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Jeff_N
Jeff_N
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Auto Save

Mar 11, 2011 10:02 AM

Photoshop needs an Auto Save feature. Please!!!!

 

I try to remember to hit cmd + s, as I'm working. I even have a note on the front of my monitor saying "Save Early - Save Often"

But the reality is more often than not I get to focused on what I'm doing / creating / retouching etc. to remember to save.

 

And then at the most unfortunate time Photoshop quits and I loose everything

This usually happens when I'm working too fast and Photoshop doesn't seem to be able to keep up, or get pissed off or something.

So an Auto Save would at least make the the Auto Quit somewhat tolerable.

Hey, if it can have an Auto Quit, why can't it have an Auto Save??

 

If there was a way in the preferences to set up a default folder or spot on the hard drive, maybe an area on the scratch disk set not to delete when you quite Photoshop. Just something to use as a holding spot for an auto save would save many hours of grief.

 

Other software apps have it, Microsoft Word, many web based apps.

Photoshop needs it too.

 

JeffN

1690 Views   13 Replies   Latest reply: Squisterson, Apr 24, 2011 10:09 AM
 
Replies
  • Chris Cox
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    1. Chris Cox,
    Mar 11, 2011 3:02 PM   in reply to Jeff_N
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    Other software apps have it, Microsoft Word, many web based apps.

    How many of those programs are saving files that are gigabytes in size?

    And files that take 20 minutes to save?

     

    Yes, it would be nice to have.

    But it's not so easy when you're dealing with images as with simple text.

     
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  • Jeff_N
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    2. Jeff_N,
    Mar 14, 2011 2:22 PM   in reply to Chris Cox
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    Chris Cox wrote:

     

    Other software apps have it, Microsoft Word, many web based apps.

    How many of those programs are saving files that are gigabytes in size?

    And files that take 20 minutes to save?

     

    Yes, it would be nice to have.

    But it's not so easy when you're dealing with images as with simple text.

    None that I know of.

     

    But how many other programs out can do what Photoshop can?

    Adobe is an invader. It would be a plus to users if they could figure out a way to make an auto save work.

     

    How many people are saving files that take 20 minutes to save? Very few.

    I don't think it's the majority. Today's systems are very fast. I doubt that there are many people ( professionals ) that use Photoshop to earn a living that work on a system that is so slow it takes 20 minutes to save a file. They'd go broke. I went to a 8 core machine, 10GB ram, 10,000 rpm drive for swap disk, and data saving for speed in saves. I save large files, and they take just seconds.

     

    I'd still think it be a big plus to all.

     
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  • Chris Cox
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    3. Chris Cox,
    Mar 14, 2011 4:11 PM   in reply to Jeff_N
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    Today's systems are very fast. I doubt that there are many people ( professionals ) that use Photoshop to earn a living that work on a system that is so slow it takes 20 minutes to save a file.

    Many do, because systems are so fast -- they can put thousands of layers, or gigabytes of photo into their document.  (and no, they do it because they makde a lot of money at it :-)

     

    And whatever we do, it has to work for everyone.

     

    It's not an easy problem.  But one that we'd like to solve.

     
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  • c.pfaffenbichler-RJctEC
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    4. c.pfaffenbichler-RJctEC,
    Mar 15, 2011 12:20 AM   in reply to Chris Cox
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    I am not in favour of the feature and have pretty much argued against it in previous threads.

    And I like to think it is not to much to expect Photoshop-users to take responsibility for saving their own files.

    (And in case of a crash there’s always the relative comfort of: »One is usually faster the second time.«)

     

    But the number of times this request has been made ostensibly bespeaks a real demand …

     
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  • Jeff_N
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    5. Jeff_N,
    Mar 16, 2011 11:07 AM   in reply to Chris Cox
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    Thanks Chris,

    I'm forever hopeful that the Adobe engineers can invent a way to make this a reality.

    It would be a huge feature!!

    And for those who are against it, have preference that will allow those to turn it off.

