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stevenJTaylor
stevenJTaylor
Participant
July 29, 2021
Answered

linked file editing

  • July 29, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 1416 views

Anyone run into this- you make a file with multiple artboards, then proceed to drop psd files into those artboards, then you want to make changes to those psd files so you click Edit CONTENTS and boom a new window opens with what you think is your file...but no it's not your file it's some ba$#ard (btw read a dictionary to create context around your stupid community guidelines)  that adobe has made and tucked deep inside your operating system...so when you go back to original file that was placed in artboard expecting to work on those changes, they don't exist and now adobe has hijacked your workflow and decided to place your file in some random very inaccessable and blatantly wrong part of the drive structure. so why is this? it makes no sense from a human centered design standpoint, If it's going to behave like a wysiwyg workflow it should actually be one.

 

does anyone know how to create a runaround to this nonsense- it would be very handy when dealing with 50-60 artboards linked to art files to just double click and open them and know i'm editing my source

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Conrad_C

I'm going to guess that this might have to do with the difference between files added by simply dragging (so-called “Smart” Objects), which embed; and files added as Linked Smart Objects, which link to source. My guess is that you want the second, but you have the first.

 

Short answer, if I guessed right: In the future, hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) key when dropping a file into a Photoshop document. That should place it as a Linked Smart Object, so that double-clicking that layer opens the actual original source file.

 

Longer explanation of what is probably going on:

 

If you double-click a layer and it opens as a file that seems to be in some weird hidden folder/directory, it’s probably been dragged into the Photoshop document. That is because, by default, Photoshop embeds (not links) “placed” (imported) graphics. (Adding a file to a Photoshop document by drag and drop is actually a shortcut to the command File > Place Embedded.) Double-clicking one of those Smart Object layers opens the embedded file in its own window. Because the file is embedded (part of that same Photoshop document you’re working in), it does not exist outside Photoshop (the original doesn’t count because the embedded version is a disconnected copy of it), but to open it in its own window, it creates a temporary file in that hidden location. When you close that, it saves the changes to the embedded version and closes the temporary file, and does not affect the original source file in any way.

 

If you want to be able to double-click a Smart Object layer created from an imported graphic and have that open in its source file, import as a Linked Smart Object by doing one of the following:

  • Choose File > Placed Linked to import the file.
  • Hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) key when dropping a file into a Photoshop document.

Double-clicking the resulting Linked Smart Object layer will actually open the original source file, and any changes made to it will alter the original.

1 reply

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Conrad_CCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
July 29, 2021

I'm going to guess that this might have to do with the difference between files added by simply dragging (so-called “Smart” Objects), which embed; and files added as Linked Smart Objects, which link to source. My guess is that you want the second, but you have the first.

 

Short answer, if I guessed right: In the future, hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) key when dropping a file into a Photoshop document. That should place it as a Linked Smart Object, so that double-clicking that layer opens the actual original source file.

 

Longer explanation of what is probably going on:

 

If you double-click a layer and it opens as a file that seems to be in some weird hidden folder/directory, it’s probably been dragged into the Photoshop document. That is because, by default, Photoshop embeds (not links) “placed” (imported) graphics. (Adding a file to a Photoshop document by drag and drop is actually a shortcut to the command File > Place Embedded.) Double-clicking one of those Smart Object layers opens the embedded file in its own window. Because the file is embedded (part of that same Photoshop document you’re working in), it does not exist outside Photoshop (the original doesn’t count because the embedded version is a disconnected copy of it), but to open it in its own window, it creates a temporary file in that hidden location. When you close that, it saves the changes to the embedded version and closes the temporary file, and does not affect the original source file in any way.

 

If you want to be able to double-click a Smart Object layer created from an imported graphic and have that open in its source file, import as a Linked Smart Object by doing one of the following:

  • Choose File > Placed Linked to import the file.
  • Hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) key when dropping a file into a Photoshop document.

Double-clicking the resulting Linked Smart Object layer will actually open the original source file, and any changes made to it will alter the original.

    stevenJTaylor
    stevenJTaylorAuthor
    Participant
    July 29, 2021

    Oh Conrad thank you so much. I am and have been seriously frustrated by this. I can't thank you enough you have saved me hours and many many duplicated files. 
    In retrospect the fuctionality, now that I know the secret, seems logical, I never would have guessed at it though and...voila I tried out the workflow and just as you instructed, it works ! I am now one less frustrated cat

     

    ~steve

     

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Conrad_CCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 29, 2021
    @stevenJTaylor wrote:

    In retrospect the fuctionality, now that I know the secret, seems logical, I never would have guessed at it though…

     

    It isn’t obvious to most people, so you should not have been expected to guess at it. If you’re used to working in other software where imported content is always linked to the external source files (video editors, page layout like Adobe InDesign, web pages…), then you would have naturally expected Photoshop to work in the same way. That’s why you got frustrated.

     

    But linking to imported content is a relatively new thing for Photoshop, which is why it isn’t the default. Photoshop was originally designed more like other photo/image editors, where whatever you add gets “assimilated” (embedded) in the document with no connection to external files. Thankfully Adobe added the linked file capability a few years ago, but it is still not the default, so we have to remember to either use Place Linked or the Option/Alt-drag-and-drop import method.

     

    P.S. I wish I could draw like that!

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