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sm165555
Participant
May 23, 2019
Question

Photoshop keeps deleting brushes, please help

  • May 23, 2019
  • 7 replies
  • 5904 views

I probably should have asked sooner on here, but for a good while now photoshop will routinely and randomly delete all of my installed brushes. I don't understand why it does this, and I regularly have to then manually re-import my brushes. Everything will work fine for several days until it then re-deletes everything. This has now been occuring with my custom workspace as well. While very frustrating, I wouldn't mind if not for the fact I bought BrushBox to sort and keep track of my favorite brushes, which I have to then hunt down over and over again. I don't understand what the issue is nor why this keeps happening. I love photoshop and its been a wonderful program for photo editing and drawing, but this issue has become so prevalent it's getting to the point where I'm genuinely considering just cancelling my subscription. If you have any idea on what I can do to prevent this I would appreciate it greatly. Thank you for your time.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    7 replies

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    EMartinson
    Participant
    August 10, 2021

    I've come here because I have the same problem. It's usually when Photoshop hangs or crashes that I lose my custom brushes and brush groups the next time I open it. I *think* I have found that if I set up my brushes/groups and restart my computer then it commits them to a more permanent memory and doesn't do this. That said, I literally just lost another group after a crash, but it's possible I forgot to restart after setting up the group because another group I created around a similar day was fine and still there.

    Just for the record, I don't use Brushbox (not sure what that is).

    I wonder if there's any way to grab the brush settings before a crash out of time machine? I'm not sure how to do this and it might take more time than just regrouping the brushes but if someone finds out please let us know! 

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      Mindy5EEA
      Participant
      March 22, 2021

      Photoshop keeps deleting my brushes every time I quit the software. When I open it back up it's back to the default brushes. This started happening after the latest software install in January 2021. 

      This is really frustrating when I open photoshop for my painting class and need the brushes that my class instructor gave us to use for this class. Also frustrating that my favorites are gone & the new ones I created. 😞 Come on, Adobe!! Fix this bug!!

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        jjaccoma
        Known Participant
        January 25, 2021

        This just happened to me and it's happened once before as well. Photoshop froze so I had to "ctrl alt delte" and end task, opening it again was fine but then I closed and opened it again cleanly and my brushes had been reseet to default (but not preferences). I had to restore all my .abr files. But all the custom brushes I made were gone for good since I didn't export them.

         

        I'll do this in the future but even so, having to reorganize everything in the brushes panel is a huge disruption to workflow. Luckily for me this has only happened once several months ago.

         

        Some advice for anyone who has to reload their brushes due to this: Rather than restoring or re-importing .abr files one by one which is the only way to do it via the PS interface, you can just open an explorer window, go to where your files are located, select everything you need and drag and drop it into the brushes panel. 

          vinny dellay
          vinny dellay
          Known Participant
          January 8, 2021

          I have had this exact same problem for close to three years now and cannot find a solutaion anywhere onlibne

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            pasindua51220680
            Participant
            May 23, 2019

            Did it happen after an update to your Photoshop software?

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            sm165555Author
            Participant
            May 23, 2019

            unfortunately no, it randomly happens all the time and I genuinely don't know what triggers it

              Kingsevil
              Kingsevil
              Participant
              September 17, 2019

              So I have this exact same problem and what I've noticed is that when trying to close Photoshop the program kinda hangs sometimes. possibly because of Brushbox?

              I've noticed that if I save my docs before closing PS and get to the home screen with all the doc previews, closing it from there and then being HANDS OFF until it takes it's sweet time to shut down the prog I wont lose my brushes.

              But on THAT note-- Export every brush group into CC the moment you import it into Photoshop/Brushbox. So  you have a folder with all your current tools. Bc sometimes restarts and whatnot mean you can't let photoshop dodder around as it closes or, worse, crashes.

              I got all my presets in separate groups on the cloud so when I have to drag them back in, I can just do it easily. 

                Trevor.Dennis
                Community Expert
                Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
                Community Expert
                May 23, 2019

                Brushbox is a nice tool, but when introduced it did not like you using both the native Photoshop preset manager and Brushbox.  This was before the new system introduced with CC2017 (I think).  I wondered if this make Brushbox less relevant, and stopped using it about that time.  

                I thought I'd look through the user guide before posting this. 

                Do you have any other brush management systems installed?  Brusherator, for instance? 

                Yes, the user guide still says not to try using both Photoshop and Brushbox together.  I am not

                So I think you need to get Derrick involved.  He does have an Adobe account, and is always helpful.

                https://forums.adobe.com/people/Derrick+Barth

                Derrick, if you call by this thread, is Brushbox still valid and useful post-CC2017? 

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                sm165555Author
                Participant
                May 23, 2019

                thank you for the response, I wasn't aware of those issues . I don't have any other 3rd party preset manager's installed, although I do have a 3rd party extension for color (Coolorus) I don't think (I hope at least) that should be an issue though. I don't know if the conflict between the preset manager and brushbox is causing the issue, but thank you for the heads up! Hoping I can figure out this issue soon.

                c.pfaffenbichler
                Community Expert
                c.pfaffenbichlerCommunity Expert
                Community Expert
                May 23, 2019

                What have you done for trouble-shooting so far?

                Restoring Preferences after making sure all customized presets like Actions, Patterns, Brushes etc. have been saved might be a good starting point but it sounds like it might be a permissions issue:

                https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/basic-trouble-shooting-steps.html

                I wouldn't mind if not for the fact I bought BrushBox to sort and keep track of my favorite brushes, which I have to then hunt down over and over again.

                What does BrushBox do exactly?

                Why do you need to »hunt down« brushes and don't collect them in one abr-file?

                I regularly have to then manually re-import my brushes.

                Why do you need to import them?

                If the abr-files are placed in the Presets/Brushes-Folder they are available from the Brushes Pane’s fly-out menu.

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                  sm165555Author
                  Participant
                  May 23, 2019

                  Thank you for the response.

                  I've tried saving my brush presets as a set, as well as resetting preferences but that hasn't really done anything.

                  The main function Brush Box is for is organizing brushes and while photoshop itself already has a brushes panel, it doesn't have a function for favoriting brushes and putting those in a separate, easy to access folder. I have a lot of brushes, too many to be honest, but that's mainly because I like to experiment with different ones, and I then save my favorites of the bunch.

                  Regardless of whether I load them from either the default brush panel or from brushbox the preset will appear in both panels. However, periodically all the brushes listed here in the default panel will dissapear, forcing brushbox to sync to what's in here. When this happens every brush I have favorited dissapears. When I put the brushes back in I have to manually remember and refavorite each of those brushes. It's possible that there is a much simply solution to restoring them but as of now I don't really know of any options. I haven't been able to find any online either, tho perhaps I just haven't looked in the right place? I'm not sure.

                  While the brushes are indeed stored here, they don't remain in the actual preset manager, so I have to them reclick and import them.

                  I'm hoping that I'm just dumb and the solution was simple and in my face the entire time, as I would much prefer that than the scarier alternative that this is just something I'm going to have to live with.

                  I'm glad that the brushes themselves are still kept as .ABR files, but having to put them back in and look up my favorite one's again has just gotten incredibly demoralizing.

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