Layers in Photoshop files lost after closing Lightroom

[TetsuM]

Hello,

I am using Lightroom Classic to sort all my files, but use Photoshop when I have a lot of editing to do. When I save and close the Photoshop file and reopen that same file after some time, the layers are lost.

This does not happen when I re0open the TIFF file with layers withing the same Lightroom session.

Does anybody know what I am doing wrong?

[JP Hess]

I'm going to make some assumptions. I assume the original files are raw. I assume you are opening those raw files from Lightroom into Photoshop. Photoshop cannot save changes to the raw file, cannot create layers to the raw file. If you open a raw file into Photoshop and create layers then Photoshop will save it in a different format depending on what options you have set in Lightroom. That's as far as I'll go right now. Am I understanding, or have I really missed the boat?

[TetsuM]

Hi JimHess,

Yes all the assumptions you have made are correct. The raw files are opened from Lightroom in Photoshop as TIFF files. When I save in Photoshop before going back to LR, I select the TIFF format and make sure 'Layers' are selected.

[JP Hess]

Here is what I have just tried. If I take a raw file into Photoshop from Lightroom and make adjustments including adding layers, and save it and go back to Lightroom, then choose to edit in Photoshop and choose the option to edit original, then that TIF file will open and have the layers. However, if I choose the option to edit in Photoshop, and choose the option to edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments, then Lightroom will create a new copy and that copy will NOT include the layers. So if you save a file with layers then you need to choose the option to edit the original, and not make any adjustments to the file in Lightroom until after you are sure you have finished your work in Photoshop.

[JohanElzenga]

When I save and close the Photoshop file and reopen that same file after some time, the layers are lost.

How do you open them again? When you send a TIFF file from Lightroom to Photoshop, then you get three choices: Open a copy with or without Lightroom adjustments, and open original. Open original will open the file in Photoshop with its layers intact. Open a copy will render a new TIFF, and because Lightroom does not support layers, that TIFF will be flattended.