Photoshop cannot save to local file server

[colin-p]

I upgraded to Big Sur yesterday. I also upgraded PS to 22.2.

I immediately noticed that PS was no longer able to save files back to our local file server (connecting via SMB). I am logged into the file server as an admin user. I can save files to the server just fine in other programs (AI and ID). PS can save new files to the server, but opening an existing file, changing it, and then saving back to the server gives me the ever useful "program error" dialogue.

I tried downgrading PS to 22.1 and the same error occurs. Guessing it has something to do with Big Sur. PS has Full Disk Access enabled. Any ideas?

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

See this help page. Photoshop does not support saving to a server.

"Adobe Technical Support only supports using Photoshop and Adobe Bridge on a local hard disk. It's difficult to re-create or accurately identify network- and peripheral-configuration problems."

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/networks-removable-media-photoshop.html

This is the recommended workflow:

"Technical Support strongly recommends working in Photoshop directly on the local hard disk. To prevent data loss, save files to your hard disk first. Then transfer them to the network or removable drive in the Finder or in Windows Explorer. To retrieve files, copy them in the Finder or in Windows Explorer from the network or removable drive to your hard disk. You can then open the files in Photoshop. This workflow avoids problems that occur when network system setups or removable media device drivers are incompatible with the operating system or Photoshop."

~ Jane

[colin-p]

Wow. Just wow.

Another nail in the coffin. This is [cursing removed by moderator] ridiculous.

Thanks for the info.

[jane-e]

Hi @colin-p 

This is not new. Saving directly to a network has never been supported, as there are too many network configurations, each with their own potential issues.

~ Jane

[colin-p]

Saving to and working off of a file server has worked 100% fine for us for the past 8 years. And now it doesn't. 

[jane-e]

Some folks have said the same thing here in the forums, then spoke to their network administrators and found out a change had just been made to the network. I am not saying this is your situation.

All I know is that Adobe does not support saving directly to the server, and that if you are having issues, then following their recommendation for the workflow is the best way to protect your files. I'm sorry to bear that news.

~ Jane

[D Fosse]

It's not ridiculous. It's common sense. Saving directly to a server has always been considered risky and bad practice. Corruption happens, files are lost. 

Where I work, I keep telling people to work locally, then copy over. Doesn't seem to help much. We've had a couple of major corruption events where we lost almost everything, and corrupted files keep popping up all the time. So they blame the IT guys, or whatever application they're using. But they really should be blaming themselves.

The thing is - you can mostly get away with it for 50 kB Word and Excel files. But Photoshop files are big. Large chunks of data are written over a slow connection. The save takes a long time. That alone increases the risk of file corruption hitting any one file, if a random corruption event happens every x GB on average. It's simple statistics.

I long ago decided to stay well out of it. I manage my own storage and have my own backup regime, and then I have an open photo server where I put copies of all the finished files. That's how much I trust it. And yes, I survived all those disasters where people lost their work.

[colin-p]

@D Fosse The ridiculous part is that Adobe is forcing this on its users. I should be able to choose whether or not I want to take the risk of corrupted files. I've been in this industry for over 20 years, and now Adobe is essentially telling me I don't have a clue how to manage files.

We have never had corruption happen. Maybe we're lucky. But it should be OUR choice on where to save our files. NOT adobe's.

[jane-e]

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@colin-p wrote:

"But it should be OUR choice on where to save our files. NOT adobe's."

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Hi

As users who volunteer on this forum, we can only tell you why you are getting the error message and that Adobe does not support saving files on a server. We have done that. There is another forum for feature requests and bug reports that is maintained by the product developers.

You might want to report it here if you want Adobe to hear your views: https://feedback.photoshop.com/

~ Jane

[colin-p]

I understand that. I am not blaming any of you for Adobe's shortcomings. I also do appreciate your help. I am sorry if I came off in another way.

Thanks again for your help.

[jane-e]

No, that's okay, and venting here is always okay. Unfortunately, we can't make changes. We can only tell you of the stories we've hear about those whose files get corrupted when saving directly to a server and how to avoid that corruption. The other site is read by the product developers — they don't follow this site.

~ Jane

[melkin]

Adobe dominates the market and yet so many uopdates that send our grpahics dept backwards. who works locally? please. we have large servers. If I have all my artists sdave photo shop loclaly and then drag to a server to replace the file, would be a high risk of writing over work already done by another artist. who does that! I cant have an artist open a 500 page catalog and have all images missing becuase adobe suggests to work "locally". The issue is... IT WORKED FINE IN PAST 4 versioan ago. then just stopped! Im still on Catalina OS. adobe getting to big for their britches!!

[Lumigraphics]

Its been this way for years. There are enough variations in network and server types that Adobe is being cautious and won't promise that working off servers will be reliable. If you absolutely need that, invest in a true DAM that supports it.

[colin-p]

Adobe has never enforced it like they do now, at least in my experience. I've been using PS since about version 4. This is the first update that I have ever had PS not let me save to a local file server.

