Back up setting, tools etc to Adobe Cloud

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Is there no way to efficiently back up preferences, tools etc. instead of having to start all over again after being forced to - yet again - reset PS settings?

Do I have to dig through all sorts of folders an back the up externally every time I make a change because this preferences issue STILL doesn’t work properly?

D Fosse

Community Expert

Exactly how are you “forced” to reset preferences? This sounds like it has an underlying explanation, but without more info it’s just blind speculation.

Anyway, if you have a working set of preferences/settings, all you need to do is copy this folder and keep it in a safe place:

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C

CornigerAuthor

Inspiring

I’m forced because they appear to be corrupt, or my actions file for some reason has an “unexpected end of file” and thus can’t be loaded and resetting preferences is suggested as the usual fix-it-all.

Now, I know that you’re sick of these complaints, I’d be too, they’re futile, you can do nothing to fix permanent technical issues and I’m sorry for that.

The part that unnerves me is that throughout my life, this “corrupt preferences” business has only happened with PS. Since decades. Why can’t this be fixed for good. Why can’t these files just be stored in the Adobe cloud without much further ado if it is known this is “dangerous” to set and forget. I guess this is another futile feature request 😅

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D Fosse

Community Expert

The reason preferences are vulnerable to corruption is because they are rewritten on every application exit. Any kind of irregular shutdown can corrupt them. Small errors will accumulate and be magnified over time, which in turn can bring out latent errors with new application code in an update.

In addition, permissions issues in your Windows user account can trigger problems.

For all these reasons, I don’t recommend migrating preferences. Starting with a fresh Settings folder every major release is usually enough to ensure stable operation.

What you should do, is save out your custom actions and brushes, which can’t quickly be recreated, and keep the .atn and .abr files in a safe place. You can also, as I said above, save a working copy of the entire Settings folder. You should make this copy immediately after setting up.

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jane-e

Community Expert

@Corniger

Follow the steps here to back up your preferences:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/desktop/get-started/settings-and-preferences/backup-and-restore-preferences.html

Personally, I also use panel menus to save changes to tools, swatches, actions, gradients, patterns, et cetera.

Jane

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