happening over on the Lr forum I linked to earlier.

According to http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/401/kb401629...
On startup Lr looks for an install of Photoshop or Elements to link to. If either are present or not it affects how the "Edit-In" function calls things probably by giving a value of 0 or 1 to a small block of memory to let Lr know how to act. This is probable because to do this "check" every time the "edit-In" menu is called to open would be highly inefficient and create a very large delay.

However it appears (at least with Windows version Lr) if during the check to see if Photoshop or Elements is present, the little piece of code in the program that assignes the value to that memory block works PROPERLY IF the check indicates Elements or CS5 IS installed. However if the check shows Lr that CS5 or Elements IS NOT installed then the code "forgets" to set any value at all to the little block of memory. In windows it shows up as a "string [the memory format of that little block of memory] null [meaning that bit of memory has no value]"

****WINDOWS****
To get around this in WINDOWS create a "fake" registry key to force the Lr check to give a valid value by doing the following:

1) Open Notepad
2) Copy and paste everything between the ### marks NOT including the ### marks into Notepad (this does every thing that is said in the Kb article)

##############################################
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Photoshop.exe]

"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Adobe Photoshop CS5\\"

@="C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Adobe Photoshop CS5\\Photoshop.exe"

################################################

3) Go File --> Save As

4) In "File Type" Select "All files"

5) Name it "LightroomPatch.reg" or something like that as long as it has ".reg" at the end. Just remember where you saved it

6) Close notepad and double-click the file you just made.

7) When it asks if you trust the source, because you made it on your own computer and it only contains what is between the ###'s click "yes"

The fake key will be added and Lr4 Edit-In should now work while we wait for the official fix. No just because it says "CS5" does not mean you magically can edit with CS5 as it in not installed. You can click that option in the Edit-In and prep the Tiff file for editing but nothing will happen because CS5 simply is not truly on the computer.

Later this Key can be removed automaticly by runnning a registy cleaner like cclean, manually removing it yourself, or simply installing CS5 (will write overtop of it). Because it is not linked to anything it cannot affect any future patches or updates.

******On MAC*****

============================================================
|
| Note the following instructions (both sets):
| DO NOT SEEM TO MAKE A DIFFERANCE
| THEY DO NOT SEEM TO PACH THE PROBLEM
|
| I am keeping them here incase anyone wants to build off of them.
|
| Thanks to those who tried it for me as I dont have access to a Mac
| so only could |guess.
|
===========================================================

I dont have one but if somone wishes to try according to the KB article I am thinking the following has a fairly reasonable chance of working for you. If the user above (Michael Greenley) did find a PSE.plist file it appears this is not what Lr is looking for (accoring to the KB article). Mac system looks quite safe and much less intimidating that windows to try it on anyway. It is very easily removable.

---If you have Elements installed---
It does not appear that Lr4 check is looking for the PSE.plist file so you need to make it think there is CS5 installed aswell

1) Copy PSE.plist [actually named "com.adobe.PhotoshopElements.plist"] and rename it "com.adobe.Photoshop.plist" and place it back in the same place keeping the original PSE.plist aswell

That may or may not get elements working in Lr4 (defult will try and use CS5) but other "edit-ins" should work and you could easily make another preset (instead of the defult) point to PSE much like you would make for any other "Edit-In" program.

---If you do NOT have CS5 or Elements installed---

See if it will accept a fake plist file
But instead of trying to get the computer to remake the Plist file

1) Close Photoshop Lightroom
2) Start a text or document program and save a bank document as "com.adobe.Photoshop"
3) manully set or remane the file type as ".plist" (perhaps use the "save as all files option if you have one)
4) Navigate to the Users/[user name]/LIbrary/Preferences folder.
5) Move the file you just created to the Users/[user name]/LIbrary/Preferences folder.
6) Start Lr4 and hopefully it should all work.

That fake Plist file is easily removable if you ever need to.

Hope this works :-)

@justme06 I would like to be able to test the theory about the fake plist for Mac however I've already installed the CS5 trial and am reluctant to mess with what is working for me now. But, I did want to point out the the plist for Photoshop Elements is called com.Adobe.PhotoshopElements.plist. At least that's what mine is called for PSE10. It would be terrific if someone else on Mac can try this because it really does seem quite simple.

I appreciate all the effort you've put into communicating this information and I hope that the Adobe engineers are as smart as you. ;-)

Option 1 on Mac Lion had no effect for me. (My PSE10 plist file is called com.adobe.PhotoshopElements.plist.)

I have tried on MAC but no success for me... Thanks

Rats, I was hoping it would work. It must be looking for somthing else. I will keep thinking about it, but hard to work through in my head how a OS works that honestly the last time I used was about 10 years ago a lot changed since then... lol.

@ Peter de Rooij & JullieM - thanks for the correct plist file name

@ everyone else - Thank-you for giving it a try.

I will edit the post to reflect that it is not working. But i'll keep info up incase somone else can build off of it.

@JustMe06 Thanks for trying!

So, I tried to manually add the "com.adobe.Photoshop.plist" file and it did not work.

Something interesting though...as stated in my previous post, I deleted the "com.adobe.PSE.plist" file, but, when I went to add the new "...Photoshop.plist" file, the original PSE.plist is not there either. The file never regenerated itself after starting LR4. I tried opening LR3 as well...still no file regeneration. Tried to add it manually...no luck.

But, thanks for the suggestion...was a glimmer of hope ;-)

Installing the CS5 trial version worked for me. (Prior to installing LR4, I had PSE10 installed. Uninstalling and reinstalling it did not correct the problem with LR4 so I resorted to the CS5 trial install). Here is my prefs list as it relates to Adobe (in 2 parts):

[url=https://skitch.com/juliem2011/8jb9g/p...]

[url=https://skitch.com/juliem2011/8jb9c/p...]

Sorry, I thought those URLs would generate thumbnails but I guess not. You'll have to click through, I'm afraid, but they will be nice and legible.