If they had a dialogue appear on saving that said "Adobe does not recommend saving to a file server" or something with a button that let me acknowledge that I understand the risk, and then let me save wherever I want, that would be fine.

But restricting what I can do with my files? That's a bit too big brother for me.

[Lumigraphics]

They aren't PREVENTING you. There is no code in Photoshop that stops a save. However, if your network has issues, then yeah it will fail.

[colin-p]

Well, when I updated PS, I could have sworn it prevented me from saving to our file server. I recall it brought up a dialogue about it. And the day before, in the last PS version, it was working fine. From my perspective, this meant that there was something in the PS update that was keeping me from saving on the file server. Every other app I use was able to save to the server just fine.

[melkin]

Well, if adobe illustrator, acrobat, AE, Premiere... and ALL other Adobe products give ZERO file saving issues... then they clearly missed something within their Photoshop programming. No excuses there. They know there are millions of pissed of adobe users with EXACT issue. Fix the damn problem instead of saying "we are monoloply so go (removed) and deal with it".

[tims9869084]

Okay, now I know this is nobodys fault here really but I just want to share my experience. I work in advertising since 2001, in various advertising agencies. We have always worked directly on our servers with all our software from adobe and others. I also know people in other fields and working directly on the server is exactly what they do. Working locally and then copying files is a BIG point of error. Servers and its server protocols are designed to work with direct access. I have never heard this is bad practice from ANYONE including our IT partners in over 20 years.

Leaving that aside we also had never problems whith photoshop not saving correctly on servers until the last couple of versions. I can not tell when this started but maybe with 22.1, I don't know.

The situation with Adobe gets increasingly frustrating. We pay several hundred dollars for our CC licenses a month. The support is abysmal compared to other software companies. The last problems we tried to solve with support the answer was basically "you are doing it wrong". I am reminded of the situation with Quark Xpress befor InDesign became the standard. They just did not care because everyone was locked into their system. Now Adobe does the same thing. I used to love adobe software when I started in this business. Now I start to really hate it with a passion.

[D Fosse]

Well, that is directly contrary to my experience. Direct to server has always been considered a bad habit.

The thing is, you can get away with it for small Word and Excel files, and that's what most people do. But the bigger the file, the greater the risk that corruption will hit any one single file. It only takes one bit.

It's just statistics. If the average rate of corruption is once every x GB, that means you can save, say, 10 000 Excel files with the same risk as one Photoshop file.

And don't tell me corruption never happens over networks. That's naive.

[tims9869084]

Well, that is directly contrary to my experience. Direct to server has always been considered a bad habit. – please enlighten me, why that would be the case. You know who also always writes directly to server? All the data centers in the world. All big companies that I can think of.

The thing is, you can get away with it for small Word and Excel files, and that's what most people do. But the bigger the file, the greater the risk that corruption will hit any one single file. It only takes one bit. – We are working with 1GB+ files for video production, After Effects, Premiere, DaVinci etc. Never had this problem. In over 20 years.

And don't tell me corruption never happens over networks. That's naive. – Of course it can happen, but why would it happen more than writing to disc?

[tims9869084]

Here's an interesting thread that pretty much says it all: https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1452073-users-saving-files-to-file-server-thoughts-on-this-pr...

[tims9869084]

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@jane-e  schrieb:

See this help page. Photoshop does not support saving to a server.

This is wrong. The help page does not state this. The help page states that adobe support will not help if you have problems with saving directly to server because server infrastructure can be complex.

Photoshop does totally support saving to a server and this  not working for a lot of users is a bug.

[Lumigraphics]

Adobe does not support working off a server other than products like Experience Manager.

Client-server software usually has error-checking and rollback features to prevent data loss and corruption if the network has problems. Basic file servers do not and nor does Photoshop.

This is 100% "at your own risk" stuff. And I've been doing support since the 1990's, nothing has changed. Working directly off a server is a bad idea.

[jane-e]

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@tims9869084 wrote:

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@jane-e  schrieb:

See this help page. Photoshop does not support saving to a server.

This is wrong. The help page does not state this.

Here's what the help page actually says: "Adobe Technical Support only supports using Photoshop and Adobe Bridge on a local hard disk."

Here is the recommended workflow: "Technical Support strongly recommends working in Photoshop directly on the local hard disk."

How you interpret the Help page is up to you.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/networks-removable-media-photoshop.html

~ Jane

[colin-p]

Just to support what @tims9869084 says – I've worked in this industry since '99. I have worked at multiple agencies as well as in-house departments for large corporations. Every single place I have worked has always used a central local file server for saving work to. PSD, AI, INDD, etc. No matter the format, the files always were saved onto the server. This workflow simply makese sense when you have multiple people who need to access working files.

I'm sure it happens, but I have never had issues with corrupted files. I guess both myself and the multiple agencies I've worked for have been lucky.

Maybe this is the future and it's a good thing. Since SMB is apparently buggy on macOS and AFP is no longer an option, I guess working locally and then transferring to a local server is what must be done.

I just wish Adobe would roll out a solid solution for teams working in their products. CC for teams is OK, but it is lacking IMO.