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lizettek95
Participant
December 12, 2019
Answered

photoshop change my resolution when exporting

  • December 12, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 20082 views

Holla!

Since updating to the latest CC, Photoshop has been struggling both with the drag and drop and now exporting . Every time I am trying to export files both in jpeg and png format. I save it in 300dpi but when I open the file in ps again it has dropt down to 72dpi. Every single time with different files. 

I did not have this issue until the update. Anyone else having this problem?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer D Fosse

If you intend to print, you use Save As (which BTW does retain the ppi value).

 

If the image is for screen/web/mobile, use Export.

4 replies

Known Participant
October 22, 2021

Allow me to up this message. 
I have encounter the exact same problem. I like to work with artboard to have the whole set of variants of my document, and the only solution I have is export... so for me it a real issue and must be considere as a bug. I hope it will be corrected soon.

Legend
October 22, 2021

It's not a bug because it's working as designed. Export is made to save for web. Only. Web graphics don't need a resolution (ppi). Never. So, it's all good. So far as Adobe are concerned anyway.

Known Participant
October 22, 2021

ok then how it's possible to export for print ? I know web didn't need ppi, so why changing this parameter who only concern print ? 

 

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 12, 2019

Let's just wrap this up while we're at it, because there's a basic misunderstanding here that is admittedly very easy to make:

 

In most other software, the normal method for producing a finished file is "export". That's what you look for when the work is done. Not so in Photoshop. Here you use "Save As" to produce a new, finished "master" file. Save As is what you normally do. By master file I mean a full, complete new file, one fit for storing/archive, further processing later, sending out to others - and printing.

 

In Photoshop, Export is a very specialized function for a specialized purpose - namely, to optimize a file for web and mobile devices. A big part of that is reducing file size in every possible way, including stripping out everything not strictly necessary. That's why the "pixels per inch" metadata are removed. It's not needed for the intended purpose, screen and web.

 

That was pretty clear back when Save For Web was the promoted tool for this. Now that's on the way out, they very unfortunately named its successor Export, which only leads to all kinds of confusion like here.

 

As for why ppi is irrelevant for web, it's because a screen already has a resolution: the screen pixel grid. On paper, there is no such grid, so one has to be invented, and that's the "pixels per inch" number. It defines the pixel density on paper, and thus how big the image will print. Size and ppi are inverse: as one goes up, the other goes down.

Participant
August 29, 2020

The problem is POD sites like Amazon, Red Bubble, etc, want 300 ppi and PNG files uploaded. They will not accept photoshop files. If we are designing for these sites we need to be able to save as a PNG. Not JPEG, or any of the other options you are giving us. I'm feeling very frustrated right now.

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 29, 2020

There is actually a Photoshop bug/problem here, but it's not the one you think. The bug is that if you Save As PNG, the color profile is stripped. That's a problem whether it's intended for screen or print. But with Save As, the ppi number is preserved.

Chuck Uebele
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 12, 2019

Use save as rather than export or save for web, if you want to print your images. Export and save for web, are just for web images.

lizettek95
Participant
December 12, 2019

That does not solve the problem i'm afraid

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
December 12, 2019

If you intend to print, you use Save As (which BTW does retain the ppi value).

 

If the image is for screen/web/mobile, use Export.

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 12, 2019

This is nothing new, you've just noticed it now.

 

Export (and Save For Web) strips resolution metadata altogether. An exported file doesn't have a ppi value at all, neither 72 nor 300. It is ppi-less because it's not needed for screen use, only for print.

 

The ppi number you see when you reopen the file is just whatever default value the opening application assigns. In some apps it's 72, in some 96.

lizettek95
Participant
December 12, 2019

So I just have to accept that I never again can print my work or am I just dumb now that don't understand this because as said I didn't experience this in the erlier version..

 

rob day
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 12, 2019

Also, if you are placing and printing from a pagelayout the effective output resolution is relative to the image’s scale. If you check the image’s dimensions in Image Size you‘ll see the resolution went from 300ppi to 72ppi, but the print output Width and Height dimensions also increased by 416% (the pixel dimensions are unchanged).

 

If you place the image on an InDesign page, and scale it down to the original dimensions (24%), its Effective output resolution will be scaled back to 300ppi.

 

 

But why save as JPEG? Why not save as PSDs?