Save to Cloud preview feature in Photoshop Elements 2021

[Phil Pickering]

I was just wondering if anyone could give me an update on the status of the Save to Cloud preview feature in Photoshop Elements 2021?

I've seen it mentioned a few times on the web and in training videos, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of it on the Adobe website, except fot this stand-alone Help article:

Save to Cloud 

I understand that recent Windows updates may have made this feature unavailable on some machines - is there a workaround for this, or are Adobe working on a fix?

I've also seen a couple of different storage limits mentioned for this feature, 2GB and 20GB. Anyone know which one is correct?

And I guess generally I'm asking because I'm running Windows 10 20H2, logged into my CC account and don't have that feature in Photoshop Elements 2021 - and don't want to waste my time trying to find a solution if there isn't one 🙂

Thanks!

[MichelBParis]

Phil,

The save to the Cloud feature works as expected for me on Win 10 (recently updated to 20H2).

The recent 2021.1 update has solved a few glitches.

The default cloud space is 2 GB as shown in the help doc. If you have another Cloud subscription, you are using the Cloud space it gives you: 20 GB or 1 TB.

I have tested the option to share on the Cloud from other PCs or devices, to share bulky attachments by links in mails.

Do you mean that you don't get at all the Cloud icons in the home screen and the editor and the the saving options in the editor or the organizer?

[Greg_S.]

The Save to Cloud feature should be working as Michel describes. 

Please check whether you are signed into PSE properly.  (You may be signed out, even though PSE seems to be operating.)  If that isn't the issue, then try signing out and back in.  Also, are you using the same account credentials for Elements and your CC account?

[Greg_S.]

Also, did you look at the trouble-shooting page which is linked at the end of the HelpX article you provided?

[Phil Pickering]

Yeah, I did go through that page but saw no mention of what to do if the feature appears to be missing.

Just to experiment I stopped the coresync service which seemed to be at the root of some of the issues noted in the article, but to no avail.

[Phil Pickering]

Thank you for your replies Michel & Greg.

So there's absolutely no indication that the Save to Cloud feature is present in my copy of Photoshop Elements 2021:

- No Cloud icons on home screen

- No Cloud or Link icons in the Elements Editor interface (near the Create & Share buttons)

- No option to Save to Cloud when I go to Save or Save As...

Same Adobe account used for both CC and Photoshop Elements (My Photoshop Elements purchase appears under the My Products & Order History sections on the Adobe Account website). 

All my other Cloud Documents enabled CC apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, XD) appear to be working fine.

I've taken the following steps:

1. Logged out of both CC and Photoshop Elements, then logged back into CC Desktop app, then Photoshop Elements.

2. Reset my Organizer and Editor preferences.

My system setup is:

Windows 10 Home (20H2 OS build 19042.844)

Photoshop Elements 19.0 (20210126.m.155261) x64

Creative Cloud Desktop 5.3.1.470

[MichelBParis]

Windows 10 Home (20H2 OS build 19042.844)

Photoshop Elements 19.0 (20210126.m.155261) x64

Creative Cloud Desktop 5.3.1.470

By @Phil Pickering

My creative Cloud version is 5.4.1.534, otherwise I have the same versions for Windows and Elements.

[Phil Pickering]

My Creative Cloud Desktop app is not reporting there any updates available, so I tried installing a newly-downloaded copy of the installer and still ended up with the same version (5.3.1.470) - don't think that's too important anyway.

Just to add that I'm working on a brand new laptop which came with Windows 10 Home (20H2) preinstalled, so it's not that I installed Photoshop Elements 2021 back in October, updated Windows, then lost the Save to Cloud feature.

[Phil Pickering]

Also it appears my CC Desktop app and Photoshop Elements 2021 are talking well to each other as when I sign out of one app, it signs me out of both apps. 

[Phil Pickering]

Quick update:

1. Installed Photoshop Elements 2021 and Creative Cloud desktop app on a different Windows machine also running Windows 10 20H2. Used same CC account to register and log in. Still no Save to Cloud feature.

2. Created a new free CC account, logged in to both PSE and CC on my original Windows PC using this new account, registered PSE. Still no Save to Cloud feature.

So two different machines, and two different CC acounts. Guess I'll have to wait until Photoshop Elements 2022 is released 🙂

[Greg_S.]

Phil, I think there may be some problems with the Adobe servers.  I just tried to get to my Cloud documents via a weblink and my CC account and could not reach my saved-in-the-cloud files.  But I could still open them from Elements.  That doesn't explain why you can't even get access to the cloud icons and controls in Elements.  So, here are a couple of other thoughts:

• IIRC, the free trial of Elements does not include access to the Save to Cloud feature.  If that is the case, signing into a free account would not solve the problem.  You have to be signed into your licensed product to get access to the Cloud account associated with your serial number.  Therefore, unless you signed into your other computer with your serial number account, it would not have worked.  Nor would the free account have worked.  (At least, I don't think it would have - but I may be wrong.)
• Is there maybe a problem with your firewall?
• When you uninstalled/reinstalled the program, what installation media/download link were you using?  Try a new download from the Adobe site.
• There are some preferences that might be worth checking out just to see if they make any difference. I have no idea if they will.
• Try resetting all Warning Dialogs in the General tab.
• In the Adobe Partner Services tab, try resetting all of the available buttons. 
• Under the Country/Region tab, do you have the correct region set for your location?

