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How Do I Change Save / Save As Default to JPG in Photoshop CC 2017?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
July 10, 2017
15 replies
93962 views

Been searching but haven't found answers.

How Do I Change Save / Save As Default from PSD to JPG in Photoshop CC?

These are my steps:

- Editing a RAW file in ACR

- Then open it in Photoshop to do more edits

- Save/Save As...

Photoshop defaults to PSD. I've read other discussions that's because Photoshop will default to original file format. But this is a RAW file, not a PSD file to begin with.

My question is how do I change this default to JPG instead of PSD? It's annoying having to use the mouse to go down the drop down menu and scroll through to find JPG to save the file. I move through keyboard shortcus, so stopping to use the mouse just do select JPG really slows me down.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Correct answer skycross2004

If anyone is still looking for this solution (when batch processing a lot of JPG files through Actions), in your Actions add a step to do Layer->Flatten Image. If you add that action right before the save, the Save command will save the file as the original JPG.

S

skycross2004Correct answer

Participant

If anyone is still looking for this solution (when batch processing a lot of JPG files through Actions), in your Actions add a step to do Layer->Flatten Image. If you add that action right before the save, the Save command will save the file as the original JPG.

jane-e

Community Expert

This thread was started by @momopeach on 10 July 2017 and so much has changed on this issue in the past six years!

Jane

Maerten

Participant

This thread was started by @abbieg on 10 July 2017, and much has changed. But this issue is still not solved. I have the same problem. After an update, it works just fine, and then I apparently do something (no clue as to what) and the issue appears again. So, the issue being that when you open a file in Raw, work on it in photoshop and then want to save the file as a jpg, you have to choose the extension .jpg. (and yes: I've flattened the layers) And the next time you save, you again have to choose jpg again. It does not remember jpg. It remembers weird extensions like CIN and DMC, but not jpg. Why?

It's not a big thing, but it is irritating and time-consuming.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Jpeg does not support 16 bit depth. Change to 8 bit and jpeg is available - as long as you don't do anything else to the file.

Almost anything you can do to an image in Photoshop will violate the jpeg file format specification and not be allowed.

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

If your prefs are set to use legacy save as, then the following script can default to JPEG Baseline quality 10 as the default:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/save-as-jpeg-again/td-p/12650865#U12651207

Once installed, a custom keyboard shortcut can be applied.

Without legacy save as, the script would need to be modified to save as a copy.

garymak

Inspiring

Not sure what the confusion is. PS2022 used to default in "Save As" to the last file type saved INCLUDING JPG, now PS2023 doesn't. That's it. That's the issue. Nothing else. Going off on tangents about the need for writing and embedding special scripts, or why JPG has this or that limitation, or why JPG isn't a "good" file type, is irrelevant. The vast majority of people use JPG as a final product file format, however they arrive there. I have huge TIFF and PSD files that I've worked on, as do most photographers, but, everybody wants /needs the final product in JPG. That's the point.

Again, PS2022 used to default in "Save As" to the last file type saved INCLUDING JPG, now PS2023 doesn't. That's it. That's the issue.

D Fosse

Community Expert

You don't understand. The limitations in jpeg are very real. It's not an academic point.

Jpeg can never, under any circumstances, be a general default in Photoshop. It's not possible. It never was possible.

Almost anything you can do to a file in Photoshop puts it outside the jpeg file format specification. A jpeg cannot be 16 bit, it cannot have layers of any kind, it cannot have transparency or alpha channels. Any file that has any of these properties has to be a copy branched out from the original.

If the file already conforms to the jpeg spec, with all the limitations, jpeg is available directly under Save As. That, if you remember that far back, was the only way you could save to jpeg in Photoshop CS4 and earlier - back then there was no Save A Copy, no other way at all.

From CS5 in 2010, you could save out this jpeg copy directly from the Save dialog, until Apple decided that this was not allowed in MacOS and removed the APIs that made this possible. So the function had to be rewritten from scratch. It is now enabled through "legacy save" in preferences - but this time with the important provision that you risk unintentional overwriting of originals. So this time, it cannot be automatically enabled - the user has to be made aware of the risks and implications before enabling it.

There is absolutely no confusion here. This is all crystal clear.

garymak

Inspiring

Let's try this simple question again. No need for coding or "export outboxes" and all kinds of razzle-dazzle solutions. The original question was "How Do I Change Save / Save As Default to JPG in Photoshop"? I'm asking the same question as it was never answered.

There is SOME quirk in PS that "recalls" the last "save as" file type SOMETIMES for SOME FILE TYPES but not for others. How do you change it to what you want, i.e., "JPG"?

It works like this: you save a file as it does not matter whether is is a RAW, PSD, GIF, WHO file, that's irrelevant - let's pick something obscure like "DICOM" (whatever the heck that is) and then, after you save the file as that, the next time you are saving a file any file- it could be just a few minutes later, a day later, a week or a month - when you are working on a file and click "SAVE AS" the screen opens and, what do you know? it has defaulted to "SAVE AS DICOM." Now you decide to save it as a "Photoshop PDF". You save it.

Next time you open a file - any format - work on it, then go to save it, what do you know? It has defaulted to "SAVE AS DICOM."

Repeat process, save a file as something else, maybe "PSD", go to save it, what do you know? It has defaulted to "SAVE AS (maybe" PDF" or maybe still "DICOM."

There is no rhyme or reason it seems. One day, you go to "SAVE AS" and DICOM disappears and it will be stuck on "PSD" or "PDF"... but as the gentleman origianlly wrote, it never seems to be defaulting to "JPG", probably the file type the majority of people are wishing to save it as.

