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samdraws
samdraws
Participant
February 17, 2021
Answered

Using Time Machine for Mac — where will I find my brushes from before a reinstall?

  • February 17, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 1383 views

Hi all, 

 

I've seen answers to this query (or ones like it) but haven't come across anything that's solved my problem, so apologies if I'm covering old ground.

 

Due to an unrelated Photoshop problem, I fully uninstalled and reinstalled the programme the other day. Obviously when I reinstalled it, the custom brushes I'd made weren't around any more (not a suprise!). 

 

Given that I didn't back them up myself specfically, I thought I'd be able to find them in an older version of my system back up using Time Machine — but when navigating to the presets > brushes folder they're actually all empty. I'm sure I'm just looking in the wrong place or something but if anyone has any guidance on where Photoshop stores those presets by default, that'd be fab. This is where I've been looking:

I'm using Ps 2021 with a Mac running MacOS Big Sur 11.2.1.

Correct answer samdraws

I just did it, oops:

 

Here's the solution for anyone else. I'm going to spell it out becase I had trouble getting my head around this:

 

If you haven't manually saved your brush presets, they're actually stored in the application preferences as a .psp file. 

[user] > Library > Preferences > Adobe Photoshop 2021 Settings > Brushes.psp

 

Photoshop doesn't open this file like other presets (.abr files) so I:

 

  1. Went into time machine from a date before the reinstall
  2. Found the folder above
  3. Copied the brushes.psp file
  4. Came back to the present 
  5. Found the same folder
  6. Replaced my current Brushes.psp file (the one without all the ones I want) with the older version containing my 'lost' brushes. 

2 replies

samdraws
samdrawsAuthorCorrect answer
Participant
February 17, 2021

I just did it, oops:

 

Here's the solution for anyone else. I'm going to spell it out becase I had trouble getting my head around this:

 

If you haven't manually saved your brush presets, they're actually stored in the application preferences as a .psp file. 

[user] > Library > Preferences > Adobe Photoshop 2021 Settings > Brushes.psp

 

Photoshop doesn't open this file like other presets (.abr files) so I:

 

  1. Went into time machine from a date before the reinstall
  2. Found the folder above
  3. Copied the brushes.psp file
  4. Came back to the present 
  5. Found the same folder
  6. Replaced my current Brushes.psp file (the one without all the ones I want) with the older version containing my 'lost' brushes. 
    doubleM2004
    doubleM2004
    Participant
    November 10, 2021

    Hi, i followed all the steps, found the Brushes.psp, after making visible hidden files like the library file.

     

    replaced my file with the timemachine back up, but nothing. I deleted my current Brushes.psp and restarted my iMac that runs Monterey...nothing...What am I doing wrong?

      M
      MikeyJoe
      Participant
      July 3, 2024

      I just did this ... absolute life saver! Thank you!!!!!

      c.pfaffenbichler
      Community Expert
      c.pfaffenbichlerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 17, 2021

      Can you locate this file

      /~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop 2021 Settings/Brushes.psp

      ? 

      That should contain the brushes in the Brushes Panel, even those that have not been saved as abr-files, 

        samdraws
        samdrawsAuthor
        Participant
        February 17, 2021

        Thanks @c.pfaffenbichler! I was just typing out my reply when yours came in. That was it; I was being dumb!

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