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DVDmike
DVDmike
Inspiring
December 9, 2009
Answered

File locations for saving smart object .psb files

  • December 9, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 34108 views

Is there a way that you can change the default file location of smart object files so they do not save to your OS drive?  I've got terrabytes of storage on data drives, but < 10GB on my OS drive,

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Chris Cox

    Zeno, I really appreciate your help in trying to solve this problem for me.  But I do not think that you have much experience using smart objects.  I think that I really need someone to help who is experienced in using smart object layers.

    To clarify some more....

    I have a .psd file with layers that is stored on my data drive.  I convert a layer to a smart object so that I can preserve its resolution.  I open this layer by double clicking on it.  It comes up in a new window and I can make adjustments to it in Photoshop like any other image/.psd file.  When I close it, it takes a long time to save and I have a lot of disk activity on my OS drive.  I believe what is happening is that it is using that \temp\ directory as some sort of scratch device that it deletes on its own later.  But I am not sure of this.  If I close the file, it asks if I want to save, takes a long time, then goes back to the main .psd file with the changes to my layer.  Instead of simply closing the file, if I do a save as to another location, Photoshop saves the file as a .psb file but the main .psd file does NOT get updated with the changes.  So clearly, "save as" is not the answer.

    I just want to make Photoshop use my scratch/data disk to save any temporary .psb smart object files.  Maybe it is not possible.  But I need someone who has more experience than me to weigh in if this is going to get solved one way or the other.


    Photoshop uses the system TEMP directory to save smart objects for editing.

    2 replies

    B
    bigmarkess
    Participant
    December 9, 2009

    If you save it somewhere else the effects will not take place at least that's how it was for me... Try saving your PSD files to your TB drive and then see if the saving a SO file defaults to that location...

    Just a thought I have not tried this...

    Zeno Bokor
    Zeno Bokor
    Inspiring
    December 9, 2009

    the default location used is the place where you last saved a file

    DVDmike
    DVDmikeAuthor
    Inspiring
    December 9, 2009

    This statement is NOT true.  I can assure you that I have never saved any file to my  c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\temp\ folder EVER.

    Furthermore, after forcibly selecting to save a .psb smart object in another location, CS4 still saves the next new .psb into the same c:\...\temp\ folder.

    So unless I have my preferences set up weird, CS4 does not behave this way.  If there is a preference to default to some other location other than my c:\ drive, please let me know where it is.

    Zeno Bokor
    Zeno Bokor
    Inspiring
    December 9, 2009

    i think i see your problem. You placed JPG files as smart objects and then edited that smart object and added layers, didn't you? When you edit that smart object, the extension of the file is .JPG, right? when editing smart objects and going to File->Save you shouldn't get the Save As dialog box, the problem comes from the fact that the JPG file format doesn't support layers. The solution is to open that JPG in Photoshop and then convert the background layer to a Smart Object.

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