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mickyhulse
mickyhulse
Known Participant
June 26, 2017
Question

Preset directories: Which to use and where are they all located?

  • June 26, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 10354 views

What is the difference between:

/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets

… and:

~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets

Also, if you were to add customizations to Photoshop, are there any folders outside of Presets that you have to edit?

I'm just trying to track down all of the directories/files that Photoshop allows end users to customize/add-to.

For example, here are some common directories that I might add files to:

  • /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets/Actions
  • /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets/Brushes
  • /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets/Color Swatches
  • /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets/Gradients
  • /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets/Patterns
  • /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets/Scripts
  • /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets/Styles

Though, should I be using the /Applications path or the ~/Library path?

Also, are there other locations that you might need to customize?

I'm just trying to document these locations for a simple CLI I'm building to help me manage my customizations.

Thanks!

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3 replies

Stephen Marsh
Community Expert
Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 27, 2017

It can be hard to separate the why from the where… case in point, take a look here with regarding locations for actions and migration:

Prepression: Photoshop – Custom Action File Backup & Migration

Knowing why dictates where!

    mickyhulse
    mickyhulseAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 27, 2017

    Stephen_A_Marsh  wrote

    Prepression: Photoshop – Custom Action File Backup & Migration

    Awesome and interesting. That post helped! Thanks Stephen!

    Stephen Marsh
    Community Expert
    Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 27, 2017

    Regarding actions, I don’t think that one can safely make assumptions, there are pros/cons for using both of these locations:

    /Applications/Adobe Photoshop ???/Presets/Actions

    vs.

    /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop ???/Presets/Actions

    mickyhulse
    mickyhulseAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 26, 2017

    So, just found this article:

    That seems to suggest that I use the more inaccessible ~/Library/... location.

    Looking at the two directories in detail:

    I see now that the one on the right (my user's directory) has a bunch of empty directories. I think this is what you were saying JJMack, the "user" preset's directory is the one that I should customize as it does not have all of the "default" presets.

    Ok, I think that helps to clear up the question of where do I put things.

    Looking at Illustrator, I don't think it's as clear cut.

    mickyhulse
    mickyhulseAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 26, 2017

    Related question, but where do custom "Document Types" go? I don't see a preset child directory for that.

    mickyhulse
    mickyhulseAuthor
    Known Participant
    July 5, 2017

    In Windows a Files system link is also known as a windows shortcut the are basically a pointer to a location of an folder or file.  When one pointing to a folder is in a folder it is like the link folder is logically a sub folder of the folder the has a that shorcut.

    In Apple's Unix like system in its file system they my be call symbolic link,, an alias, a mount point or some other thing most file system can link folder together. With network sharing you can use a remote file system folder as a local drive for all I know you may even be able to link in the network used drive.  I never had a need to try and I would only try it the remote machine was on my local gigabit network.  There may also bet problems sharing between different file systems like between Apple's and Microsoft's file systems.


    Thanks JJMack, I really appreciate the help!

    I'm currently working on a macOS-specific CLI (written in NodeJS) to help me do the symlinking:

    GitHub - mhulse/slinky-cli: Reverse Symlink CLI

    It's not perfect, but it's getting the job done.

    Thanks to you, and Stephen, for all of the help! I greatly appreciate it!

    JJMack
    Community Expert
    JJMackCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 26, 2017

    It look like you use a Mac so I do not know where they are on Mac.  For each version of Photoshop you have installed there are two presets folder one where you your Photoshop Application is installed in Photoshop in its install tree.  The second is where Macox keeps users ID Application data Each User the uses a version of Photoshop will have a Adobe Photoshop version ApplicationData tree fot the user.  In the tree you will find the User Photoshop preferences and a Presets folder fot their presets. 

    On Windows it the same story.  However you can save and load your stuff  from any location.  So I do not use all of the preset folders Adobe set up for my user ID  one for every version of Photoshop installed.  Instead I choose  my own folders for my add-ons and use them in all installed version of Photoshop installed.  It easier to maintain them that way for I always have several version of Photoshop installed.

    JJMack
      mickyhulse
      mickyhulseAuthor
      Known Participant
      June 26, 2017

      Thanks JJMack​, I really appreciate the reply/help!

      It look like you use a Mac so I do not know where they are on Mac.  For each version of Photoshop you have installed there are two presets folder one where you your Photoshop Application is installed in Photoshop in its install tree.  The second is where Macox keeps users ID Application data Each User the uses a version of Photoshop will have a Adobe Photoshop version ApplicationData tree fot the user.  In the tree you will find the User Photoshop preferences and a Presets folder fot their presets.

      Yup, Mac guy here.

      So, it sounds like /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Presets is the best place to put my customizations?

      Is everything that I need to customize found within the presets directory?

      For Illustrator, it varies a little bit:

      • /Applications/Adobe Illustrator CC YYYY/Presets.localized/...
      • /Applications/Adobe Illustrator CC YYYY/Cool Extras.localized/...
      • /Applications/Adobe Illustrator CC YYYY/Support Files/...

      But appears to be contained within the Application directory?

      On Windows it the same story.  However you can save and load your stuff  from any location.  So I do not use all of the preset folders Adobe set up for my user ID  one for every version of Photoshop installed.  Instead I choose  my own folders for my add-ons and use them in all installed version of Photoshop installed.  It easier to maintain them that way for I always have several version of Photoshop installed.

      God, I wish I could do that on a Mac!

      I need to test and see if Adobe apps on a Mac will follow symlinks. I think the last time I checked they don't. It would be soooooo helpful to have all of these presets, for each version of an Adobe app, located in one centralized and easy to access location … This is the problem I'm trying to solve. I really hate digging around to find all these directories each time I have a new script or swatch file. And then having to mirror that on my other computers. Optimally, I'd love to have all of these preset directories in my Dropbox, and then use that as a centralized/synchronized location for all my computers.

      Anyway, thanks for the help JJ!

        A
        anetaw16980026
        Participant
        June 27, 2017

        Frajer

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