After updating to 24.3, all settings, actions, tools, workspaces, etc is gone

[WookieTheSloth]

Hello again. 
It´s almost funny I am here asking for help almost after every update of Photoshop.
So here we go...
After updating to 24.3 version of Ps, everything is gone. Literally everything, including previous version of Ps. I don´t have enabled auto-update, so I can always migrate my settings or have some sort of back-up from previous Ps version, or if the new version is bugged (as always) I can just continue my work in previous version.

Well this time, Ps just decided to scrap everything, there is not a single sign of the previous version on my computer, my drive, nothing. It's like the previous version was never on my computer at all.

So if you have some ideas how to get my stuff back, please let me know. I have some backup actions and workspaces saved, but for example last set of actions for a specific client is completely gone.

And yes, I am being snarky. It is more than 12 years of using Adobe and still, the same bugs, same issues, same crashes are happing all over again and I am tired of this. Everytime something like this happens I just want to give up and just scrap all the Adobe experience from my life and never look back.

I am just tired, so if someone got a solution, please let me know. 

[kevin stohlmeyer]

Hi @WookieTheSloth even choosting to remove previous versions when updating would not remove preferences or presets unless that option was chosen by the user in the Creative Cloud desktop app.

Try going to the current PS build>Edit Menu>Presets>Migrate Presets

If they are on your computer PS will pull them in.

[WookieTheSloth]

Hey @kevin stohlmeyer . I already tried that as a first thing. Unfortunately, as I said before, there is literally 0 files left on my computer from the previous version, not even empty "adobe photoshop 202x settings" folder. I checked hidden folders, went through all appdata, tried to recover the files from restore point, literally nothing. 
But thanks for an advice anyway.

[WookieTheSloth]

To be more accurate, the folder is basically not there:
It was supposed to be 2022 version in there, but it's gone. Everything connected to the previous version is just gone from my drives. 

[kevin stohlmeyer]

I'm guessing you already did but check for any resources in C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [version]\Presets\

[jaloha22]

The same issue happened to me. I always migrate from previous version. I have that option selected with auto update on. However, this time everything was deleted. The folder containing the settings from the previous version has been deleted. The presets can be recreated and the brushes, patterns, etc can be manually migrated but it's infuriating and a huge suck on productivity. There are many threads complaing about this and generally the responses are not helpful or sassy. I guess I will try saving the preset file in a different location. Trial # 4,596. 

[redwad]

Hope you can recover your preveous versions.

PS 2024 is so full of bugs that I don't use it.

Are the engineers are so crazy for AI that they threw out what worked before?

[D Fosse]

You probably have an old/underpowered GPU. That's the critical component nowadays, and where newer versions tighten the requirements.

I know of exactly one bug in Photoshop 25.0  (missing adjustment icons). And that's after 8-hours-a-day professional heavy duty use.

[zarcosp12670394]

Hello thanks for your tip but there is nothing to migrate everything is vanish from previous version..Actions, brushes, all gone. 
Instead getting hit every day with the comercials why dont Adobe Mickey Mouse engineers spend their time fixing the problems highlighted by the Adobe comunity? Shame on you Adobe 

[kevin stohlmeyer]

@zarcosp12670394 Please read this page on how to migrate your items.

The only way they would be missing from a previous version is if you did not save them before a reset.

Until they are saved, presets including actions, brushes, etc. are temporary items.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preset-migration.html

[Jasmine5CAB]

Yeah, this just happened to me. I did not update my PS.. I do not have auto update on either. Yet I log in today and all of previous brushes and most importantly actions are gone. They previous PS doesnt exist on my Mac anymore. ts like they came and snatched all my stuff =( This is my busy season and I did not plan on creating all new actions from scratch. I dont even remember how I did each and every one. ADOBE COUNT YOUR DAYS! 

[D Fosse]

You need to make it a habit to always save out actions and brushes. Until you do that, they are just temporarily stored in your preferences, and will disappear if preferences are reset.

Each PS version has its own preferences folder in your user account. In other words, it's all version specific. That's the way it has to be, since new code means that settings may not have exactly the same meaning in the new version, or they may not apply at all.

This is nothing new, this is how Photoshop has always worked, right from the beginning.

Preferences can get reset spontaneously. It's not something that happens under normal circumstances, but Photoshop rewrites your preferences in their entirety on every application shutdown. An irregular shutdown can prevent that, as can an issue with your user account permissions.