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psd and psb File Format Specifications

New Here ,
Mar 02, 2010 Mar 02, 2010

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Besides these 2 documents
a) Photoshop CS File Formats Specification October 2003
b) Adobe Photoshop 6.0 File Formats Specification Version 6.0 Release 2.0 November 2000

Are there any other documents which would be helpful in understanding the PSD and PSB formats?

Is there a document/spreedsheet which shows which features are supported via Photoshop Versions
2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 CS CS2 CS3 CS4 showing PSB and PSD features?

Where would these additional documents be located?

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Adobe
Mar 02, 2010 Mar 02, 2010

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Get the current SDK, and request the current PSD documentation.

Why are you looking at stuff 7 to 10 years old instead of current documentation?

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Guest
Mar 11, 2010 Mar 11, 2010

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Might it be that the PS6 and CS SDKs were the last ones to include the Photoshop file format specification?

I'm looking at the CS4 SDK and I don't see the Photoshop file format as one of the PDFs included in the 'documentation' directory. 

Is the PSD file format part of the SDK docs or does it have to be specially requested? If the latter, from where?

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Mar 12, 2010 Mar 12, 2010

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> Might it be that the PS6 and CS SDKs were the last ones to include the Photoshop file format specification?

Nope, because they weren't.

The CS4 SDK tells you how to request the PSD and Photoshop file formats documentation.

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New Here ,
Mar 16, 2010 Mar 16, 2010

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Thanks I assumed that the included SDK HTML docs were all there were. After searching I found your reference to the pdf in adobe_photoshop_cs4_sdk_win\Adobe Photoshop CS4 SDK\documentation\html\faqs.html

which under section

2.8 Where is the Photoshop File Formats.pdf file?

You need to request the Photoshop SDK. In your request make sure you explicitly ask for the "Photoshop File Formats.pdf" file. http://www.adobe.com/devnet/photoshop/

I requested the SDK again this time asking for the pdf. Again received just the SDK. Sent back reply back to partners team they replied they were escalating request to concern team. So hopefully the concern team will be able to get me the doc. Thanks once again.

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Adobe Employee ,
Apr 23, 2010 Apr 23, 2010

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Did you get this resolved? We are having issues with "File Format" (PSD Spec) requests. Please let me know.

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Guest
Apr 28, 2010 Apr 28, 2010

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Tom,

I was out on vacation when you sent this email.

No, I never received a copy of the modern File Format PSD specification.

I sent an email to Bryan Hughes, but never heard back. The request URL

in the docs just redirects to the main developer page and there is no

clear direction there.

Chris

(cperkins@medialab.com)

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New Here ,
Apr 30, 2010 Apr 30, 2010

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Tom,

I did not receive a copy of the CS4 PSD spec. I am still interested in

a copy.

The web documentation I downloaded when I downloaded the CS4 SDK seemed

to be missing some things I saw when looking at the structure of PSD and

PSB files and was hoping maybe it might be documented somewhere else.

Thanks,

john magyari

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Adobe Employee ,
Apr 30, 2010 Apr 30, 2010

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Can you give me contact info similar to how Chris did above?


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New Here ,
Apr 30, 2010 Apr 30, 2010

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John Magyari

jmagyari@gmail.com

jmagyari AT gmail DOT com

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Participant ,
May 03, 2010 May 03, 2010

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jmagyari

The PSD docs found in SDK at least through version CS have numerous bugs and omissions. It may save you a few hundred hours of trial and error resolving some of these, if you refer to my source code at http://telegraphics.com.au/svn/psdparse/trunk ; contact me if you need more specific help.

support@telegraphics.com.au

--Toby

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New Here ,
May 11, 2010 May 11, 2010

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Hello, I had the same problem to get the current SDK for PSD file format description.

Anyway,what I need is just to get a correct layers, shapes, maska and groups hierarchy of psd file.

I have it almost done, but I have a problem to find a difference in between GROUP type of layer and SHAPE type of layer. Shape layer has the same flags as group, but there is missing end tag in the name of layer (GROUP end with </Layer group> tag).

