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lmlevesque
Known Participant
November 27, 2025
Answered

Where are the hard and soft round brushes in Default Brushes in Photoshop Elements 2026

  • November 27, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 379 views

I installed PSE 2026 last week, but in the Default Brushes set, I can't find the Hard and Soft Round options.  I have gone so far as uninstalling and re-installing PSE 2026 but it didn't fix the issue.  I've included a screenshot of a partial list from Preset Manager.  In 2025, the first options are Hard and Round.  In 2026, it starts with the air brushes (which are in 2025, but further down in the list).  Is anyone else having this issue?  I can't find a file named anything like "default.abr", if I could I would copy it from 2025 and put it in 2026.  Does anyone else know?  Google is no help bc it keeps returning results that are for Photoshop, not PSE.

    Correct answer Medha_Sharma

    Hi @lmlevesque,

     

    Thanks for bringing this to our notice. We will get this investigated. For now, please check if the 'Basic Brushes' category brushes can be of some help to you. 

     

     

    Regards,

    Medha

    2 replies

    Medha_Sharma
    Adobe Employee
    Medha_SharmaCorrect answer
    Adobe Employee
    November 27, 2025

    Hi @lmlevesque,

     

    Thanks for bringing this to our notice. We will get this investigated. For now, please check if the 'Basic Brushes' category brushes can be of some help to you. 

     

     

    Regards,

    Medha

    L
    lmlevesqueAuthor
    Known Participant
    November 27, 2025

    Thank you. I did look at the pencil brushes. And upon playing more, I find that if I pick one of the air brushes, then change the brush type back to the regular brush, it kind of works too. For now, I think that will meet my needs, but I would love the have the old ones back. 

    Jeff Arola
    Community Expert
    Jeff ArolaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 27, 2025

    I believe those brushes that are missing in PSE 2026 are actually built-in to the PSE 2026 application itself.

    Those brushes (the round brushes) are known as round computed brushes in Photoshop/Photoshop Elements because they are the only ones that have adjustable hardness.

    There is even an Default Brushes.abr file in the Required folder of Photoshop Elements 2026; however, those missing Brushes are not in there nor are they in that same Default Brushes.abr file in prior Photoshop Elements versions going all the way back to Photoshop Elements 2 even though they come up when you load the Default Brushes in any of the PSE versions before 2026.

     

    For now, at least until Adobe fixes the issue with an update, you could save out the Default Brush set from PSE 2025 using the Preset Manager into Macintosh HD/Users/UserName/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop Elements/Presets/Brushes and then load that saved set into Photoshop Elements 2026.

     

    Preferably save the set with a different name than Default Brushes.

     

     

    L
    lmlevesqueAuthor
    Known Participant
    November 27, 2025

    At least you confirmed that I'm not going crazy!  Thanks so much for the suggestion. Do you think I should report this as a bug?

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