How to Fix If Adobe Lightroom Not Working or Opening on Mac

Solution 3: Re-Install Adobe Lightroom

If Adobe Lightroom is crashing or not loading properly on your Mac, reinstalling the software can make a difference. After uninstalling Adobe Lightroom, reboot the computer, and then re-install Adobe Lightroom using the Adobe Creative Cloud app.

Solution 4: Optimize the Catalog

The catalog is unlikely to cause Adobe Lightroom to crash; however, it can be a contributing factor to the problem. By optimizing the catalog, the application checks for issues with the data structure of the catalog. You can optimize the catalog by going to File menu > Optimize catalog and waiting for the optimization to finish. Once it’s done, reboot Adobe Lightroom and check if the crashing issue persists.

Solution 5: Reset the Preferences

This solution can fix many bugs, which can eventually resolve the crashing problem with Adobe Lightroom. You might lose all custom preferences.

Here’s how you can reset preferences in two ways on Mac:

• Using Keyboard shortcut:

1. Close the Adobe Lightroom app.
2. Press the Shift + Option + Delete buttons while launching the Lightroom app.
3. Click Reset Preferences.

• Manually Resetting Preferences:

1. Navigate to Lightroom Preferences file on Mac. You can file the file in this directory /Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/.
2. Drag the adobe.LightroomClassicCC7.plist file to Trash.
3. Restart your Mac and launch Adobe Lightroom.

Solution 6: Update Graphics Driver or Turn off the GPU

Graphics cards and GPU have a direct relation to the Adobe Lightroom software. If any of them is corrupted or not working, you might face many issues with the Lightroom app. Crashing could be one of them. You should keep the graphics driver up to date. Install the latest macOS update, if there’s an update to the graphics driver, it will be included in that.

Another workaround that you can try is disabling the GPU. If Adobe Lightroom opens without any issues after turning off the GPU, you know the problem is residing within the GPU. To turn off the GPU on a Mac, go to Lightroom > Preferences > Performance and uncheck the Enable Graphics Processor box.

Solution 7: Contact Adobe Customer Support

If none of the solutions have worked for you, I recommend contacting Adobe customer support. They will deeply look into the problem and will provide you with the best resolution. You can contact Adobe using the Lightroom forum or directly write to them.

A continuously crashing Adobe Lightroom can be frustrating if you rely on this software heavily. In this article, I mentioned some troubleshooting that might help you in fixing the crashing problem. Did you manage to fix the issue? If yes, then how? Do let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.