     
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  • electriciris
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    6. electriciris,
    Mar 16, 2011 11:38 PM   in reply to Jeff_N
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    If you need an AutoSave feature, take a look at PsdAutoSaver,  http://www.electriciris.com/psdautosaver.html  It has the features that you're talking about, along with some others I'm sure you'll like, like setting conditions on saving based on file size, frequency, location, etc.

     

    Sorry for what may seem as a shameless plug, but this is relevant and does answer your question. 

     
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  • Reynolds (Mark)
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    7. Reynolds (Mark),
    Mar 18, 2011 4:13 PM   in reply to Chris Cox
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    they do it because they makde a lot of money at it

    … do they?

     
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  • David Jensen
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    8. David Jensen,
    Mar 30, 2011 12:03 AM   in reply to Jeff_N
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    I made a simple Applescript program that saves a backup copy of PS document(s) every X minutes. It can be automatically launched every time PS starts.  If PS is in a modal dialog it will retry every few seconds or so until PS is available to the script.

     
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  • c.pfaffenbichler
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    9. c.pfaffenbichler,
    Mar 30, 2011 6:40 AM   in reply to David Jensen
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    How does your Script handle multiple open files?

    Are they moved to the foreground for saving?

     
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  • David Jensen
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    10. David Jensen,
    Mar 30, 2011 8:24 AM   in reply to c.pfaffenbichler
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    I have it set up to ping Photoshop for the active document every minute, and if the active document has been the front most a certain number of times, a copy is saved.

     

    The only issue with it is that any Photoshop document window that is being moved or resized when an active document check occurs will snap back to where it was. (and even that only happens in CS5, otherwise I would check for the active document every 5 seconds)

     
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  • Squisterson
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    11. Squisterson,
    Apr 23, 2011 8:51 PM   in reply to Jeff_N
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    Here's an approach for the developer's to solve the issue:

     

    Don't autosave the whole file, just record every step. Every document gets a list of recorded steps. Once the document is successfully saved, the recorded steps are erased for that document. If the computer crashes, open the document and have Photoshop recreate every recorded step. That list could saved in an external file, or in the PSD itself.

     

    This is similar to the existing Script Listener. It would just need to be made slightly more powerful (currently Script Listener wouldn't be able to recreate the steps exactly).

     

    Yes, there are flaws, like "What if I loaded an external file as a smart object and then deleted that file?", but I think it's still something worth considering.

     
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  • c.pfaffenbichler
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    12. c.pfaffenbichler,
    Apr 24, 2011 2:28 AM   in reply to Squisterson
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    Don't autosave the whole file, just record every step. Every document gets a list of recorded steps.

    I suspect you underestimate the task.

    Scripting Listener does not record Brush strokes for example – and with some reason I suppose.

    If strokes are pressure sensitive or utilize any randomization or a Brush tip is not saved prior to a crash the record would have to contain either the Brush stroke as image data or store Brush tip, Brush Preset settings and pressure changes for each stroke – which might cause a size issue.

     
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  • Squisterson
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    13. Squisterson,
    Apr 24, 2011 10:09 AM   in reply to c.pfaffenbichler
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    I'm not really trying to evaluate the feasibility here. Just trying to present an alternative to saving the complete file every so often. Of course the current script listener is not powerful enough yet. The brush strokes, as you mentioned, are something not being recorded in detail, probably because they would need way more data than anything else being recorded.

     

    But that's just another hurdle, for which there are many possible solutions. Maybe during reconstruction photoshop would give a message "Can't really reconstruct all of what you did there, but hey, most of it!" Or Photoshop would save not the brush strokes, in this case, but the entire layer. At some point the developers might find out the best autosave solution is to save the document layer by layer (whenever you do something on another layer, the previous layer is saved). I dunno, this might require require to rethink the whole file format, which might require to completely re-write Photoshop, which would definitely not be feasible.

     

    All I'm saying is: "Have you thought of saving the data bit for bit?"

     
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