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rubyxcube
Participant
January 9, 2013
Answered

Photoshop brushes disappeared

  • January 9, 2013
  • 14 replies
  • 97938 views

I had a few hundred brushes on my Photoshop. But today when I opened photoshop, all the brushes were gone, except for the default ones and the ones from the last set that I imported in. When I last imported that set of brushes, I clearly remember the rest of the brushes still being there as I was using some new and old ones together, so I don't think I clicked "reset brushes". Also, I can't change the hardness of the brushes, except for the default ones. I already started re-importing some of the lost brushes, but it'll take too long to do all of them so I would really appreciate it if you could help me with this problem

    Correct answer Tradeview

    It's now 2020 and the problem is still here. What is going on? I can't recover any of my hundreds of brushes, only the default brushes are there!

    14 replies

    Show previous replies
    P
    pamela027
    Participating Frequently
    June 12, 2019

    Yes, still lose brushes and now it is worse because it also deletes actions, patterns and styles.  So it is a real pain to update this app!

      P
      pamela027
      Participating Frequently
      September 22, 2019
      same problem, sure with the photoshop people would fix this!!
      E
      ElPainto
      Participant
      June 11, 2018

      Similar Issue, I made some brushes a couple weeks ago and now I can't find them. I get the impression it just reloaded the original .abr file which didn't include the new items. It seems to work fine now... but I don't think what I created before was saved anywhere.

        E
        emcle1
        Participating Frequently
        June 12, 2018

        i found the only safe way to avoid this, because i lost dozens i had worked on before i knew this would happen after upgrading, was to immediately create a file folder in the brushes tab menu, and then drag the brush right into it after you are done creating it. then before you close out ps for the day, export it to your file location of choice. i save all mine to my creative cloud file so i can access them from all my computers. cloud is best.

          K
          kit Kerner
          Known Participant
          June 12, 2019

          Well, I thought I was the only one that had 'missing' brushes. It happen to me too almost every time I close out Photoshop. Since I create most of my brushes I have a sub-directory where I have on hand the ones I created, but what a hassle. I have posted my observation in another forum and have not received a reason why. There are other concerns, but I'll wait a little longer. . . I think someone, somewhere broke Photoshop. Good Luck!

            E
            emcle1
            Participating Frequently
            May 5, 2018

            i not only have the same issue, but EVERY time i close photoshop, ALL my brushes i imported disappear, and i am left spending 2 hours every time i want to use it re-importing the same brushes over and over again. there has to be a way to get this to stop happening.

              S
              scottie1600
              Participant
              May 18, 2020

              I have the same dam problem and getting very frustrated with it. I ask and they say they have no problems. We pay good money for this program. Please fix it Adobe. Thank you

                kendallplant
                Adobe Employee
                kendallplant
                Adobe Employee
                January 9, 2013

                Hi there

                 

                When you say "gone", do you mean gone from the Brushes panel, or gone from your Presets folder altogether? When you download and install custom brushes, make sure that make their way into the Photoshop Brushes preset folder, shown below.

                 

                 

                If the brushes you have installed are showing up in the Brush settings flyout menu (shown below) but not in the Brushes panel, you probably accidentally replaced your brushes instead of appending, or your preferences were reset.

                 

                 

                If you want to get all of your brushes back into your Brushes panel quickly, try using the Preset manager within Photoshop. Using this, you can select multiple brush files and load them in at once. Just go to Edit > Presets > Preset Manager, and hit the "Load" button.

                 

                 

                For some tips and alternative methods of managing your Photoshop Presets, check out this great article: Installing And Managing Brushes And Other Presets

                 

                Regarding the hardness: typically, only the standard round brushes allow you to adjust the hardness. Even the other brushes that come preinstalled in Photoshop don't allow you to adjust hardness 🙂

                 

                  J
                  juruko
                  Participant
                  July 4, 2019

                  That doesn’t solve the issue!!!!!!!!!!!!

                  No answer I have come across on the net works. When I restart Photoshop all the brushes and presets are gone. Frankly, I’m sick of loading brushes every day. It also doesn’t keep newly created brushes. Guess it’s time to switch to Affinity!

                    K
                    kit Kerner
                    Known Participant
                    July 4, 2019

                    Juruko, I'm not giving up on Photoshop (PS) just yet. As I have mentioned, somewhere in here, I have the same problem and all I read is 'Presets'. Nope, that isn't the answer. I have to use the Presets Manager to load my brushes back or use an Action (that I created) to do it that way. It just depends on my mood. I never had this problem before and sometimes, my other settings are set back to the defaults. Photoshop is a 'deep and complex' application and sometimes I feel like I am in the deep end of a pool that is dark. I will never use PS to its fullest potential but it does more than any other application I have come across and to relearn something new that may have its own issues. . . don't do it. I do not work for Adobe and I am not happy with Adobe. As far as I am concerned they broke the application.

                    Almost every time when I open up PS it acts different. Since I have the original brushes I have and copied the groups to several local places as well as the cloud, I just have to deal with the dang presets or run an Action (that loads all the usual brushes I created). It gets frustrating when I loose my screen settings or the Saved Documents (pictures), it is a pain. So, I created an action or two.

                    Now, I will be looking for a local tutor when I can take my laptop and show them what I see. I need a sanity check because I keep getting told that it is the Presets. As someone else wrote "That doesn’t solve the issue!!!!!!!!!!!!". It doesn't

                    Lastly, to anyone that has an issue, ever so often a little survey pops up when PS closes, FILL IT OUT. They get read, Maybe not right away, but they get read and all I will say is Adobe Technical Staff contacted me for a conversation; before my upgrade and troubles.

                    Good Luck!

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