Photoshop CC 2020 MacOS Catalina - Cannot Overwrite File

[pppeepo]

Hi 

Ever since upgrading to Catalina, Photoshop when saving a file, will not overwrite the file, just creates the same filename with _copy appended. I have to manuually delete the original then save - very annoying!

Please could you suggest a workaround ahead of a permanent fix?

Thank you!

[nickl57516707]

Can we PLEASE get an update for this??????   How many versions have you released and this is still an issue????

IT MAKES VIDEO WORK SO SLOW, TAKES UP UNNECESSARY DRIVE SPACE, AND MAKES MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF THE SAME FILE OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

This is the 3rd time I've posted here. 

This problem was highlighted over a year ago.

I cannot believe there hasn't been a patch for this yet.

For those of us making minor edits, we literally spend as much, OR MORE, time going into the folders to remove "Copy" from the filename (even though your program, that we pay an ongoing premium fee for, specifically asks us TWICE if we want to overwrite the original file) than we do the actual edits.

It seriously, seriously slows things down.

Caps were necessary here. 

It's incredibly insulting that this has just been blatently ignored.

[klausp65165345]

Bumping this thread, also having the same problem, basically not being able to choose either to save it as a copy or not. Now that's some great ergonomics you have here, someone must not have thought this through. Please do something.

[Impaler_]

I am also having this issue. Brand new iMac. OS 11 (Big Sur). Photoshop 2021.

The option to "Replace" is red and not highlighted like it's supposed to be. When I select "Replace", it makes a copy. Everytime. Every folder. This is not how this feature is supposed to work.

[rosfiol]

Adding to the echoed frustration--embarrassing that this issue has gone unaddressed for over a year now. VERY frustrating step back from 10+ years of learned design workflow. 

[jl36807489]

Same issue and cant believe its not been solved. Been a photoshop and mac user for more than 25 years, Replace has always meant Replace. Adding a Copy even after clicking OK to the Replace dialog is not correct behavior.

[Loonaris]

Same issue. And it is still so annoying. I will never get used to it cause it made mailing out small changes so much more time consuming. I wish Adobe would give this finally some attention.

[default95fkreptvotv]

Same here. Been dealing with it for a year. As someone who repeatedly saves out itterations of image files in formats other than .PSD for texture maps for 3d models, jumping back and forth between Maya and Photoshop, making a tweak in Photoshop and then resaving the file, you can imagine how much this interrupts my workflow. It's insane they haven't fixed this major bug in a year.

[default95fkreptvotv]

Ok, this is a workaround that works for me in the meantime. You need to create an Action (which can be made a function key shortcut if you want to.) A separate action can be made for each file format you want to save out to, or you can have an item in the action for example saving a .jpg and another item for example saving a .png, and select whichever checkmark for whichever file type you want before you play the action. There are a few specific requirements for this to work right, so I'll write exactly how I did it below. It utilizes the fact that a flattened document will save correctly in a format without layers, like .jpg or .png. Here's how to do it:

-- Open the "Actions" window under "Window/Actions".

-- Create a new Action by hitting the "+" button at the bottom, and name it whatever you want to.

-- The red "record" button at the bottom is automatically turned on after creating a new action, so it is now recording what you do and saving it as the Action.

-- With it recording, select Layer/Flatten Image. You can see that it records that step in your new action in the list.

-- Next, you might think you do a "Save As" as the next step, but we need to tell it that you want it to open the "Save As" dialogue so that each time you play this action you will be able to tell it where you want to save the file and what file type you want to save it as. To do this select the icon in the very top right of the Actions menu that looks like a bunch of horizontal lines. Click on "Insert Menu Item". Then, click "File/Save As" and hit "OK".

-- Now hit the "Stop" button right next to the red "Record" button to stop it from recording. We are going to adjust the "Save" Action step that you just created. (Make sure that your document is currently flattened for this step. If it's not, select Layer/Flatten again. We'll undo this later.) Double click on the "Save" step. The Save As dialogue opens. Select the file format that you want, and navagate to an image that is in that same file format to make sure that this works right. Select the existing image to get the same name, and UNCHECK "As a Copy". Hit "Save", "Replace", and if your format has options, select the options you want and hit "OK". You now have the correct "Save" Action step. Open the Finder to make sure that it saved over the image file rather that made a "[filename] copy.jpg".

-- The last step is to make the "Undo" Action step to get your layers back. Hit the red "Record" button again. You can't just select "Undo" and record that though - you must go into the "History" window (Window/History) and select one step back in the history listed there. It will record this in your Action. Your document layers should come back as well now. Hit the "Stop" button next to the red "Record" button to complete your custom Action.

--Time to test it. Select the Action in the Actions list and hit the "Play" icon at the bottom. The dialogue should open, with "As a Copy" unchecked. Click on the image file you want to overwrite, hit save, select the format options and hit "OK". You can see if your action worked right in the Finder.

-- For organization I created a new folder in the Actions window called "Save As", and I put my custom actions in there. That way I can minimize the Default Actions folder so my Save As folder is the only one open.

-- You can pick a funtion key along with a modifier button if you want to to trigger any Action. *Warning* F1 and F2 does other stuff in the OS. Command F6 worked for me and it doesn't trigger anything else. To do this double click on your action to the right of it's name to bring up the Action Options again, and select the Function Key that you want to use along with Shift or Command if you want.

As I said before, if you make an Action for example that by default saves as a jpg and get tired of switching the file type to png in the dialogue, you can make a separate action or a separate Action checkbox that you switch off and on.

[default95fkreptvotv]

NOTE: This process makes Photoshop think that the open file you're using is a .jpg, and it will say .jpg at the top. To resave it as the .PSD just hit save (Control S) and select the .PSD and overwrite it. This is kind of weird, but it's just like saving your work intermittently like you normally would.

