Photoshop: Ability to turn off "Add to my current library" instead of making it the default

Report · Nov 08, 2016

Right now, in Photoshop and other programs (e.g. InDesign and Illustrator), the "Add to current library" option when saving swatches, placing vector graphics, or creating styles is checked by default (see image 1).

This is very annoying. I believe I speak for a large population of users who do not ever use the Library panel in Photoshop or Illustrator. The only time I use the Library panel is when creating Paragraph and Text styles in InDesign when working on multi-document books or across a team. However, Adobe insists on saving everything to the cloud library, and as a result I've got 30 generic "My Library" folders that I don't need (see image 2).

I know I'm not the only one who does not want to deal with managing this issue. If we don't use libraries and we don't need them, why make us use them? And I know you can just uncheck the box, but sometimes when you're cruising along, you forget. Besides this, when placing vector objects, forgetting to uncheck the box adds the vector to your library, has been known to slow performance, or, in some cases, crash the program.

I would like to see a "Use CC Libraries" option for custom Workspaces or something similar. This way we can have a custom Workspace which doesn't use the "Add to my current library" option regardless of whether we check or uncheck the box. Then if we really want to add something to a library, we can do it manually.

I just don't want to dedicate the time or attention to taking time out of my workflow to manage these unnecessary libraries. They're great when writing a book and creating logos, but when I'm retouching I don't want a new library created every time I place a vector logo for watermarking or when I create a swatch for painting.

Report · Nov 08, 2016

The bane of every IT deptartment today. Even the Creative Cloud Packager for distribution doesn't let you set a global On/Off for syncing. So, every single application on every machine has to be manually disabled by unchecking every single little "Add to my current Library" checkbox. What an nightmare. It takes damn near literal hacking to get CC under control since Adobe has chosen to omit any end user input or control.

I agree with you Daniel. It's frustrating. Couple of thoughts about this for Adobe to read and then ignore.

People are trying to use this software to create things for the real world, real-life, Adobe, this isn't a joke. We have real-life deadlines, real-life bosses to answer to, real-life clients to appease, real-life families depending on our income to eat, go to the doctor, go to school, buy clothes, and have good lives.

What keeps causing you think we are all casual users and amateur hobbyists? How can you not understand...how can you possibly not understand that there are real world, real-life careers depending on this software to do their jobs? Yet for over 4.5 years now, you've continually treated Creative Cloud as a novelty experiment. You've continually chosen gimmicks and novelties over stability, power and refinement.

CC is a toolset first and foremost. It's not a weekend toy or some "fun app" for your core users. It's a vital tool.
Creative Cloud has literally become a mini-OS. It's absurd. It's ridiculous that this is necessary and mandatory just be able to download our apps, the actual things we pay for. CC serves no purposes other Adobe's own. It constantly logs usage data for your Marketing, it permanently runs multiple processes in the background and is a burden on any system regardless of hardware.
Libraries/Syncing are poorly implemented and offer no option to stop or cancel it once it's started. When it goes wrong it will NOT stop trying to sync. It will sit locked-up indefinitely with no error messages or auto time-out. How could Adobe not instinctively implement a time-out for the Libraries/Syncing function? This is the lowest level of common sense for networking.
No On/Off option for Libraries/Syncing. These features are not wanted or needed by all users. In fact, they're a potential liability to many organizations. They've never worked reliably and they drag the entire OS down with them. The heavy-handed, forced approach of "You WILL use it and you will like it" is disgusting. What have your customers done to deserve such apathy and disrespect? Difficult to fathom why any company would act this way towards it's own customers. 
Marketing: Adobe brazenly disregards the end user's experience in favor of collecting metrics, data-logging, tracking and usage info, and any other user data that Adobe Marketing can get it's hands on. Adobe's Marketing is out of control. 
Marketing: The software tools we pay for are being used to throw advertising in our face without even the courtesy to dismiss them. They are a permanent part of our toolset now and as of last week, have even worked their way into the apps themselves. This is what Adobe has their engineers working on. Pushing Adobe Stock in the New Document window? An Adobe Stock panel in Bridge? Cheap and pathetic.

Take it for whatever it's worth.

Report · Nov 09, 2016

This is the most amazing thing I've ever read. So well stated. I have felt the same for months now with every new release. They are treating this like people's lives don't count on this. Photoshop is how I eat. There is a level of reasonable expectation that it functions properly, and when it doesn't people can lose contracts and clients which can lead to disasterous results.

Report · Nov 09, 2016

Also, why no sync priority? I keep my book on Photoshop and my retouching panel code in my CC folder. If I want one document to sync first so I can work right away, there is no option to sync it first.

Report · Nov 09, 2016

I'm running Photoshop CC (2015.1 Release) on a mac (El Captain). Every time I go to save a swatch or to import a vector graphic the dialog box has an option to add the asset to my CC Library by default checked.

When I forget to uncheck this option, the entire program freezes and I have to force quit to escape (100% of the time). Is there a way to save my preference to not have this box pre-checked every time it comes up? It's easy to forget to uncheck the box and a pain to force quit, losing work.

This may be caused by my having not set-up my CC library account. I am not interested in having this feature or managing it. Is there a way to disable this feature without disabling my other plug-ins?

Report · Nov 03, 2017

Not really a reply, just another person with the same problem, looking for a way to disable libraries.
Not the same vitriol directed @Adobe (as above) though, as I am extremely grateful for their amazing software and generally find it to be worth every penny. There are definitely bugs to iron out, however I have faith Adobe will do this... eventually. They adopted a lot of the useful tools from Macromedia Freehand (which I had to learn due to an early job where that was their chosen software) into the much more intuitive & powerful Illustrator.

Report · Jan 31, 2018

Not sure if this solves the whole thing, though I found something that might help. When pasting from Illustrator to Photoshop there's a very sneaky 'Add to my current library' checkbox checked by default. If you uncheck this then every subsequent pasting into Photoshop won't automatically add things to your Creative Cloud library. Hallelujah!

Report · Jul 13, 2018

I'm using this at work and my computer is slow. So whenever I add a swatch or smart object it took ages to add it to the library. Now it's not even responding. This is really a nightmare

Report · Nov 15, 2018

Thank you,
Thank you, I'm blessed!

Report · Nov 05, 2019

I had almost given up hope! Thanks for expressing this community frustration! The situation is SUCH a productivity killer. We don't need our software to get in the way of our production processes.

Report · Dec 12, 2019

I took it right to the App Store and bought the cheaper competition with a lifetime license and support. Like they did in the 90's.

Report · Jan 31, 2020

This seems so simple. I like the concept of "libraries." I'd like to create several featuring logos I use often, color swatches I use regularly and a few vector graphics that could be on my "go to" list. But as mentioned earlier, I want to choose what is in "MY LIBRARY." If Adobe thinks they can do my job better than me—good luck with that. Allow us to build our own libraries and stop trying to think for us.

Report · Apr 23, 2020

ONe solution simply logout from cloud. Should work and no more popups