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Where are my brushes stored ???

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So nothing I could find will tell me where my brushes are stored. Info seems to be out dated.

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davescmCorrect answer

Community Expert

Seems like mine is the anomaly in that case. I'm not sure where else to look. Everybody is saying they're supposed to be in that folder but they just aren't there.

Hi

The abr files are used for loading brushes and exporting them.

The current brush panel contents are contained in a preference file which on Windows is in :

C:.Users>username>AppData>Roaming>Adobe>AdobePhotoshop CC 2019>Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 Settings> Brushes.psp

Not sure where the equivalent folder is on a MAC but search for Brushes.psp. Don't move or delete it or you will lose your loaded brushes.

Dave

simonlchabi

Known Participant

I found .abr files in my AppData roaming folder by searching .abr when in Adobe the address as text for one of the brushes is C:\Users\Simon\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Creative Cloud Libraries\LIBS\467173D7466AFB2C992015D5_AdobeID\creative_cloud\dcx\b7e2d1cd-8b49-429e-a478-3964267c99c5\components
Hope that helps
personally I hate that AppData folder & having to go looking for brushes
Now can someone plz tell me how to make a square & diamond shaped hard brush please?

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john_ster

Participating Frequently

Would using the Brushes.psp file be a good way to maintain your brushes organization across two computers? I am thinking to make a copy of Brushes.psp on my workstation, upload it to my CC cloud storage, then back at home use the file to overwrite brushes.psp on my laptop, so I can carry on working with the same brushes organized into folders. Then if I make more changes to my brushes organization, I can send the file back to my workstation.

Is this the best way to do this? I just want my brushes organized into custom folders nicely, and for that to be shared across all my computers, and for changes to update.

Thanks. I'll try this tonight so if I don't update the post just poke me and I'll let you know how it goes.

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1Mollybird

Known Participant

I made six custom brushes just yesterday and they seem to have just dissapeared! I can't find them anywhere. I tried every recommendation in this thread from everyone who posted and still no brushes, but I clearly saved them as new brush presets and I created a folder to store them all in. Do they just completely dissapear when you close the document and close Photoshop???

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defaultbez42sambn2e

Participant

I have the same problem! All gone.

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lisab76641539

Participant

Found an easy way to locate the Custom Brush Library - go to the hamburger icon at the very top right hand side of the Brush palette, select 'Open Brush Library' then 'User Defined,' it should be there (was trying to find my Custom Brushes, then remembered where Custom Swatches/Patterns are stored, its the same in Brushes). BTW I am working with Illustrator 2020 on Macintosh 🙂

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Molson Man

Participant

For Windows, go to my computer, program files, Adobe, Photoshop, presets then brushes

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Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

If you make new brush presets and/or groups, they exist within whatever Photoshop uses as house keeping drive space. They are not stored as .abr files until saved with the Preset Manager. I wonder if that is what is happening here?

I can never remember where to find the Preset Manager other than via the brush right click menu, and click on the cog icon

...so I usually use Ctrl F (Cmd F) to open the search tool, and type Preset

Make sure that Brushes is selected as the Preset Type:

Select the group you want to save as an .abr file, and Save Set

It will then appear in the Appdata (Windows) Library > Application Support file path.

It seems reasonable that Photoshop will remove it from the other location when this has been done.

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davescm

Community Expert

Hi Trevor

If you just create a brush or a group then the brushes.psp preference file gets updated when Photoshop closes.

The abr files are only used when loading or exporting brushes. After loading you can delete the abr as the psp file retains the loaded brushes.

Dave

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Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

davescm wrote
Hi Trevor
If you just create a brush or a group then the brushes.psp preference file gets updated when Photoshop closes.
The abr files are only used when loading or exporting brushes. After loading you can delete the abr as the psp file retains the loaded brushes.
Dave

So the OP has nothing to gain by locating the .abr file?

I'm going to have to test this. I've closed Photoshop and renamed the Brushes folder

Yep, still there. So when does Photoshop look at that folder? It definitely knows if you save and abr file directly to that folder without double clicking to install it (after restarting Photoshop of course. Interesting Dave. I've just learned something.

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justinbmiller

Participating Frequently

I looked in my user Library folder, the HD Library folder, even the Applications folder. I double-click a few of the Kyle's brush sets and nothing is moved or installed here:

/Users/User Name/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CC 2019/Presets/Brushes

I have to assume it installs the brushes into the package contents for the application itself. Nothing else seems to change in file size after the install. I just want to ensure that the 350+MB of space used in the Megapack is actually removed if I delete the brush group. Permanently deleting the original .abr file does nothing. The brushes still load when I re-open PS. It's definitely copied somewhere...

Can we get an answer to this already?

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Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

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justinbmiller

Participating Frequently

I'm assuming that's the Windows equivalent of this Mac file path:

/Users/User Name/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CC 2019/Presets/Brushes

The brushes doesn't show up for me there. Finder is good at locating pretty much any indexed file quickly. If I run a system-wide search, the only results that come back are the original .abr files that are in my Downloads folder. If I permanently delete those, the brushes still work. So they're somewhere, just not in the Presets/Brushes folder.

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Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

Are you taking your Photoshop version into account? If Windows, you also need to make Files & Folders viewable in File Explorer. You'll obviously need to change the user name, and Photoshop version if you re not using CC2018.

C:\Users\Trevor\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018\Presets\Brushes

Check older versions, as Photoshop does not automatically bring presets across when updating

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SanpanzaAuthor

Known Participant

Sorry, Trevor.Dennis, I should have mentioned that I am on Mac OS X and am using the most updated version of Photoshop 2018. I sometimes lose track of where I place a brush and there is no way to search for the location of the brush. So, I would like a way of searching for a brush; anyway.

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