Photoshop keeps deleting my actions

Loaded .atn files or newly created and unsaved action sets are temporarily stored in the Actions Palette presets file (Actions Palette.psp). This file should be considered temporary and may be subject to corruption or loss, which is why making an explicit save to .atn file for each individual action set is strongly advised.

If the .atn file is saved to the default application/program presets folder, the action will be listed and available in the action palette menu. This allows an action to be easily restored if it is removed without having to manually find and load the original .atn file. If there are many actions, this menu may become unwieldy due to the length of the added action sets.

More here:

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/01/photoshop-custom-action-file-backup.html

Same issue here and Photoshop just deleted my custom action sets for about the 6th time in the past couple of months. I finally wised up and saved out ATN files after having to recreate them a couple of times, but having them constantly deleted and having to restore them is getting old. I'm on the latest version of PS, and this has never happened before. Adobe Photoshop Version: 27.2.0 20251213.r.15 e3408e7 x64 (final, Release)

I had the same issue yesterday and i didn't have the backup of the actions built in the last 2y.

Luckely i could recover them with Win11 doing :  ''restore previous version'' (righ cick on the Action Palette.psp file, see the screenshot).

However it was a lesson, i suggest now to copy every month the folder ''Adobe Photoshop (Beta) Settings'' if you use beta version or the folder ''Adobe Photoshop Settings'' if you use standard PS.

Jacqueline24741708r08q_0-1768102111299.png

I've never had this issue before tho

"Once they are loaded from the Action panel menu..."   That is where I believe the problem is:   loading from the action panel (for me anyway- all versions since pse 2010) has allways resulted in "wonkiness"--- just putting them in the preset panel has never been an issue, ever.

@Glenn 8675309 

The OP already has their actions saved out to .atn, so there's no need to copy the (possibly corrupted!) actions from the old preferences.

@Glenn 8675309 wrote: ...just copy and paste them here: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2026\Presets\Actions"

Actually, .ATN files can be anywhere on the hard drive. Once they are loaded from the Action panel menu, they are in Preferences (as @D Fosse said.)

Jane

From your backup copy of your actions (That's an implied task) just copy and paste them here:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2026\Presets\Actions

I have backup copies of actions, brushes, swatches, and a few others "just in case"-- sound like you have never done that- make backup copies- perhaps you should do that.    It saves me time and trouble.   

Actions, once loaded, are kept as part of your general preferences, which are stored in your user account. All your preferences are loaded from here when the application starts up, and, crucially, rewritten on every application exit.

So two things can happen here. One, folder permissions in the operating system may be incorrectly set or corrupted.

The other is irregular shutdowns or crashes. This can corrupt the Preferences files themselves, and that can be fixed by resetting preferences. The most complete and reliable method is to move the whole Adobe Photoshop 2026 Settings folder to your desktop, allowing a fresh one to be rebuilt. 

You've already saved out your actions to .atn, so that's covered. Do the same for brushes and any other customizations you want to keep. Shortcuts and workspaces can usually be copied from the old Settings folder and pasted into the new.

I didn't make changes to my actions set. I have been using the same actions for a year - never had this problem. This started less than a month ago.