How to Enable Version Control for Adobe Photoshop Files
May 12, 2008 – 8:51 pmHave you ever, accidentally overwrite an existing Photoshop .psd files and wish that you have backup of an earlier version? Must be frustrating isn’t it? Yeah, you can opt to save your .psd files with multiple, different file names but it will only clutter up your folder, which is not really a good choice. A simple version control software like FileHamster can make your Photoshop editing much easier. It will automatically create saved versions of the same file , without cluttering your Photoshop .psd folder. Moreover, you can restore the original or any selected version without much fuss.
FileHamster defines itself as a “realtime version tracking application for content creators”. You can actually use it for almost any application and that includes Adobe Photoshop. A better way to explain what it does is to show a tutorial on how FileHamster works. In this example, I am going to enable version control for one of my Adobe Photoshop files, named sunset.psd.
Add FileHamster Library
1- Download FileHamster, install and launch it as any regular Windows application.
2- Press Next to create a new library using the Library Creation wizard.
3- Add the location where you want FileHamster to save the entire version backup - for example, D:\Backup-FH
4- Give a name to your library - for example, Photoshop Files. Click Next to move to the next screen and Next again to open FileHamster’s interface.
Enable Version Control for a PSD File
5- You can see your library is created under the Watch Tree pane. Right click on your library and select Add File watch to instruct FileHamster to monitor changes and enable version control to your sunset.psd file.
6- Browse for the sunset.psd file and press OK.
7- The file will be added successfully to FileHamster’s library tree.
Test Version Control
8- Open sunset.psd in Adobe Photoshop. Make some changes to the file - change filter effects, add texts etc. Don’t forget to save the file - FileHamster will only create a new version once you save a particular document.
9- Open FileHamster and you cans see that a new version of sunset.psd is created. You can add additional comments to each file version to make it easier for you to track file / editing changes.
Restore File to Original Version
10- Right click on the original version of sunset.psd and select Restore.
11- The original version is now restored and you can see the status of the current version from FileHamster’s interface. If you open sunset.psd in Adobe Photoshop once again, you can see that the file returns to its original state.
I tried to make the tutorial above example easy to understand for readers of all levels. If you are feeling more adventurous, you can actually create more libraries to track changes of different type of files/folders. Try FileHamster today!
Tags: filehamster, adobe photoshop, photoshop, version control, version tracking, autosave, photo editing
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5 Responses to “How to Enable Version Control for Adobe Photoshop Files”
aku kekadang mmg teroverwrite pun. hehe thanks for the tips
By KNizam on May 12, 2008
Thanks a lot for this useful tip!
By Haris on May 13, 2008
Wow, another great tip man! Throw some by on OTT too!
Anyway, thanks a bunch! Very useful!
By Aseem Kishore on May 13, 2008
By Syahid A. on May 13, 2008
I had this problem when I did the theme design for my blog, then I sorted it using different folders. Nice find!
By Nirmal on May 13, 2008