Fix Photoshop or PowerPoint Freezing When Copying PDF Images on M1 Mac
Question details
Users experience application freezing in Photoshop or PowerPoint when attempting to copy and paste images directly from a PDF.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft PowerPoint
- Device & OS
- MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon M1 chip
- Scenario
- Using the Acrobat Selection tool to copy an image from a PDF document to the clipboard for pasting into another application.
- Observed behavior
- Photoshop or PowerPoint freezes entirely upon pasting or attempting to process the clipboard content, although saving the image to the disk works fine.
Ensure any unsaved work in Photoshop or PowerPoint is recovered if the applications have already frozen, and check your current versions of Acrobat and macOS before applying these solutions.
Save the PDF Image to Your Disk First
Bypassing the clipboard by saving the image directly to your Mac prevents the freezing issue caused by clipboard incompatibility on M1 chips.
The freezing issue is often tied to how the macOS clipboard manages complex objects between Rosetta 2 and native Apple Silicon apps. By avoiding the clipboard entirely and treating the image as a standard file, you bypass the architecture conflict.
Right-click the selected image in Acrobat (or your PDF reader) and choose the option to 'Save Image As' or 'Export Selection'. Save it to a local folder like your Desktop.
Launch Photoshop or PowerPoint on your Mac.
Use 'File > Place Embedded' in Photoshop, or 'Insert > Pictures > Picture from File' in PowerPoint to import the saved image file safely.
Update Software and Check Apple Silicon Compatibility
Keeping your macOS, Acrobat, and destination applications up to date ensures you have the latest Apple Silicon M1 compatibility patches.
Extract PDF Images Seamlessly Using WPS Office
WPS Office is natively optimized for Apple Silicon (M1 chips) and integrates a powerful PDF editor and presentation maker in one single app, completely avoiding cross-app clipboard freezing issues on your Mac.
- 1. Open your PDF in WPS Office: Launch WPS Office on your Mac and open the PDF file containing the image you need to extract.
- 2. Copy the Image: Click on the image you want to extract using the selection tool, right-click it, and select 'Copy'.
- 3. Paste into your Presentation: Switch to the Presentation tab within the same WPS Office window and paste the image directly onto your slide without freezing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does copying PDF images freeze my applications on an M1 Mac?
This is often caused by clipboard handling compatibility issues between Rosetta 2 translation and native Apple Silicon processes. When a complex image object is copied from an unoptimized PDF tool, the receiving app hangs while trying to interpret the conflicting clipboard data.
Does running the app in Rosetta 2 fix the freezing issue?
Sometimes. Forcing an application to open using Rosetta 2 can align the clipboard processes with Intel-based architecture, which may temporarily bypass the freezing bug until developers release stable native M1 patches.
Will updating macOS resolve this clipboard freezing bug?
Updating macOS can help, as Apple frequently releases patches for Apple Silicon performance and clipboard management. However, you must also ensure your specific applications like Acrobat, Photoshop, and PowerPoint are updated to their native M1 versions for a complete fix.
