How to backup settings & preferences for Adobe Photoshop & other CS3 software on Mac OS X.

Backing up preferences and settings for Adobe Photoshop CS3 software

I am reinstalling my Adobe Photoshop CS3 software. Is there a quick way to set up my preferences and saved settings, so that I don't have to manually set them up again?

Sometimes it is necessary to reinstall graphics software. At other times software preferences can become corrupt and need replacing.

Many graphic designers have their own personal preferences as to how they like their tool palettes layout, color preferences, displaying of software warning messages (or non-display) and so on.

Obviously, it is always possible to write down your favourite settings. But setting up Adobe Photoshop preferences from scratch can be a pain. Additionally, some preferences may contain information about dialogue boxes, Workspaces, warning messages, tool palette positions and so on that may have been customized 'on the fly'.

So, one possible approach is to save a copy of Photoshop preferences to use as a base for future use. What we do is to make sure that Photoshop is set up how we like it and then quit the program. Then we save a copy of the whole of the Adobe Photoshop CS3 Settings folder somewhere safe. If it ever becomes necessary to replace the installed Photoshop CS3 preferences, all we do is to copy the whole folder into the User/Library/Preferences folder and overwrite the unwanted folder (although it is also worth keeping a backup of this folder also, just in case!).

Obviously, other Adobe Creative Suite programs – Illustrator, InDesign and so on – also have their own preferences folders and files (as do most other applications). Although, we have not tried the same technique with any of those, it may also be possible to reproduce similar results.

As with all these tips, it is always advisable to keep a copy of any original files and to make a backup of your whole computer before attempting any of these techniques.