Create libraries and add assets in Photoshop

Last updated on Oct 6, 2026

Learn how to use Creative Cloud Libraries to organize and access graphics, colors, styles, and Adobe Stock content across your projects.

Creative Cloud Libraries let you organize and access graphics, colors, text styles, and layer styles across your projects and devices. By adding assets to libraries, you can maintain consistency across projects and collaborate with team members.

Libraries store gradients, graphics, colors, text styles, brushes, and layer styles that sync automatically through the Creative Cloud. You can create an empty library and populate it manually, or generate a library from assets already present in your document. Libraries require an active Creative Cloud connection for syncing, though you can access cached content offline.

Create an empty library

Select Window > Libraries to open the panel.

Select Create New Library from the panel menu.

Enter a descriptive name for your library and select Create.

Your new library appears in the Assets panel and automatically syncs to your Creative Cloud account.

Create a library from document assets

Open a document containing assets such as gradients, colors, layer styles, character styles, or Smart Objects.

In the Libraries panel, select Create New Library From Document from the panel menu, or select the Library from Document icon at the bottom of the panel.

Name the library and select Create to automatically populate it with compatible assets from your document.

Photoshop automatically detects compatible assets in your document and displays the count for each type before creating the library.

Add graphics to a library

Select the layers or layer groups containing the graphic in the Layers panel.

Select the Move tool or press V.

Drag the selected layers into the Assets panel.

Add layer styles, character styles, and colors

In the Layers panel, select the layer containing the style or color you want to save.

In the Assets panel, select the appropriate icon: Add Character Style, Add Layer Style, or Add Foreground Color.

You can also drag brush presets from the Brush Presets panel, colors from the Swatches panel, or layer styles from the Styles panel directly into the Assets panel. Layer styles saved to libraries can only be used in Photoshop, not in other Creative Cloud applications.

Add watermarked Adobe Stock assets

In the Assets panel search box, select Adobe Stock from the search scope options.

Enter your search terms and browse the results.

Right-click an image and select Save Preview to Library to add a watermarked version to your current library.

The watermarked asset becomes available immediately as a library-linked asset in your documents.

License Adobe Stock assets from libraries

In the Assets panel, locate the watermarked Stock asset you want to license.

Right-click the asset and select License Image.

Confirm the licensing transaction in the dialog that appears.

Once licensed, all instances of the watermarked asset in your open documents update automatically to the high-resolution licensed version, preserving any transformations or effects applied.

Place library-linked assets in documents

In the Assets panel, right-click the asset you want to use.

Select Place Linked from the context menu.

Position the asset on the canvas and press Enter to confirm placement.

Library-linked assets display a cloud icon in the layer thumbnail. When the original library asset updates, all linked instances update automatically while preserving any effects or transformations.

Search for assets across libraries

In the Assets panel search box, enter your search terms.

Select the search scope from the dropdown: Current Library, All Libraries, or Adobe Stock.

Browse the filtered results and drag assets into your document as needed.

Find visually similar Stock images

In the Assets panel, right-click any graphic or image asset.

Select Find Similar from the context menu.

Photoshop searches Adobe Stock for visually similar images and displays results directly in the Assets panel.

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