Could you advice how could I distinguish Groups and Shapes layers ?

Thank you.

Peter

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Adobe Employee ,
Jun 24, 2010 Jun 24, 2010

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Good news. After much back and forth with you don't know how many people I am finally able to post the PDF. No questions asked! I'll attach it here and to other threads for download. Look for it soon in HTML format on http://www.adobe.com/devnet/photoshop/ after I update it with some CS5 information. Also note the "Panel Guide" for CS5 is now live on that page as well.

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New Here ,
Jun 27, 2010 Jun 27, 2010

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Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Peter

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New Here ,
Jul 08, 2010 Jul 08, 2010

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Thank You very much, mr. Ruark.

I cant however access  http://www.stage.adobe.com/devnet/photoshop/.  I get Access Denied. Should I register somewhere?

Also, I downloaded the latest SDK and the docs state "You need to request the Photoshop File Formats documentation explicitly".

Is this (still) the case? Will the CS5-updated version be made public.

Thank You.

MihailNaydenov

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New Here ,
Jul 08, 2010 Jul 08, 2010

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Hi, there is a direct download link at the end of Tom's post:

Photoshop File Formats.pdf

Peter

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Participant ,
Jul 08, 2010 Jul 08, 2010

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Mihail

I wouldn't get your hopes high for any CS5 related material. The most recent references are to CS3, as far as I can see, and the document is dated July 2007. It is basically the same incomplete, buggy file that is familiar from old SDKs. You could use it to get the most basic elements of a document, as long as you are prepared for hours of trial and error as well, but most features post-5.0 are either described as black boxes, or left out entirely. Clearly nobody inside Adobe uses this document or is properly updating it for third parties.

--Toby

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 25, 2011 Nov 25, 2011

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I am writing a C# app. and need to access the layer information.

Might anyone offer some advise?

In Layer Record, there is a variable "length of extra data field (the total length of the next five fields)"

But there are only 3 remaining variables.  What am I missing?

1) layer mask data

2) layer blending ranges

3) layer name

I am successfully reading the Layer Record by reading in "length of extra data field" in PSD with multiple layer records.

Just not sure what they mean by "next five fields".

Tried using psdParser, but the project is missing a few files, png.h, psdrecover.h, sys/erno.h, etc.

Thanks,

CT

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 26, 2011 Nov 26, 2011

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Thanks for the psdparser project, I am able to decode layer image content in packbits.

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New Here ,
Nov 29, 2012 Nov 29, 2012

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Adobe Photoshop 6.0 File Formats Specification


I have given a task to read psd file made from photoshop cs5 from c# programming language. I had read psd file by using file format specification up to layer listings.

But now I am stucked on reading fonts on that file. After googling, I had found psd parser which reads font information for photoshop 5.0 only. But my file is on photoshop 6.0.

Please suggest me how to read font list or font details used on layers via c#? Also in which key or location font information is stored on psd binary file?

Regards,

Biran


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Dec 01, 2012 Dec 01, 2012

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Why are you looking at decade old documentation instead of the current documentation?

Get the CS6 SDK and read the documentation for the PSD format.

But I doubt you are going to be able to read the text layer data so easily - it is not simple data.

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New Here ,
Dec 05, 2012 Dec 05, 2012

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LATEST

Thanks for your suggestion.

Finally I got the font list from psd file by parsing psd file via c#.

IM happy much more..

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New Here ,
Nov 02, 2010 Nov 02, 2010

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Any news on this topic?

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Nov 02, 2010 Nov 02, 2010

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Ed - READ the previous replies, especially the ones with the direct links to the documentation.

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New Here ,
Nov 08, 2010 Nov 08, 2010

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I did. And I read "Look for it soon in HTML format on http://www.stage.adobe.com/devnet/photoshop/ after I update it with some CS5 information."

Since that page still gives an "Access denied" answer, I was wondering if we already reached "soon" or if it's still to come...

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