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As in the original post, the default when saving over a file used to be 'Replace', so you could simply hit 'Return' to continue. Now you MUST use the mouse to click on 'Replace', with no apparent option to change this default behavior.
By @jaypopes
It’s not clear if Adobe will ever change this, but it is not nearly as hopeless as that sounds. There may not be an “apparent option to change” in Photoshop, but there are options in macOS itself.
As to why they changed it, I can’t speak for the engineers but often, a file overwite is often considered a potential data loss situation (if you overwrite the wrong file), so software (not just from Adobe) is often coded so that the user has to be more mindful if they’re overwriting an existing file. Apple has made some similar moves in their own apps.
Now, as to what you can do, there are two different options in macOS, and I take advantage of both.
Option 1: Use the traditional keyboard shortcuts for buttons in macOS Open/Save dialog boxes.
Going back many many years in macOS, even back to 1990s Classic Mac OS in some cases, you can use other keys to select and apply each button. These standard Mac shortcuts have worked in most Mac apps including Photoshop for many years. For example:
| To apply this button… | …press these keys: |
| OK | Enter or Return |
| Cancel | Esc or Command-. (period), depending on the application |
| Don’t Save | D or Command-D, depending on the application |
| Replace | R or Command-R, depending on the application |
| Other buttons | First unique letter of the button, and depending on the application, you might need to add the Command key |
In Photoshop Save for Web, you can apply the Replace button by pressing Command-R.
Option 2: Take advantage of macOS Keyboard Navigation.
Go to System Settings > Keyboard, and enable Keyboard Navigation. When you do this, in most dialog boxes you can now navigate with the keyboard as many Windows users are used to:
- The currently selected control is highlighted with the system highlight color.
- To go to the next control, press the Tab key.
- To go to the previous control, press Shift-Tab.
- To apply the currently selected control, press the spacebar.
So, in Save for Web, if I want to Replace (and I often do), I do either of these (and it’s nice to have two choices):
Press Command-R
or
Press Tab (to select/highlight the Replace button), then when Replace is highlighted, press the spacebar. See the demo below of moving among buttons with the Tab key when Keyboard Navigation is enabled.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to ask for the Return/Enter key to apply Replace. You should ask for what you want. I’m just saying Adobe might not change it any time soon, so at least macOS provides those two easy workarounds. Which I use in many other Mac apps in addition to Photoshop, because these shortcuts let me run Mac dialog boxes without taking my hands off the keyboard.
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