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Participant
November 18, 2025
Open for Voting

Warn before closing if a background export is incomplete

  • November 18, 2025
  • 0 replies
  • 14 views

Idea Summary

The Problem:
Closing a document, or the Photoshop program, before a background export is complete - e.g. Quick Export as PNG - results in no file being exported, and possible unrecoverable loss of progress.

This is exacerbated by PNG saves/exports on Windows occasionally taking a 10+ seconds to complete, even for tiny, simple images (further details below).

Proposed Solution: Please add a warning when closing a document, or the Photoshop program, if a background export is still in progress. This would make users aware that their work may be lost and rendered unrecoverable if they continue.

Additional Explanation and Details

I have run into this frustrating scenario a number of times:

- I open Photoshop to quickly create or modify an image with no intention of or need to save my changes - only to export a rasterized image.
- Once complete, I use File -> Export -> Quick Export as PNG to export my image.
- After the export dialogue disappears, I close the document or Photoshop - discarding my changes.
- I navigate to the export destination directory and realise no PNG was created after exporting.
- My progress is lost and unrecoverable, and I need to re-create the exported image once more.

There are, of course, ways to avoid this mistake: monitoring the output directory, saving changes or a new PSD just in case.

However, one further quirk of Photoshop's exports makes this a much easier blunder to fall into...

PNG saves/exports will occasionally take an extremely long time to complete on Windows. In excess of 10 seconds - even for tiny, single-layer, effectless images. I'm unsure of the precise conditions that cause this, though I notice it is far more common for the first export after opening the program.

When saves/exports only rarely take such a long time to complete, it is easy to overlook the possibility that an export may still be in progress 10+ seconds after the export dialogue is submitted.

I've encountered these long exports across several Photoshop versions, so I believe they are a result of how Photoshop processes exports rather than a bug. I think this furthers the case for the program itself offering a small warning when discarding changes to a document with an ongoing export in the background.

I imagine I am not the only person to run into this, and a warning when closing a document, or the Photoshop program, with a background export still in progress could save us from our hurried selves.

Thanks!