Fixed: Photoshop 2020 File name bug when saving a replacement of an existing file

[Hjorthmedh]

Hej! The old photoshop behaviour used to be that when you save to overwrite an existing file it asks you to confirm that you want to replace it, you say yes, and the old file gets overwritten. In the latest version if you click "replace" it still does not replace the file, but adds "copy of" text at the end after the fact without any way to not do that. Please give us an option to have the old behaviour, or change it back to how it used to be by default.

[iann71065448]

Hi there,

thats just not true I'm afraid.  Its only since I updated to Catalina in the last month or so that this has started happening.  

[Onkel_Kappe]

seems odd to me ... i cant remember it any other way than described by Ian  ... im used to press the save as shortcut and overwrite jpgs in one go for 15 years

[Grant H]

not when there is more than one layer in a PSD bud. I will go to one of my old MACs that has CS2  on and check that over weekend. But has been this way for a long time and has nothing to do with Catalina.

[D Fosse]

Let's be perfectly clear on this.

iann wrote:

"yes the file has layers, and I've just tried flattening the layers as you suggested and it now saves over the original jpeg rather than creating a copy. This seems very counter intuitive as in previous versions you could just select 'save as' and overwrite a previous version with the same name without having to flatten your psd file first."

This is normal and expected behavior and in fact, it cannot work any other way. It's impossible, for the simple reason that the jpeg specification does not allow layers. Photoshop does not discard data without notice. That never happened.

End of discussion. Those who remember otherwise are mistaken.

[Onkel_Kappe]

just to not mix things up ... this is not about what a jpg can or cant do ... of course a jpg cant have multiple layers ... this is - at least for me - about not being able to overwrite a file with the same name ... which since catalina i can not do .. and i dont seem to be alone ... so i hope this discussion is not ended until theres a way that saves me the extra time of the workaround ... 

[iann71065448]

Exactly Onkel. That's the issue here. 

[alexander92551431]

exactly!

[iann71065448]

With all due respect. Its not the end of the discussion.  The behaviour has changed recently. You used to be able to make changes in a photoshop document and save over the top of an existing jpeg witout it creating a duplicate jpeg with the word copy after it in the title. Or are you telling me I've completely imagined this for the past 10 years?

[Grant H]

Hi Ian,

Is it possible that you remember doing it but not remembering that it was only a single layer file at that instance. But i promise you it has been (this) way since I can remember.

/G

[iann71065448]

I posted this previously, but it seems to have disappeared.

What we're discussing is that you used to be able to choose file 'save as' to replace an existing jpeg with a new version, and now it creates a new version despite having been asked and agreeing to overwirte the existing jpeg.  I've taken a screen recording of how it works for me, 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmulrqs4AsU

and I've also got a colleague to do a screen recording of the previous process as he does not have the same issue and is able to overwrite witout creating a copy as I have always been able to until recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLMqi_v3-qI

[Onkel_Kappe]

Jup, spot on. Thx Ian

[Marina at Distillery]

You save as a copy, but you don’t have to have the word “copy” added. Now
it only overwrites if the file has copy already. This behavior is only
happening to people with OS Catalina as far as I can tell. None of my
coworkers with Mojave and High Sierra have this issue.
--
*Marina Menendez*
Art Director
[PII removed by moderator]

[Onkel_Kappe]

Just to give an example of why this sucks so bad:

When you work on a website you have to overwrite pictures a ton of times. When the changes in the picture dont show up ( which is what Ian demonstrates at the end of his video ) because you didnt overwrite the file but created a copy, you have to delete the original file and rename the copy so the right picture shows up on the website.

This maybe does not occur when you flatten the layer. But when you have a psd youre working off because you have  a text layer or something, you may want to keep that psd and hit save as jpg to replace the jpg thats being called by the website.

The option to save as copy is checked and greyed out. But since this process has been repeated so much over the years you dont see it. You save the file, and you have to figure out why your changes dont show up.

[iann71065448]

Exactly. Its also really annoying when you're updating links in an After Effects file  of replacing textures in Cinema4D, rather than just clciking to reload the revised image you have to either rename the 'copy' file or choose it as a replacement. It sounds like a minor niggle, but if its happening to you all the time you begin to get pretty fed up with it. 

[katiehughes1]

I agree. This behavior HAS changed since the last version and every other version in the last 20 years. In the past you NEVER had to flatten to OVERWRITE a JPEG. NEVER.

[studioc11636619]

NOT end of discussion. You are incorrect. Grant H is correct. When I used to 'save as' a jpeg before it automatically flattened the file in the process and asked it I wanted to replace the previous file, I didn't need to flatten it first then save. Now it won't do that, the option is greyed out and it just saves as a cpy regardless. This is different, a change and a bug. I've looked on many of these forums and I read that many professionals like myself who have been using Photoshop for years now have this very frustrating issue wthout doing anything to cause it. There also seems to be no fix as yet as it seems that Adobe refuses to acknowledge it. It seems to be someting to do with Catalina (a trully awful OS causing nothing but issues) but it really should have been fixed by now.