So, what's the secret? Anybody know? Somathetime is stays the same, somathetime is changes file types. The only interaction is the previous "save as" it seems....

Answers and solution on the the question are most welcome. Please skip all the replies related to coding, scripts, export, planetary alignments, etc. This strictly has to do with 1) why PS picks up some file types and maintains them as the default "save as" file type and not others and 2) when and how does it change it to something else? That's what's happening.

Much thanks!

D Fosse

Community Expert

it never seems to be defaulting to "JPG", probably the file type the majority of people are wishing to save it as.

By @garymak

As has been explained many times here in the forum, jpeg can never, under any circumstances, be a general default in Photoshop.

The jpeg file format specification is so limited that basically anything you can do to a file in Photoshop will exclude jpeg. It does not support 16 bit depth, layers of any kind, transparency or alpha channels. A jpeg is basically a flat array of 8 bit pixels. Anything else is off limits.

PSD and TIFF are the only file formats that support all Photoshop tools and features.

So this is really very simple and uncomplicated.

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

To echo @D Fosse if you want to have a file with reduced capacity (flat, 8 bits, no alpha, masks), then you should export/SFW, not save... The idea is to have non destructive writing of a file: save; to lose editing reversion and produce an image for showing it, Export/SFW.

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

- Then open it in Photoshop to do more edits

By @momopeach

Hi, could you describe what you mean by "some edits?" does it entail the creation of layers, or promoting the background to a layer, via crop, etc.?

D

Danton1962

Participating Frequently

Until I updated just tonight to 24.0.0 I could simply hit Save or Save As and my RAW files, after editing in Camera Raw and Photoshop, would automatically come up to save as JPG, which is what I want. Now I have to go to the drop down menu to change from .psd to jpg. It's a pain. How can I go back to the way it worked for me for years? Thank you.

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

(Had typed an answer, but Dag's answer is more complete)

D Fosse

Community Expert

Yeah, so many people ask about this now, that I figured it was time to pull out the heavy artillery to set the record straight once and for all 😉

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

I picture you blowing the smoke out of the barrel, western-style.

garymak

Inspiring

I understand your question and don't think many of the answers addressed it. I can't answer your question either, but I know it's out there somewhere. When I hit CMD-S to save my work, the Save Window pops up and it SOMETIMES defaults to JPG but sometimes - and recently - defaults to "IFF Format" (whatever that format is). I don't know why, but over time, I have found that there is some mysterious sequence which I cannot remember or duplicate, but often after an aborted "Save As" from a PSD file save. Sorry I can't give you a "here's how to do it" answer, but at least I understand your question. This has nothing to do with "export" and "default folders" and "default programs." I get it.... If I hit CMD-S and the screen defaults to "IFF Format", how did it get there and why can't I just change it to JPG????? You CAN, but it requires incantations and a secret password from Adobe....

Another related mystery recently solved: No matter what I did, the &^I$@# "SAVE" command would always default - as you originally questioned - to PSD, regardless of what the format of the file that was opened in it was...and you had to click "Save A Copy As" next to it (or in the drop down menu, and then you had to go up to the file name box, hit "select all" and then go all the way to the end to erase "copy" simply to save over your original JPG file. What a pain! Solution: in the Preferences tab, there is a tab "FILE HANDLING" and under there there is an option to "ENABLE LEGACY SAVE AS". That's the secret! Now when I hi CMD-S, it opens the window and I just have to pick the format (as per above, annoyingly defaulting to "IFF Format" BUT no more extra many steps to erase "copy" in the file name. ... It would be a whole lot faster if we could just switch the default to "JPG" though!

D Fosse

Community Expert

Just to be absolutely clear: jpeg can never be a true "default" in Photoshop.

Few people seem to realize what a fundamentally limited file format jpeg is, and what the implications are. Jpeg does not support layers, not even a single "Layer 0". It has to be a flat file. Jpeg does not support 16 bit color depth, which is pretty much the standard these days. Jpeg does not support transparency. Jpeg does not support alpha channels, they have to be deleted.

In short, basically anything you can do to a file in Photoshop puts it outside the jpeg specification.

However, if the file already conforms to the jpeg spec - 8 bit, flat, no alphas or transparency - then jpeg is available under Save As. If you open a jpeg and resave without doing anything, it will resave as jpeg (although slightly degraded because of the re-compression). But the instant you start working on the file, chances are jpeg will no longer be an option.

A jpeg normally has to be a copy, because you need to discard data to get there.

nikolaos1962

Participant

I have an answer: saving format depends on the actions/plugins you use on Photoshop.

I use for editing mostly Nik Software plugins and Athentech PerfectlyClear and I have not any problem, saving format is by default jpeg. When I use Tony Kuyper actions (I have the panel installed on PS), the saving format becomes by default to psd.

So other times it is possible to save to jpeg and other not, depending on the plugins / actions you used for editing!

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

Finally, there are custom written scripts that can save a JPEG copy, or a PSD+JPEG copy of the open image etc. These scripts can have a custom keyboard shortcut set against them to make them just as convenient as a regular save.

EDIT:

A creative action based trick (no scripting) can be found here:

Re: One-click 'Save as jpeg' shortcut script please! - saved in the same folder

I tested and it works as long as the original volume is not mounted… However it may or may not work on other systems than the one on which it was created, or in different versions etc.

____________________

JJMack also has a clever trick here:

Re: One-click 'Save as jpeg' shortcut script please! - saved in the same folder

Which leverages the popular Image Processor Pro script, recording key steps into an “invisible entry” in an action – and it does indeed work!

____________________

Searching this site or the web for Photoshop JPEG save as scripts will also turn up more than one option. Give it a go and please report back with a link to the script or method that worked best for you.

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