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Participant
August 8, 2025
Question

Photoshop randomly creates duplicate of file when using "save" command (cmd+s)

  • August 8, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 238 views

Hi all, Macbook Pro, Sequoia 15.6, Adobe Photoshop 2025 user here.

Recently I've been experiencing some issues regarding the save feature for files. The issue is that photoshop sometimes makes a duplicate or copy of the psd file I'm currently working on when I use the "save" command, with the cmd+s keyboard shortcut. When I "save", it should save my progress to the current file, but it occasionally saves as a new file without me prompting the "save as" command, which results in me having one or more copies of the same file, at different stages of progress of my work and it has been bothersome. No dialogue box is prompted when the duplicate happens, and I just find a copy of my file appear on my desktop after I use the cmd+s command when attempting to save progress. There should be no hardware issues because I got my new laptop just a week ago. I have tried to observe this issue and there seems to be no pattern regarding what triggers a duplicate happening. It doesn't happen every time I use the "save" command, but it occurs once every now and then. So as I am working on a psd file, I use the "save" command regularly to save my progress, and every something saves after, one in a while the duplicate happens. 

I can open both the original psd file as well as the duplicate that was made randomly, but the newest changes in progress to my work (after the save) isn't saved to my current file, but the new duplicate. And then I have to pick between working from the duplicate as it has my newest progress saved, or redraw/redo my work in the original file and hope that the next time I use cmd+s it won't create a new copy. 

I would be grateful if this issue could be resolved. Thank you very much.

2 replies

Legend
August 8, 2025

Photoshop saves by creating a new file, then renaming it and deleting the old file when a save is finished. I assume this has problems with cloud syncing and you are seeing the interaction.

Community Manager
August 8, 2025

Hi @Candy7272! Welcome to the community!

Could you share a few more details about what’s going on? For example, which version of Photoshop 2025 you're using, and where you're saving your files, is it to an external drive or a cloud server?

As a first step, it might help to reset Photoshop preferences. Here’s how you can do that: https://adobe.ly/47kdXC6

Thanks again, and looking forward to helping you get this sorted!

Alek

*(If you mention me with an @, like @Aleke, I’ll get a notification and can respond faster.)*
Candy7272Author
Participant
August 8, 2025

Hello, thank you @Aleke !

My current version is 26.9 and I am saving my files to my desktop, which is part of my iCloud drive. 

I have not tried resetting my preferences yet before posting my question, and I just did that. I will continue to observe photoshop to see if the issue persists. Thank you for the reply!

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 8, 2025
quote

I am saving my files to my desktop, which is part of my iCloud drive.


By @Candy7272

 

I don't have my desktop in the cloud - but are you sure this isn't just standard cloud versioning? 

 

Does this happen when saving to local disk? We've seen occasional problems when savng directly to cloud desktop, most often files that just disappear, but also other glitches.