Sync presets on multiple devices

Discontinued Preset Syncing

   Discontinued with the release of Photoshop 25.0 (September 2023 release)

With the latest release of Photoshop, Preset Sync has been discontinued and the feature will no longer be functional. 

When Preset Sync is ENABLED via Photoshop preferences, your presets are saved to your local disk every time Photoshop is closed.

Once Photoshop is upgraded to 25.0, the last configuration of your Brushes, Gradients, Patterns, Swatches, Shapes, and Styles preset panels will be available to continue using.

In the rare case your presets configuration in Photoshop 25.0 differs from the previous Photoshop installation, follow these steps to recover a copy:

1. Close Photoshop.

2. Find the folder locations:

• MAC: /Users//Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [previous_version_year] Settings
• Win10: C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop version\Adobe Photoshop [previous_version_year] Settings

3. Find the files: Brushes.psp, CustomShapes.psp, Gradients.psp, Patterns.psp, Styles.psp and Swatches.psp

4. Make a copy of these files.

5. Copy the files in the Settings folder of Photoshop 25.0.

• MAC: /Users//Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop 2024 Settings
• Win10: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop version\Adobe Photoshop 2024 Settings

6. Relaunch Photoshop.

Photoshop Preset Sync overview

   Valid for Photoshop versions 24.7 and older

Photoshop Preset Syncing lets you manage your favorite presets by seamlessly syncing them to any desktop device, making exporting and importing across devices or app versions a thing of the past.

When Preset Syncing is enabled, your presets on one device will sync up your Creative Cloud and sync down to any other desktop device you log into using the same Adobe ID.

When enabled, the following preset types will sync to your Creative Cloud — Brushes, Gradients, Swatches, Styles, Shapes, and Patterns.

Enable Preset Syncing

Preset Syncing is turned off by default. You can enable or disable Preset Syncing in Preferences > General > Preset Syncing

Disable preset syncing

When you uncheck Preset Syncing you will be presented with a dialog asking whether to keep your currently synced presets so other devices can still access them, or to delete your synced presets from your account.

Note: When choosing No, any presets that are currently synced will be removed from the Creative Cloud and delete any presets on other systems with Preset Syncing enabled.

Enable preset syncing

When you enable Preset Syncing you will be presented with a confirmation dialog.

Common questions

Can I use Preset Syncing as a backup?

Preset Syncing is intended to be used as a secure backup, however we always recommend having a manual backup your favorite presets.

Will the organization of my presets be retained?

Yes. Preset folders, hierarchy, and order will all be retained across devices with Preset Sync enabled.

How can I tell if my Presets are done syncing?

At first sync, why has Photoshop become unresponsive?

If Photoshop has seemed to freeze when you first enable Preset Syncing, please be patient and do not force quit Photoshop. If you have a large amount of presets to sync, it may take a minute or two for the initial sync to complete.

Why don't my synced presets show up on another computer?

Make sure Preset Syncing is enabled on all devices you want your presets to sync between. Enabling Preset Syncing on one computer does not automatically enable Preset Syncing on your other computers.

Is preset syncing enabled on both machines?

Enabling Preset Syncing on Machine A does not automatically enable preset sync on Machine B. The user must select the Preset Syncing checkbox in Preferences > General on any machine they want to sync to/from.

Is preset syncing in progress?

Open the Creative Cloud desktop app and then select the cloud icon in the top-right corner. If “File syncing” is in progress on either machine, then presets are still being transferred from one machine to the other.

I received this error message “Something went wrong while syncing your presets. Please try to restart Photoshop to recover”. What should I do?

1. Side notes for Customer Support Agents: This is an error message that occurs when Photoshop and CC Libraries fail to communicate and transfer preset data. Re-installing or downgrading Photoshop will not resolve this issue. There are two possible suggestions:

i. Suggest turning Preset Sync OFF if users can open Photoshop. Navigate to Preferences and choose to keep or delete the presets from the cloud. Presets in the cloud count toward the Library quota. Go to step 3b. 

ii. Force Preset Sync OFF if users aren't able to launch Photoshop. Navigate to Preferences. Forcing it OFF doesn’t provide the option of deleting presets from the cloud. If users want to delete presets from the cloud, additional steps are required. See the instructions provided. Go to 3c.

