P: Smart Objects: Auto-convert JPGs to PSD

This hasn't actually been solved.

This is not limited coding, this is practical limitations because the user explicitly placed a file with specific content. The user can save that file to other names while they are working, and Photoshop should NOT try to track every variant that is saved - just what the user placed. That's part of why you get a warning when you first edit a smart object - to remind you that saving to new filenames or formats won't update the contents.

It even works the same way in other applications that allow externally linked files (not just embedded). If you change the filename, or format, or duplicate the file -- the parent document won't see the change, and will ask how to proceed because it is still looking for the original filename and format.

Really, you're expecting something totally unrealistic.

Hi Chris,
On the contrary, many of us do expect PS to track the smartobject from creation to editing, and if the format does change (real world use: we place a jpg or tiff, then need to silo it via alpha channel) we expect PS to know about it, and even if we're asked to save to a new file format (e.g. psd), then PS should automatically link to the new saved version.

Imho, software developers need to think like how we use the product, and not let limited coding forethought dictate that we're "holding it wrong"... make sense?

I'm not trying to be a know it all, sorry if it comes across like that. I am pointing out again what is obvious in this thread... you devs all are kicking against the goads. We want more useful, intuitive editing flow!

Please read the previous replies in this topic.

If you change the document such that it cannot be saved in the original format, Photoshop will prompt you to save it under a different format (to preserve the contents). But Smart Objects are tied to the original file name and format -- so you can't change formats or filenames and expect them to update.

I have Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 on Windows 7 64 bit. I have been getting this same problem as from this week.

Resetting or deleting the settings file does not solve the problem.

I also only get the Save As window after pressing Save and the Smart Object NOT being updated even after I had saved it anywhere in the Temp folder.

Hmm, I'd love to get to the bottom of this, if you think this discussion has value...

I was not intentionally saving to different filenames, etc. I was simply editing a placed image converted to a smartobject.

Just now, I fired up Photoshop CS3, and made a test doc, consisting of a transparent "layer 1". saved it as psd. Then, I placed a 24bit png image into it, accepted the default size, then made this image (now existing on the original layer) into a smart object. [aha, here is the crux of the matter!]

The image has already become a smart object, by the act of placing... I missed that graphical icon tag on the layer thumbnail.

So I was converting this smart image *again* to a smart image, not realizing it already was one... So when I then went to edit it, I got a warning about rasterizing. I did so. then, any edits to this ".psb" image window were reflected immediately in the main photoshop layer in my original window. Does this make sense?

Somehow the act of making a smart object into another smartobject layer was obviating the need to ever be asked to "save as"... so when I began using CS6, the prompting for "save as" and not updating my edited smartlayer was seeming to me to be a change in functionality... hmm, let me ponder this in CS6 now, and report back.

I'm pretty sure I have not changed any of my code in that area since I added Smart Objects.

If you save to a different filename, the connection is lost - and that includes the file extension.

Hi Chris, I appreciate the comment, thank you! I think I have never observed what you're saying here. When I place an image as a layer in PS, and convert it to a smartobject, it has never visibly mattered what the original file type was or was named; it sort of just subsumed into the layer as "image data"... hence, if I edited it (this smart object) to remove the background (to silo it), then saved it, the main object layer in the PSD magically updated. voila, no hassle, worked great.

NOW however, we are getting plagued by "save as" boxes, etc. If I wanted to "manage" file names and such I wouldn't have converted the image to a smart layer, I would have just silo'd the original file outside of the main working PSD, and placed it myself as a new PSD file. Do you see what I'm saying?

The behavior has 100% changed. I can see this by comparing my CS3 to CS6, both of which are installed on my Mac.

This is the same behavior that has always been in place for smart objects -- you are editing a file that says foo.jpg, changing the file type or name will break the connection (same as if you changed a filename on a linked file in a page layout app).

I agree wholeheartedly, Josh