P: Saving copy not saving over jpg file

Johan, Currently Photoshop refuses to overwrite files (unless they have the word "copy" in the title.)

Here's my process.
I open up "Poster Design.psd" which has layers.
I save the file as "Poster For Print.jpg" as a jpeg file without layers.
This works as expected.
I realize I have the date in the poster wrong and I misspelled a word.
I open up "Poster Design.psd" which has layers.
I change the date and fix my spelling error.
I choose "Save As..." and tell Photoshop to save as a jpeg file without layers.
I tell it to name the file "Poster For Print.jpg"
Photoshop tells me a file already exists with this name and asks if I want to overwrite it.
I tell Photoshop "Yes, overwrite the file."
Photoshop then saves the file as "Poster For Print copy.jpg"
The file was not overwritten.
And if I'm not careful, I send my client the wrong image.

I have tested this with jpg, png, tif, and psd documents. The same behavior happens each time.

The use case is I'm trying to save a flattened version of my psd in a different format, replacing an older save in that format, while keeping my psd as a separate file with layers for future revisions if necessary.

Right now, if I flatten my image in Photoshop, the program will correctly overwrite the file without adding the word " copy" to the filename. This means I either need to rename my file to remove the word copy (after deleting the old version) or I have to flatten my image, save the file in the required format, and then flatten the image so I can save the PSD.

And here's why I know it's a bug. If I repeat my process described above, but call my file "Poster For Print copy.jpg" Photoshop will overwrite the image, just like it says it will.

I'm more than willing to provide a video of this issue, if you'd like to see my process.

Read my comment again. I'm not saying there isn't a bug, I'm saying that Photoshop does save jpg over jpg and png over png. The problem is that if you have a layered file (which cannot be saved to jpg) and you turn off layers in the save as dialog box, then Photoshop adds 'copy' to the file name ( meaning the original file will not be overwritten because it does not have 'copy' in the file name) but it suggests that it will overwrite that original file. I just tested this and I can confirm this bug.

Saving an unlayered image of an unlayered image (jpg over jpg, png over png) is a pretty fundamental principle I'm sorry to say.
This is not working as intended but a major flaw in file handing.

Computers by concept specify filenames for saving, and, when filenames conflict offer you the option to overwrite them. Not to give this functionality is beyond absurd.

I believe this may have something to do with the fact that you uncheck the layers in the 'save as' dialog. If you do so, then you will always save as a copy. After all, the original has layers. That means that Photoshop will add 'copy' to the name of the file, and if the original file on disk does not have that word in its name, it obviously should not and will not be overwritten. So the bug is not that Photoshop does not overwrite the file, the bug is that it initially says that it will do that.

I tested 'save as' and overwriting the original using different file types, and they all worked as expected. But I did not uncheck layers when saving a layered file.

As a 30 year veteran of Photoshop, all I can say is this. Don’t hold your breath. They haven’t taken the opportunity to blame your OS yet.

I'm still experiencing this problem on macOS 10.15.4 while using Photoshop 21.1.1

It's causing a lot of lost time on my projects and is also simply annoying.

Photoshop will happily overwrite PSD files, or any filetype that supports layers, but it always makes a copy when using Save As... to flatten an image.

It's easy to replicate this issue. Take a new file and add a layer or two. Save it to any file format. Make a small change and then choose "Save As..." select the same filetype and uncheck the "layers" button (this might be unchecked by default if the filetype doesn't support layers. [Note: filetypes like PNG and JPEG do not accept layers.])

When you click "save" you'll get a warning that Photoshop will overwrite the image. But Photoshop will not overwrite the image, it makes a new file that a[[ends the word " copy" to the end of it.

In old versions of photoshop it was easy to make a change to a PSD and then use "Save As" to make a new flat version of the file, and overwrite an old version. (Presumably because something in the image needed to be changed or fixed.)

It no longer works the way I expect it to. Also, the program no longer works the way photoshop tells you it's going to work either.

All I really want, now that I've been dealing with this for 6 months, is to know that someone on the Photoshop team is aware of this issue and that oneday, even if it's 100 years in the future, someone will fix it. Honestly, that's how low my bar is right now. Ideally, I'd hear that a fix is waiting in the wings for 21.1.2 or 21.1.1.1.1 but at this point, I'll sleep happily just knowing you read this message.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go away from my computer for a while.

Doesn't work with .tif files. You'd think they'd say hey, we should check the other file formats to see if they do it too while we're at it.

😄 thanks so much!!! I hope everyone is staying healthy and in good spirits during these challenging times.

LOL. Frustrating, but I get to enjoy the Schadenfreude in my complete lack of faith that Adobe would be able to fix this in a timely fashion.

That's okay Sophia, I forgive you. 🙂