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ryand127
Participant
June 9, 2017
Answered

Where are my photoshop project files?

  • June 9, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 25152 views

hi everyone! first time posting here. i recently purchased photoshop and i seem to be having trouble saving a project correctly. when i hit save or save as, it asks me the path where i want to save it. i already have a few other projects that are saved "somewhere". i generally dont like to change paths so my question is...what is the original path where all my other projects are saved? is there a stock path?  im using a pc. thank you.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer melissapiccone

    i have an excellent file management system. just new to photoshop. i guess i may be overthinking this??? when i save a project in premiere pro, it has a preset destination where the project file is going to go and it knows where that is and will recall that info in the "recent files" section premiere pro. so what you are saying is that photoshop doesnt work that way and i just need to set up my own projects folder? because i definitely can do that. thank you for your input!


    Yes. Do you use Bridge? That will make your life easier, too. I love Bridge and have all of my folders in my favorites for quick, easy access.

    3 replies

    Participant
    December 22, 2024

    I too have this problem. I accidentally saved an entire folder as a "ad project file "and now all of my files are gone from the cloud interface and the Adobe homepage interface, and I cannot access those project files nor can I see where they are located. Can anybody help me?

     

    The files I saved into the new project file where all PSD documents as I intended to work on them in Photoshop. I am kind of seeing now that the project file is perhaps related to premier pro and I do not have premier pro. I simply put them into "new project "because I thought that would help me because all 32 of these files are of the same project, but now I cannot access them anywhere, but Adobe for the web and they won't even open there because for some reason they can't use Safari Browser.

     

    When I try to move the files within this project file, it gives me no destination to move them to nor is there any indication that these files exist outside of this project file that I can see on Photoshop for the web. They do not appear on my home screen in Photoshop, they do not appear in my file browser, and they do not appear on the Creative Cloud desktop app. Please, if anybody can help me I would greatly appreciate it because I fear these files are in jeopardy

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    November 17, 2019

    "i have an excellent file management system. just new to photoshop. i guess i may be overthinking this??? when i save a project in premiere pro, it has a preset destination where the project file is going to go and it knows where that is and will recall that info in the "recent files" section premiere pro."

     

    Your file management system isn't good enough if you don't know where your files are saved to. A good 4/5ths of the Photoshop "Save As" dialog is concerned with where you want to save to, with a complete folder navigation tree on the left. That's where your files go, and you need to know where that is. If you don't, you won't find them again.

     

    Photoshop doesn't have "project" files like Premiere Pro. In Photoshop the image files are saved directly. There is no "catalog" aka Project file to keep track of everything.

     

    You should never rely on the Recent Files list on the home screen. It doesn't "know" where your files are, it's just a passive link to a certain location on disk. If the file is later deleted or moved, the link doesn't update. It still points blindly to the same, now empty spot. For this reason the recent files list should never be considered as more than a convenience. It's not necessarily where your files are.

     

    Use a proper file browser like Bridge, and set up a logical folder tree structure.

    melissapiccone
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 9, 2017

    They are exactly where you saved them... no stock path. Do a search...

    Melissa Piccone | Adobe Trainer | Online Courses Author | Fine Artist
    ryand127
    ryand127Author
    Participant
    June 9, 2017

    The only thing thats got me baffled is that i can go to 4 other recent projects that I only saved as  .jpg, .png, etc. and i can call that project right back up as if it had a project file somewhere.

    melissapiccone
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 9, 2017

    I occasionally lose files, too. Sounds like you need a better file management system. If you open a file and save without choosing a path, it should save in the same place from where you got the file to begin with. If you started from scratch, all bets are off.

    Melissa Piccone | Adobe Trainer | Online Courses Author | Fine Artist