No Output Options in Dialogue Box Photoshop CS3

If Photoshop stops behaving properly, look for changes in its operating environment.

Eventually, every computer user encounters unexpected software behavior, most of which either signals trouble or causes it. If you're working in Adobe Photoshop CS3 and suddenly see no output options in a dialogue box that should display them, you're on the lookout for trouble and may have run headlong into it. Consider some simple -- and some not-so-simple -- problems as the potential causes of your vanished options.

1. No Printer

   • If you instigate a "Print" command in Adobe Photoshop CS3 without first installing and configuring a printer for use on your computer, you won't see output options because your system lacks them entirely. That's not a Photoshop problem so much as it is a system-resources issue, but unless you know the cause of your mystery and have the means to resolve it, you may be startled to find your options missing.

   Application Folder Moved

   • Many a user-to-user forum features lengthy troubleshooting exchanges in which contributors try to help solve one person's mysterious Photoshop misbehavior, only to find out the cause of all these woes stems from an attempt at tidying up applications. When you install Adobe Photoshop CS3, plan on leaving the software where you put it. Don't assume you can relocate its folder elsewhere on your computer's hard drive without uninstalling it from one location and reinstalling it in another. The application and its system-level support files rely on program code that expects the Photoshop folder to remain in its installed location.

   Corrupted Preferences

   • Like most applications, Adobe Photoshop CS3 stores its preference settings in a set of files it saves after you customize the program. If and when those preference files, or prefs, become corrupt because of some interruption in normal function, the result can wreak havoc on the application's behavior, from outright crashes to missing elements of the program's user interface. To save yourself the time required to regenerate your preferences when you must replace them, stash a copy of them elsewhere on your hard drive after you finish setting up Photoshop.

   Corrupted Application

   • Adobe Photoshop isn't immune to corruption beyond the level of a bad preference file. Many factors can turn a functioning piece of software into a candidate for reinstallation. For example, fluctuations in electrical power can have a devastating effect on the long-term viability of the applications you're running at the time your power sags or spikes. If you replace your preference files but still experience problems with missing output options, uninstall Photoshop and reinstall it. Be sure to deactivate the application through the Help menu before you remove and replace it to avoid disruption of your ability to reactivate it and continue using it.