Rehaul and Update of Photoshop Save Functions

[22tanguera]

While the majority of the photography community in general may have moved away from printing to digitally displaying images, a fair number of us still do print and use PS to process and save our images. But a recent kerfuffle in trying to save for print, not being able to alter the default 96 dpi setting, and all the workarounds required to make that change, made me realize that the entire "saving" aspect of PS is so obtuse and complicated, that maybe we could discuss ways to simplify it.

Currently, we have

Save

Save as

Save a copy

Quick export as JPG

Export as

all in difference places under the File heading. In none of these options can we choose dpi.

Couldn't we just have a Save heading? Under it would be all the save/export/etc. options, including adding the option to Save for Print. If selected, this option would optimize the settings for the best print quality, including selecting the dpi.

Depending on how you want to use your final image, each option you click would present the settings required for that purpose. For people who only save one way all the time, it could be added to, and selected in, Preferences.

[barbara_a]

Good suggestion.

Enhancement requests: https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

[jane-e]

not being able to alter the default 96 dpi setting,..In none of these options can we choose dpi.

Couldn't we just have a Save heading?

By @22tanguera

The only place you can change the amount of ink (DPI) is in the printing device. In Photoshop you can choose a PPI (pixels per inch) in the New dialog or change it in Image menu > Image Size. Photoshop does not have DPI.

https://99designs.com/blog/tips/ppi-vs-dpi-whats-the-difference/

Adobe Acrobat used to have the Save and Export options scattered across 3 or 4 various menu, and finally made them subsets of one menu. I think it might have been in Acrobat X. Great idea!

Don't go to the link @barbara_a gave you though. If you choose Photoshop from the dropdown, you'll end up in this forum, but in Discussions. The Photoshop team merged their feedback forum with this one a year and a half ago. You've already tagged your post as an Idea, not Discussion, so you did the right thing and it will be seen by the product developers.

Jane

[22tanguera]

The only place you can change the amount of ink (DPI) is in the printing device. In Photoshop you can choose a PPI (pixels per inch) in the New dialog or change it in Image menu > Image Size. Photoshop does not have DPI.

Correct. But PS does not save/export/whatever the image at the resolution PPI you enter in that dialogue box. The only way I was able to get images at 300 PPI was by checking use legacy save as. I just think it would be must simpler, and more elegant to have all the save options under one drop down menu.

[D Fosse]

not being able to alter the default 96 dpi setting

By @22tanguera

As Jane says. But no, 96 ppi is not the default. You have been using Export, which strips the ppi metadata from the file altogether. A file out of Export does not have a ppi at all. Not 72, not 96, not 300, not anything.

Export is intended for web/screen/mobile devices, where ppi is irrelevant. The aim in Export is to produce the smallest possible file, so everything not strictly needed is stripped out.

When you reopen an exported file into another application, a default number is often assigned for other purposes. In Photoshop that's 72, in Microsoft apps it's 96.

To retain the ppi number, use a Save function.

I think the main problem with Export is probably its name. The old one is called Save For Web, which clearly stated what it was for. But "Export" sounds like it's a final save out for a finished file, which is misleading. An Export in Photoshop will always chop the file up and output only the essential parts, throwing out the rest.

In all, I can agree with the suggestion to consolidate these functions and clearly label them. We see a lot of misunderstanding here. But functionally, I think everything has to stay the way it is. So although I sympathize with the intent, I can't vote for it.

[Lumigraphics]

Photoshop is a complex, professional-level tool that does have to serve a lot of masters. But once you have the parts that you need to use nailed down, its actually pretty easy. I export at 96 ppi using Save for Web presets which work great, you just have to include one of the two highest levels of metadata available. This preserves the TIFF namespace and resolution data saved there, which works everywhere I've needed to use it.

Its even possible to write a script that would be triggered by a Save action, and would write that data if its missing. Easy-peasy.

[kevin stohlmeyer]

@barbara_a feature requests for Photoshop are now part of this forum under the Ideas tab.