Why is the Filter Gallery Greyed out in Photoshop?
Software

Why is the Filter Gallery Greyed Out in Photoshop and How to Fix it

The Photoshop Filter Gallery provides access to numerous artistic filters to give your photos a creative and artistic look.  It can be a lot of fun to create works of art from your images using the Filter Gallery.

Adobe Photoshop Filter Gallery
Adobe Photoshop Filter Gallery

But, sometimes the image gallery is greyed out so you cannot access these creative filters. The Filter Gallery is grayed out in Photoshop when none of the filters can be used on the open image. The filters in the Filter Gallery have not been updated in quite a while and can only be accessed for certain color modes and for images with 8 bits / channel. Below are the most common reasons that the Filter Gallery is not available in Adobe Photoshop.

Filter Gallery Greyed Out in Photoshop
Filter Gallery Greyed Out in Photoshop

Reasons the Filter Gallery is Grayed Out in Photoshop

  • Your image has a bit depth of either 16 bits or 32 bits / channel. Your image needs to be 8 bits / channel.
  • Your image is in CMYK Color Mode.
  • The photoshop layer that you are trying to edit with the Filter Gallery is locked.

Below are directions on how to make changes in Photoshop for each of the above reasons.

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How to change your Image to 8 Bits / Channel

If you are using Adobe Lightroom, the Bit Depth defaults to 16 Bits / Channel. This can be changed in preferences but lowering your bit rate can lower the amount of color information in your image and can cause banding. So, it’s probably better to change the Bit Depth in Photoshop when you need to access the Filter Gallery.

To change the Bit Depth, select Mode –> 8 Bits / Channel under the Image menu.  The Filter Gallery should now be available for this photo.

Change to 8 Bits/Channel Mode in Photoshop
Change to 8 Bits/Channel Mode in Photoshop

How to Change your Image from CMYK to RGB Color Mode

To change the Color Mode from CMYK to RGB, select Mode –> RGB Color under the Image menu.  The Filter Gallery should now be available for this photo.

Change to RGB Color Mode in Photoshop
Change to RGB Color Mode in Photoshop

To Unlock a Layer in Adobe Photoshop

To unlock a layer in Photoshop, click on the layer you want to unlock and then click on the Lock icon in the layers panel to unlock the layer.

How to Unlock a Layer in Photoshop
How to Unlock a Layer in Photoshop

Written by Martin Belan

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