[Mentor Neto]

This is not normal nor expected. 

That's not how it used to be.

If you had a file with layers, when you choose Save As to save it as JPG, Photoshop flatten the layers momentaniously, save it and show the layers again.

Then, if you Save As again it will repeat this procedure and, if you choose the same JPG file name, it will ask to replace it, and will replace the file.

Now, even in Photoshop 2021 (22.0 Release) the same action will ask to replace the file and will save it as <name_of_the_file copy.jpg> even is "as a copy" is not selected and you answer YES to the Replace File popup.

So YES, this IS a bug not solved yet.

[Marina at Distillery]

UPDATE: ALL files saved as a copy (regardless of layers) get saved adding the suffix "copy".

This behavior is not only when saving a flat file from a layer PSD. I just tried to overrise a layer PSD as a copy and the override didn't work because it forced the copy suffix, thus making a new file.

This is a really big issue when creating assets and slows down workflow a lot. Is Adobe taking this seriously? I imagine a lot of designers use Mac and have amachines running their latest OS. Downgrading to Mojave is not that easy. It's time consuming and involves wiping the hard drive. however, I'm thinking it might save me time unless this is being looked at.

CC @Grant_H

[sevdestruct]

Right. Let me update my post. moderator seemed to have changed the title and people seem confused about what I was reporting. This bug is irritating to no end, multiple updates to Photoshop since, not a single one has resolved this…

[sevdestruct]

—I have updated my original post now…to avoid any confusion as I am seeing in the reply thread. This is a bug, plain in simple. I have been using this software for over 20 years, and not being able to deselect save as copy, and adobe ignoring the prompt to overwrite the file - is a bug, and unexpected behavior, bottom line. Overwrite, means overwrite. Always has.

[D Fosse]

Right. Rewind time for me. I tried it (on Windows 10) - and you're all correct. A layered PSD does in fact overwrite a derivative jpeg, without making a copy of it with a different name, when you save out a second time.

It just leaves the layered original open on screen, and of course you need to decide what to do with that separately.

So the described behavior does qualify as a bug, in the sense that it's not "normal". I stand corrected there.

The reason some of us are so insistent, is that there's a bigger picture here. The "save as copy" behavior would in fact be equally justifiable, and if it was up to me I'd probably make that the default.

We see people here all the time who don't understand the severe limitations in the jpeg format, and why that makes jpeg a very special case in almost all scenarios. That's not a reflection on anyone present here - it's just a fact. Lots of people don't understand why a layered file can't simply be saved as a jpeg. A jpeg is by nature a copy. It's born as a copy and exists solely for the function of being a copy.

So trying to explain why jpeg always needs special treatment and lots of special considerations, has become a matter of routine for all of us regulars. In any case, using Export or Save For Web should avoid the whole problem.

[defaultirp3ph7csnjr]

We understand how jpegs work, we just want to be able to overwrite a jpeg/png without creating a copy. 

I create 3D mockups for retail and whenever there are changes to the packaging, I need to update the 3D with the changes. All I want to do is replace the jpeg so that the file auto updates - now I have to physically go in and replace it with the copy. It's time consuming and annoying. This never used to happen - replace was replace!

I am on Big Sur - still happening. REALLY hoping for a fix. 

[Dominic Forbes]

Same here since my client upgraded their Macs to Catalina. Previously working print based workflow.

Working file is .psd layered FILE.psd. Save as flattened .tif for importing into final InDesign document results in FILE.tif

Any further changes to FILE.psd I would then do Save as FILE.tif again, this used to overwrite the FILE.tif with the changes.

I now get a warning "do you want to overwrite"? Saying yes DOESNT OVERWRITE THE FILE, I now have two files. FILE.tif and FILE COPY.tif 

If I make further edits and try the same sequence it now asks if I want to overwrite FILE COPY.TIF despite the file name in the dialog box being FILE.tif. This time it will successfully overwrite FILE COPY.tif.

Is this some kind of Catalina "feature" to avoid accidentally saving over files? It's certainly unexpected and adding frustration to my workflow as I now have to keep track of extra files with the COPY added to the filename, this also screws up InDesign links.

As the OP says, this is really bad for workflow and breaks behaviour that has been consistent for years.

Am using PS 21.1

[savaereardon]

I'm so glad I found this thread. I felt like I was taking crazy pills; this is also happening to me with the latest PS and Catalina versions. I'd like to note that this does NOT happen to me with the latest PS version on my Windows 10 desktop computer.

[rock1media24]

Is Adobe planning on fixing this issue? It's clogging up my Mac with extra unnecessary files! its been almost a year or more I had this issue.