I just installed Photoshop 2025 and like each new year's update, I lose my file associations, my XenceLabs Quick Keys, my Canon print plugin and etc.
I'd love it if Adobe could find a way to allow us to update and not lose all of these file and app associations. It is a bit of a pain to get everything working again.
Yeah, that can happen, There is a simple and easy way to avoid losing the file associations: Before installing the new version, uninstall the old.
If it's already happened, uninstall/reinstall should normally fix it, or you can set them manually in Windows settings.
Long version: Sequence matters. The way Windows works (and probably MacOS too), the last installer activity will always take file associations. That makes sense; when you install a new version you presumably want to have that as the default app. And when you uninstall, those file associations need to be returned to the operating system.
So far so good, but the problem is when you uninstall an old version with a newer one still in place. The old version takes file associations with it, leaving them orphaned.
And that's how the CC installer apparently works. It installs the new, then uninstalls the old. It should be the other way round. They should always be installed in version order, and uninstalled in reverse version order.
As for plugins, they should always be installed from the original installer.
Most of us keep older versions in case of bugs, regressions, for testing, and because sometimes we prefer the older features. Those of us who develop for Adobe apps need multiple versions.
Pretty much every app out there is going to get new versions for a new file structure at some point. Its just reality.
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