[taylorg81009603]

Bumping this thread. Photoshop 2021 - Big Sur, same issue. What's up with this? Seriously slows down productivity, aka money, which is a bit f_cked considering we pay for this software. I have InDesign CC 2019, and it does not have this same issue when replacing files with the same name. So clearly it has something to do with Photoshop's latest versions not working properly with the new Mac OS's. You'd think that this would be literally the FIRST thing the QA team at Adobe would check for lol... Seriously though, please fix this, we losin' bills man. Not happy.

[newmango]

MacBook Pro - Big Sur 11.2 - Photoshop 22.1.1

Same issue. Regardless of any workarounds, or reasons why, this needs to be fixed. When a save dialog tells you it's going to overwrite the existing file, it should overwrite the existing file. It should not leave the existing file alone and instead create a new file with a different name.

Gary Newman

[jimmarz60]

I posted a rant on this issue a while back. Since then the easiest workaround that I have seen posted goes as follows. When you are saving the file and the "Save As" dialog box is open click on the file name of the old file you wish to replace. Be sure to change the file type option to match the old file. This will name your new file identically. Then while the dialog is still open right click on the old file and use the "move to trash option". This aloows you to save the new version with the old file name and not end up with 2 files. This works on Macs, I would assume Windows is similar. It took me a while to remember to do this each time but it's a better option than rooting aound in the folder to manually get rid of or rename the old file. As a user of PS for over 25 years I would still prefer Adobe to put things back to the way they used to be. At least this is a relatively easy workaround. The fact that the program tells you it's going to save over the old file and then does not is a major P.I.T.A.

[taylorg81009603]

I've seen this workaround mentioned here before, I tried it then and I tried it just now, unfortunately I don't even have the option to move to trash, not entirely sure why, I have full permissions enabled. Here's what I see when I right click any file within the save as window:  https://imgur.com/JCMz4ZY

[taylorg81009603]

Sorry - tried to edit my post buuuut there's no option to do that here. I tried going directly to the adobe.com contact us online chat service, and I explained this issue, however I would not recieve any help unless I had my company's adobe.com account info. So maybe someone with an active subscription tied to their account can try to go there to voice the opinion of the people. I tried and failed.

[jimmarz60]

I did a quick experiment. What I found was that I needed to click on the file name to make the two file names exactly the same except for the file type. Then the move to trash option is availble. I had to do that before I changed the file type to .jpg or .tif, etc. otherwise I saw what you show in your screenshot, no option to "move to trash". I hope that helps.

I wish Adobe just fix this already. Obviously there are a lot of people who find this annoying at best and a waste of valuable time at worst.

[taylorg81009603]

It did help, thank you. The file name you're saving has to match the file name you're deleting BEFORE you right click to "move to trash". And this helps quite a bit with workflow, but it's still an extremely unnecessary inconvenience. No one at Adobe seems to think the same thing, though. (apparently)

[jimmarz60]

I've seen other posts that seem to imply that Adobe doesn't feel this is a problem and/or it's Apple's problem. I agree that particular workaround is probably the easiest to use. Having said that I agree with you, it's a problem that does need to be addressed. It doesn't matter to me if it's Adobe's problem, Apple's or a combination, it's ridiculous that a dialog box warns it's saving over a file and then doesn't. Illustrator has a similar issue when exporting. I send my clients .jpgs as proofs and that's a pain too.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

There are many topic threads with this and related issues that users have been complaining about for over a year without a programming fix from Adobe.

AFAIK the best work-around is scripting.

Users are vocal and willing to complain at this forum (where Adobe does not listen), however not one person has taken up the offer to explore using a script as a workaround. Go figure!

The place to add your complaint to many others is here:

Submit product feedback

[taylorg81009603]

Oh don't you worry buddy, there's plenty of complaints there, too.

[dennisfE6]

Same issue here.  A workflow slowdown for certain.

[kens16177859]

I keep on searching for an update to this bug, but only finding bad workarounds. (I mean, they're all good if they work for you. I've got my own.) But if this is the way it was *designed to be*, it's terrible design. We all get that jpgs can't have layers. That's why we save a PSD and a JPG for emailing or putting into powerpoint or into indesign or whatever. We're all also able to read the warnings that we're about to overwrite file. We're ok with that. It's what we want to do. I've seen workarounds about flattening the image before saving it. That's cool if it's 1997. I rememeber when we had to do that. Come on, Adobe - unbreak our workflows. Thanks!

[newmango]

Same thing. I have an image "Gary.jpg." I edit it and save as "Gary2.jpg." I edit it again and now I want to save it as "Gary.jpg," replacing the original.

I Save As... and give it the name "Gary.jpg." The attached warning appears, saying ""Gary.jpg" alread exists. Do you want to replace it? A file or folder with the same name already exists in the folder TEST. Replacing it will overwrite its current contents."

All very straightforward, and just as expected.  I click Replace, and I'm left with the original version of the file still there with its original name, and a new file "Gary copy.jpg."

There might be workarounds for fixing it, but none of them excuse the broken interface. If the dialog says Replace, it should replace - not make a copy. If Adobe doesn't think it's important enough to engineer a fix (and I have legitimate reasons for using this workflow), then fix the dialog so that it tells me what is going to actually happen. 

"Gary.jpg" alread exists. Do you want to copy it? A file or folder with the same name already exists in the folder TEST. Saving it will save a copy and leave the original untouched." 

By the way, this whole thing works as expected in both Illustrator and InDesign.

Gary Newman

[seang49515631]

I was able to get it to work now. Not sure if everyone else has. I am using big sur 11.3.1 

when using save as just uncheck the box under format that says save as a copy and you will be all set.

[kens16177859]

Just updated to Big Sur and the bug still exists 😞