Problem with Save As. Only shows PSD, PSB, or Tiff

[Diversion101]

I have been using photoshop for years and have never run into this before.  I frequently have to save my files as PSD and JPEG.  This was not an issue until last week.  Now when I select "Save As" I only have the options to save as PSD, PSB, and TIFF.  I am working with small 3.5m files.  Have I changed some preference or something?  If I flatten the image and remove layers then all of my "Save as type" options are  displayed.  Not sure if this is part of the reason Photoshop now crashes as I exit or crashes sometime when just entering the save files window.  I have plenty of disk space as well.  Any help would be appreciated. 

Thank  you for your help

[D Fosse]

The Save As dialog now only shows formats that support all the current properties of the file.

This was done to circumvent an unresolvable policy change in MacOS Catalina. Since Apple didn't want to change it, Adobe had to find a way to work around it.

Actually, this just reverts to how Photoshop originally worked. If you, for instance, wanted to save a layered file as jpeg, you simply couldn't - for the simple reason it's not allowed in the jpeg specification. You had to get rid of all the offending properties before you could save.

The ability to directly save a jpeg-copy-on-the-fly was introduced sometime around CS4. But with Catalina, that function didn't work properly anymore (as evidenced by about a million threads over the last year or so), hence this necessary change.

[davescm]

Just to add to D Fosse's comprehensive explanation, you don't have to go through the separate flattening steps, you can go straight to Save A Copy in the file menu. This saves the flattened version as a copy in a format such as jpeg, and still lets you go on to use Save As to save the layered version in a format that supports layers etc, such as PSD or similar.

Dave

[Diversion101]

Thanks for all of the great support.  The "Save as copy" will help with my work flow a lot.  I still don't know why this just started to become a problem for me.  Sound like this issues has been around for a while.  Thank you all.

[D Fosse]

Right, Dave. That's exactly what Save A Copy is for.

(I just hastily put together a macro for this, as I anticipate this question will come up about once an hour going forward, and there's only so much typing I can manage in a day 😉 I'll adjust it. Now I just have to make another one for the GPU thing.)

[Julius Engel]

Thank you for your reply here.

If i get it right now:

I am working on my PSD file and if i want to save a jpg or png files i have to use the "Save a Copy" (CTRL-ALT-S) function now insted of  "Save as" ( CTRL-SHIFT-S). Or the "Export" fuction?

[davescm]

@Julius Engel That is correct. As an alternative, if you have the latest version of Photoshop installed, you can reset to the old behaviour in Preferences > File Handling

Dave

[JJMack]

Adobe made an incompatible change to Photoshop in 22.4. That brakes batch actions that use save as to save flat file from layer documents. The change also changes you editing work flow you have the adapt your work for to the change.  Adobe removed the feature they added to save as  years ago that enable Save As to save flat image file types from layer documents.

It  is back to the old days for those old action they need to flatten before save as can save can save flat image formats in Photoshop 22.4. The actions can back up in history to recover the layers they were forced to flatten.  If you are a fool and only use Photoshop 22.4  you can change the actions from Save As to Save a Copy... which is new in Photoshop 22.4  and can do what Save As could do in Prior Photoshop version save a flat image file format from a layered document.  You an not force to flatten then recover you layers. The action will not work in old Photoshop versions they do not have a Save a Copy the can use Save As in old Photoshop versions and don't have to] flatten.

[GJack-Photo]

CTRL+ALT+S is the solution they suggest in the "Info" button under the "Save a Copy..." button
for decades i've hit CTRL SHFT S. i guess they decided to change it?? *shrug*

[JJMack]

Adobe changed Photoshop file menu Save As operation. Photoshop menu file Save As interface no longer support saving layered documents as Photoshop PDF or image file formats that do not support Photoshop Layers. A document that just contains a background layer can be save as a Jpeg using "Save As".  To use Photoshop's document saveAs function to save file types not available in "Save As" s you need to other Photoshop interfaces like "Save a Copy" that is a new menu File "Save a Copy" interface. Other Old Photoshop interfaces like Export As, Export Save for web and Photoshop Scripting these interfaces still support Document saveAs to save those file formats from layered Photoshop documents. Adobe only removed that support from Photoshop menu Save AS interface. Adobe also added menu File "Save a Copy" interface you can use to save those files. So use the interface that works best in your new Photoshop work flow.  I use Windows I do not need to work like an Apple user.

[IsleQween]

Thanks so much! This is such a grr for me. I upload to a 3d world and it HAS to be png or jpg.  So the export option saved the day. I hate when they change it on us 😞

[tillh81967041]

It's astounding to me how Adobe progressively makes Photoshop a worse experience. Switching to alternatives soon due to these shenanigans.

[marcther]

Really sad I'm looking for another software for my workflow.

After all those years.

[D Fosse]

Good luck with that... no other software can save 16 bit layered files to jpeg either. Photoshop is the only software on the planet that could ever do that. Until Apple broke it.

If the file complies with the jpeg file format specification, then jpeg is available under Save as.

[davescm]

Of course Photoshop didn't really save 16 bit layered files to jpeg. It just flattened them and made them 8 bit, losing a lot of work for those that did not understand file formats.

@marcther If you prefer the older behaviour then go to Preferences- File Handling and use Legacy Save As.

Dave

[D Fosse]

@marcther - did you use Photoshop CS4 and earlier? Can you remember how you saved to jpeg back then?

You had to convert to 8 bits, you had to flatten all layers, you had to remove all transparency and alpha channels. If you didn't do that, you couldn't save to jpeg at all. It wasn't possible in any way.

Remember? And that's how "the competition" still works, including, for instance, Affinity, which I assume is what you had in mind.

The ability to save out a jpeg-copy-on-the-fly was introduced in Photoshop CS5. And then Apple removed the APIs that made this possible.