Artboards. Do they really s*ck?

[hilbrandbos]

Why can't adobe make the only logical implementation and use for artboards:

You make a design, say a panorama, say it has 3 layers

You use the artboard tool to mark the cuts
Then export your artboards to separate files with still the original layers, but cut out as specified. 

Now the tool is completely useless. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Who do you think you are talking to? 

This is primarily a user Forum, so you are not really addressing Adobe here, even though some Adobe employees thankfully have been dropping by.

Edit: If you are determined to use artboards to split an image and export its parts as separate files you could do that with Smart Object instances in the artboards. 

[hilbrandbos]

Oh, now I feel stupid for thinking I could address Adobe here... You'd think there's plenty to learn for them here.
I painstakingly worked my way around it by dropping all the layers of my original file into a new file with artboards, copying the layer content to each artboard (now I have a 6 Gb psb file). But: I succeeded in exporting my artboards to psds with layer content organized the same way as my original file. 

I don't understand your suggestion of using smart objects. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

At curerent the place for Photoshop Feature Requests is 

Photoshop Family

Maybe I misunderstood what you are. trying to achieve, but I would assume it to be an advantage to use Smart Object instances so that future edits would carry over on all of them.