How to clear synched Photoshop presets?

[smaxfab]

If I turn on Preset Syncing, the presets stored online are added to my local ones - multiple times.
I turned off synching and have done a big clean up (locally). I can keep things I don’t use much on my computer, and I deleted stuff I didn’t really need.
BUT, as soon as I turn on Preset Sync, it does the same thing again and I am back to square one.

I can’t find where to clear the synched presets or to ensure that what I have now in PS on my computer will be what overwrites/updates when synched not the other way around that the ‘old’ synched files take over. Any clues?

[Sameer K · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. We're sorry for the trouble with Photoshop. We're here to help.

Could you please share the version of Photoshop & the operating system you are working on? Has this started since a recent update of Photoshop or Windows? Have you recently imported a large batch of presets in Photoshop?

What troubleshooting steps have you tried?

Photoshop's preset syncing relies on the Creative Cloud to some extent. Please try this

In the Creative Cloud app, press CTRL + ALT + T (Win) to launch Creative Cloud Troubleshooter & select 'Close Creative Cloud and related processes' > click on Go.

Go to the location of the preference folder mentioned below and rename it to backup. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

• Windows 10/11: Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop [version]/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings
• Press the Windows > Enter 'Run' > Type %appdata%\Adobe
• Rename the Adobe Photoshop folder by adding a .old at the end. (Adobe Photoshop 2022 > Rename > Adobe Photoshop 2022. old)
• Now launch Creative Cloud & Photoshop via the Creative Cloud.

Photoshop will launch as if it has been installed newly. Enable the Preset Sync and wait for it to finish.

Delete or make changes to the presets while you have the sync enabled so that the recent changes sync to the cloud library.

Let us know how it goes,

Thanks!
Sameer K

[smaxfab]

Thanks for the prompt reply.  This issue - and the attached warning (see img)when opening PS had been continuing for months, only managed by not syncing presets.  As below, I have mostly fixed it.

In essence, to change synced presets I needed to work with Photoshop that had preferences reset etc. and then allow Preset Sync,  DELETE all the presets that were synced, until preset status showed they were all gone, (see img) and then load up my saved presets as desired.  Note (for others) that when I said NO don't keep my presets on the cloud, when turning off Preset Sync, (see img) they were still there when I came back.  I had to manually remove everything).
It took a few rounds of deleting presets, closing PS and reopening to clear all the presets from Sync.  (Some seemed very stubborn) Then I could import presets and arrange what I needed.

[The part that wasn't mentioned in the how-to, was to ensure I had exported and saved any presets that I wanted access to again - like shapes, patterns, gradients etc. - saving them OUT of the Adobe folders.
I think this gets missed by most Adobe consultants and should be included whenever a reset of some kind is suggested. I have seen and heard many, many users that have lost presets or other settings (like modified workspaces, actions and more) because Adobe got them to reset everything.  There must be ways to keep copies of some of these and re install as needed..? ]
QUESTION:
What number of each preset - swatches, patterns etc. is the maximum for sync (see img) and what is the quantity that won't mean Photoshop is very slow to open?  Or is it the file size of the .pat or .grd or .asl  etc that will affect performance?