2. Suggest turning Preset Sync OFF if users can open Photoshop and navigate to Preferences:

i. Ensure your machine has an internet connection.

ii. Close Photoshop on all machines.

iii. If you haven’t done so, back up your presets. Copy preset files from Adobe Photoshop 2021/22 Settings folder to a safe location (Brushes.psp, CustomShapes.psp, Gradients.psp, Patterns.psp, Styles.psp, Swatches.psp).

                - MAC: /Users/<user>/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop 202X Settings
                - Win10: C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 202X\Adobe Photoshop 202X Settings

iv. Launch Photoshop, go to Preferences > General, uncheck Preset Syncing and select OK.

v. When asked if users want to keep the presets in the cloud, they can select Yes (keeps presets in the cloud and counts toward Library quota) or No (removed presets from the cloud).

3. Force Preset Sync OFF if users aren't able to launch Photoshop and get to Preferences: 

i. Ensure your machine has an internet connection.

ii. Close Photoshop on all machines. 

iii. If you haven’t done so, back up your presets. Copy preset files from Adobe Photoshop 2021/22 Settings folder to a safe location (Brushes.psp, CustomShapes.psp, Gradients.psp, Patterns.psp, Styles.psp, Swatches.psp).

                - MAC: /Users/<user>/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop 202X Settings
                - Win10: C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 202X\Adobe Photoshop 202X Settings

iv. Ask users if they prefer to delete presets from the cloud. 

v. If they choose to keep presets in the cloud

                - Create a text file and add the text: PresetSync 0.

                   If the PSUserConfig.txt already exists in the Settings folder, they can edit it and add the flag.

                - Save the text file with the name PSUserConfig.txt. Place it inside the folder “Adobe Photoshop 202X\Adobe Photoshop 202X Settings”.

                - Relaunch Photoshop. The flag will force Preset Sync OFF and remove the Preset Syncing preference from the Preference dialog. 

vi. If they choose to remove presets from the cloud:

   - Create a text file and add the texts on separate lines: PresetSync 0, PresetSyncInfoPanel 1.

                   If the PSUserConfig.txt already exists in the Settings folder, they can edit it and add the flag.

                - Save the text file with the name PSUserConfig.txt. Place it inside the folder “Adobe Photoshop 202X\Adobe Photoshop 202X Settings”.

                - Relaunch Photoshop. The flag will force Preset Sync OFF and remove the Preset Syncing preference from the Preference dialog.

                - Open the Preset Sync Info panel via Window > Preset Sync Info. Capture a screenshot and keep it as a reference. Feel free to share it with us.

                - In the Preset Sync Info panel, go to the top right menu (hamburger menu) and select the option Delete Synced Libraries.

                - Allow time for Preset Sync libraries to be deleted and recreated, at least 5 minutes before moving on to the next step.

                - Close Photoshop.

                - Remove PSUserConfig.txt file from the Settings folder. Preset Sync will remain OFF.

                - Launch Photoshop.

I received an error message saying “Your Creative Cloud storage is full, so the library updates can't sync. Upgrade your storage or try removing files to free up space.” What should I do?

• Preset syncing counts toward the user’s Libraries quota. This started happening earlier 2021.
  
• User can choose to turn Preset Sync OFF and when asked if they want to keep presets in the cloud, choosing NO will delete presets from the cloud and free Library space.
• Presets will remain available locally.
  

Was there a preset syncing error?

1. Close Photoshop on all machines.

2. Copy preset files from Adobe Photoshop settings folder to a safe location (Brushes.psp, CustomShapes.psp, Gradients.psp, Patterns.psp, Styles.psp, Swatches.psp).

3. Retrieve CC LibraryProcess.log from locations:

MAC: /Users/<user>/Library/Logs/CreativeCloud/

Win10: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp\CreativeCloud\Creative Cloud Libraries

4. On the machine experiencing the “Libraries sync error”:

   -  Create the file PSUserConfig.txt in the Adobe Photoshop settings folder if it does not yet exist.

    - Add the “PresetSyncInfoPanel 1” gestalt to PSUserConfig.txt.

    - Launch / re-launch Photoshop.

    -  Open the Preset Sync Info panel via Window > Preset Sync Info.

    - In the panel’s menu, select “Delete Synced Libraries”.

    - Enable preset syncing via Preferences > General.

    - Wait for sync to finish in CCD.

    - Remove “PresetSyncInfoPanel 1” gestalt from PSUserConfig.txt.

    - Restart Photoshop.

5. On other machines:

    - Launch Photoshop.

    - Enable preset syncing via Preferences > General.

    - Wait for sync to finish in CCD.

    - Delete any redundant presets/folders that were created during the re-sync.