How do I migrate settings from PS CS2 to CS3?

sanaka

I just installed Photoshop CS3, and kind of assumed it would overwrite CS2 and migrate all my custom stuff like actions and proof settings, or at least give this option.

Well CS2 is still fully intact, CS3 is a blank slate with none of my custom settings, and CS2 and CS3 are seemingly oblivious of each other.

I'd like to migrate all my settings and actions to CS3, then uninstall CS2. Is there a prescribed method for this?

PS is not installed in the default startup drive place, but in a partition I have for applications. Is this maybe why it didn't automatically migrate things for me?

Thanks!!

Peace,
Sanaka

BinaryFx

Sanaka, it will depend on the OS and version of Photoshop, the following is the path from a Win XP install:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop\8.0\Adobe Photoshop CS Settings

CS2 should be in a folder for 9.0, CS3 10. Within this folder are the settings files (this directory could perhaps be hidden, depending on your OS settings). I would backup the new version's settings files first, then simply replace them with the older version. If there are any problems, then use the backup to put the settings back as they were before.

It may also pay to backup your presets folder from the old version:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop CS\Presets

Less ideally, one can manually save colour settings files, actions, burshes and other items direct from Photoshop from their respective location (colour settings, actions), then manually load them into the new version of Photoshop from the appropriate location.

Often, third party plug-ins may be the only real problem, as they may need re-installing and a simple copy and paste from one directory to another may not work for all plugs, although you could try.

More on the general topic can be found via a search engine, such as:

http://www.outbackphoto.com/computers_and_more/backup_03/essay.html


Hope this helps,

Stephen Marsh
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/

sanaka

Thanks so much Stephen. That's a huge help.

I've always hated the "Documents and Settings" construction within Windows and ignore it as much as possible, so I hadn't thought to dig around in there.

I find it kind of outrageous that Adobe doesn't offer any way to automate this process so that one's crucial familiar oft-used things are present after a version upgrade. I will have to kludge through a bunch of manual excisions and implants I guess But at least I think I can now - thanks again!

Peace,
Sanaka

BinaryFx

sanaka wrote:

Thanks so much Stephen. That's a huge help.

I've always hated the "Documents and Settings" construction within Windows and ignore it as much as possible, so I hadn't thought to dig around in there.

Glad to be of help sanaka. I will try to make this reply into a mini tutorial, as I feel that I may have been too brief in my previous post. Mac OS X is different, but the same. I'll try to update this for Mac users later!

As perviously noted, there are two main paths/directories that one is after on Win XP, using CS as an example:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop\8.0\Adobe Photoshop CS Settings\

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop CS\Presets\

In each of these directories are the various folders/files that one would likely need to back-up.

An additional directory that may be worthy of exploration:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Color\Proofing\

Which is where your custom softproof settings .PSF files reside (if you have created a custom proof set-up under the view menu).

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Color\Settings\ contains the various default and custom .CSF color settings files.

I should make a special note about actions.

In the Photoshop Settings directory, one will find a file titled "Actions Palette.psp". Although it is good to back-up this file with the other settings files, one should not rely on this "temporary" file to retain treasured actions. Best practice is to go to the action palette in Photoshop and manually select each action folder and to use the action palette menu to individually save each action set as an .ATN file (which is a safe, stable way to store actions, even if not as convenient as the .psp file).

My earlier suggestion of simply replacing the new settings files with the old settings files should work, although one should not replace the file named "Adobe Photoshop CSx Prefs.psp" and leave the newer version in place (even more so if going backward, rather than forward in file versions). As this file contains the version number in the file name, you should not have any problems, although it is probably good not to have two preference files from different versions in this location (the swatches and most other files should not be version specific). One will need to manually make any preference changes in the new version. Hope this makes sense.

As for plugs, it is usually best to leave the new Adobe install versions in place, as they may contain speed improvements over older versions or offer updated features or whatever. Many third party plugs can simply be copied from the old plug folder to the new one - although some commercial plugs may have to be installed and registered/activated again for the new install to work correctly.

I think/hope that covers everything one should consider when making a back-up/archive of Photoshop settings.

I find it kind of outrageous that Adobe doesn't offer any way to automate this process so that one's crucial familiar oft-used things are present after a version upgrade.

You can join the Adobe forums and post a feature request [be nice] in the Photoshop feature request topic area, if this really bugs you!

There are a few things that one may have customised and or need to back-up for safety, when moving between workstations, when re-installing or upgrading. These may include: actions, brushes, swatches, gradients, styles, patterns, contours, custom shapes, tool presets, keyboard shortcuts, colour settings, program preferences, proof set-up, workspace and scripts. These 15 different file groups can be found in 4 general, different locations on Win XP, sometimes with more than one file of any given type. So, this is not an impossible task, just messy...fairly easy for a computer to do automatically, or for a human to do so if the former is lacking.

Of course, one would back-up the new version files before replacing them with the older versions, just in case problems occur. When migrating from an older version, one would more often be adding files that do not exist in the new install, rather than replacing existing files with older custom content. If one is restoring from a back-up to the same version, then one would simply be replacing existing files, as well as adding missing files.


Hope this helps,

Stephen Marsh
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/

BinaryFx

I have written an action for MS Win users to speed up the process of saving and reloading various settings:

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/downloads.html

Scroll down to "Photoshop Settings BackUp - Action, Photoshop CS MS Win OS Only".

Current active brushes, swatches, gradients, styles, patterns, contours, custom shapes and tool presets are automatically saved, while color settings require manual saving, before the action resumes and completes the back-up. NOTE: Actions, scripts, keyboard shortcuts, program preferences, proof setup and workspace are not handled by this simple backup action.


Regards,

Stephen Marsh
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/

sanaka

Stephen:

I bow to your Photoshop Fluidity: :ps


You rule! I find that some things actually are automagically present in CS3 from 2. But you have indeed layed out a complete set of information so that now I'm fully confident I won't lose anything important or have to start from scratch. I'll keep cs2 intact and bring things forward until the cs3 rails are all oiled and running smoothly.

Your tutorial should be a sticky here, and I think would be worthy for your website.

Thanks again, mate!

Peace,
Sanaka