Clearly, there is something wrong with your installed program.  So, if all else fails, contact Adobe Customer Support. 

[MichelBParis]

Greg and Phil,

I am contacting a friend from another forum who has the same profile as Phil (very competent) and who had apparently the same problems. So, I believe the issue is not specific to Phil's own setup.

If I get a confimation that the same lack of  'Cloud saving' is still present after the PSE update, we'll have to check in more details what is common in both situations.

That is in both cases the existence of a pre-existing Cloud install with various subscriptions and various tries on different computers, with updated Wind 10 and PSE2021.1 versions.

In my own situation where I lost the ability to save to the Cloud, that seemed due to changes in the versions of Win 10, but a simple uninstall and reinstall of PSE10 before the update solved my problem.

[Phil Pickering]

Thanks Michel, much appreciated 🙂

[Phil Pickering]

Managed to force my Creative Cloud desktop app to install the latest version (5.4.1.534) by annoying it (renamed my CoreSync folder to CoreSync-OLD in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Sync) 🙂

Just wondering which version of Core Sync you have installed as that seems to be the service which controls access to Cloud Documents. My version is 4.7.0.1.

Also deleted all the database files in C:\Users\[name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CoreSync just in case any were corrupt.

One final thought (for now): the only users I can confirm that have access to this feature are yourself and Greg, plus videos I've seen from Linda Sattgast and Steve Grisetti - all people I'm guessing that took part in the PSE2021 beta-testing programme. I'm just wondering if this is maybe a feature that has been removed from the final version, yet is still lingering on from previous installs. I'm very surprised that Adobe have not pushed it as a major new feature in their marketing materials - the cloud documents feature was heavily promoted even when it was a 'preview' feature in XD (and I think Photoshop too). 

[Phil Pickering]

Thanks for your thoughts Greg 🙂

Yeah, I had problems too with the assets.adobe.com server about 24 hours ago. Was a bit hit-and-miss for a while but seems to be behaving now.

I succesfully registered my new install of PSE2021 to ensure that I wasn't missing the Save to Cloud feature in case it was not available to trial users. However, it should be available to those users who have a free Creative Cloud account - there's a 2GB storage limit for those users (along with the free XD and Premiere Rush Starter Plans plus some of the Adobe mobile apps), 20GB for Photography (20GB) Plans, 100GB for Single App and All Apps Plans, 1TB for Photography (1TB) and Lightroom Plans - Michel's answer above prompted me to look into this 🙂

Checked my firewall (Windows Defender Firewall) - only one Adobe app listed and allowed (Adobe Notification Client). Don't forget all my other CC Cloud Documents are accessible (Photoshop, Illustrator, XD). 

Downloaded the most recent installation files directly from Adobe (can't remember the last time I installed anything from physical media <nostalgia> 🙂 )

I've reset my preferences a couple of times, and yes, even tried changing to the Country/Region Selection to United States (from United Kingdom) just in case 🙂

[Phil Pickering]

Well after learning a lot more about how PSE2021 and Creative Cloud work together, I think I may have found the definite answer from @Bill Sprague  over in the Premiere Elements community forum:

"Following this thread, other topics and reading the Photoshop Elements feature page, I expected to be able to "Save to cloud" in my copy of Photoshop Elements 2021. I could not make it work. I reset the settings, uninstalled, reinstalled and searched for options to turn it on. Finally I started an online chat with Adobe tech support. After explaining what I had tried, the tech asked me to wait for him to get help. He returned and insisted that "Save to cloud" was an experimental trial and test. As such it was limited to only a small group of users and I was to NOT expect it to work as I was not one of the randomly selected few to recieve it."

Thanks for trying to help though Michel and Greg 🙂

[Greg_S.]

Hmmm . . . while I knew it was an experimental feature, I did not know it was limited in reach.  I can't imagine that it is only available to pre-release testers since the Adobe HelpX page that you found is definitely public.  It may be regional, as there are other features that have only been available in the US in the past.  And since Michel has access to it in France, maybe it is a Brexit thing.  😉

In any event, I'm not going to trust what you have been told by Support and will make further inquiries of Adobe.

[VipinGupta · Accepted solution]

Hello Phil,

We’re rolling out this feature gradually to small numbers of customers, so you may not have access to the feature yet.

Regards,

Vipin

[Phil Pickering]

Thanks Vipin! 🙂