How to Manage Photoshop Brushes without Brush Preset Manager

There might come a time that you want to reorganize your Photoshop brushes on the Brushes palette. The instructions in the tutorial will guide you through the process for managing your Photoshop brushes.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Adobe Photoshop, any version, except for Step 5
• Mouse and keyboard
• File organizing and swapping experience helpful

1. If your Brushes window is not showing, go to Window > Show Brushes, or Window > Show Colors then click on the Brushes tab on the Colors window.
   
   To show the Brushes tab independently in a separate window, click and hold down your left mouse key. Drag Brushes tab while holding down your left mouse key to a place you want it to be in your Photoshop program window.

2. RENAME A SAVED BRUSH
   
   Choose and do one of the below:
   
   (1) If your Brushes window displaying brushes as a text list only, double-click a brush using your left mouse key. Enter a new name in the text box when it pops up then press "Enter" for Windows, or "Return" on a Macintosh.
   
   (2) If your Brushes window is set to show brushes as thumbnails, double-click a brush with your left mouse key. Enter a new name in the text area when the box pops up. Click "OK" for both Mac and PC OS.
   
   (3) Pick a brush in the Brush pop-up box or directly on the Brushes palette. Click on the button "Rename Brush" from the Brushes menu. Enter a new name in the text area and click "OK".

3. DELETE A SAVED BRUSH
   
   Do one of the following:
   
   (1) Pick a brush you want to remove in the Brushes window or Brushes pop-up box. Press simultaneously the Alt + left mouse key for Windows, or press down together the Option + left mouse key for Macintosh OS.
   
   (2) Select a brush in the Brushes window or Brushes pop-up box. Click on the "Delete Brush" option from fly-out arrow on the top right of the window or pop-up box.
   
   (3) There is a "trash" icon on the bottom of your Brushes window. Click on a brush you want to delete to highlight it, then click on the "trash" icon to remove highlighted brush from the Brushes library.

4. CREATE A NEW SET OF BRUSH
   
   As you know, you can create numerous brush sets for your Brushes library for different projects and purposes. To duplicate your current brush set (saving the newly copied for later modification as another new set), do the following:
   
   Click the fly-out arrow on the Brushes window or Brushes dialog box. Select "Save Brushes" from the drop-down list.
   
   Designate a location on your hard disk to save the new brush set. You can create a new folder for the brush set any where on your disk. But to better remember where you put it, save and create a new folder under the default brush folder in the Adobe Photoshop program directory.
   
   Click "Save" for the new brush set.

5. REARRANGE BRUSHES - - (works only in CS2 and newer versions)
   
   Brushes will become cluttered on the Brushes palette as you collect (save) them over time. Some brushes you will no longer need, while others will be used less often. You might want to sort and arrange them so you can find the brushes you frequently use more easily.
   
   Go to Edit > Preset Brushes or Edit > Brush Preset Manager. In the Pop-up dialog box, under Preset Type, choose Brushes. Hold down your left mouse key and drag the brush you want to move to another location on the Brushes palette. Place the drag brush on top an existing brush to replace. The original brush on that location and other brushes following it will move down a spot further on the Brushes palette.

[sonni57]

on 6/15/2009 Photoshop sounds like a great program to have I would like to check it out.

[goodselfme]

on 6/14/2009 good photo shop brush tips without preset manager.