How to back up Photoshop document presets
If you often create documents in Photoshop where the canvas is a certain size, it’s a good idea to save that size as a preset. A document preset in Photoshop can be used to quickly open a new file that has a few predefined basic features e.g., the canvas size, the resolution, the color mode, etc. Creating them can be time consuming so it’s a good idea to back up Photoshop document presets just in case. You can use the backup to quickly add the same presets to a different system, or just restore it on your system if you do a fresh install.
Create document presets
Creating document presets is pretty easy and we’ve detailed the process here. If you’ve already added presets, make sure they appear in the Saved tab in the create new document window. If they do, you can back them up.
Back up document presets
The document presets can be backed up on both macOS and Windows 10. The process involves backing up one file but you need to know where the file is saved. If you’re not running the latest version of Photoshop, you may not find the file in the locations given below but look around for a folder called Adobe Photoshop Settings and it should be there.
Windows 10
Open File Explorer and paste the following in the location bar;
%APPDATA%\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 Settings\
In the folder that opens, look for a file called New Doc Sizes.json. This is the file that you need to back up. If you want, you can open it in Notepad, or any other text editor, and edit the presets directly.
macOS
On macOS, you need to go to the following location. Be sure to replace the YourUser part with your own user name.
YourUser/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CS4/Presets
In this location, look for the New Doc Sizes.json file. Back it up and again, you can open it and edit the presets directly.
Importing document presets
Importing the file is pretty easy. You need to have Photoshop installed of course so that the directory the file goes in to is already there. Make sure the app itself is not running. Open the correct directory for your OS and paste the file there.
Open Photoshop and the Create Document window should feature all the presets that the file originally had. It might be a good idea to check the Saved tab to see if they appear in it or not. If they only appear in the Recent tab, you might need to save them again though it’s rare that you would need to.
