Creating and managing preset brushes (Photoshop)

After you customize a brush, you can save it as a preset brush. Preset brushes appear in the Brushes palette, Brush pop-up palette in the options bar, and Preset Manager. You can create libraries of preset brushes, rename preset brushes, and delete preset brushes.

Note: New preset brushes are saved in a Preferences file so that they persist between editing sessions. If this file is deleted or damaged, or if you reset brushes to the default library, the new presets will be lost. To permanently save new preset brushes, save them in a library.

To create a new preset brush:

1. Customize a brush.
2. Do one of the following in the Brushes palette or Brush pop-up palette:
• Choose New Brush from the palette menu, enter a name for the preset brush, and click OK.
• Click the Create New Brush button .

To rename a preset brush:

Do one of the following:

• Select a brush in the Brush pop-up palette or Brushes palette, and choose Rename Brush from the palette menu. Enter a new name for the brush, and click OK.
• If the Brushes palette is set to display brushes as thumbnails, double-click a brush, enter a new name, and click OK.
• If the Brushes palette is set to display brushes as a list or text only, double-click a brush, enter a new name inline, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).

To delete a preset brush:

Do one of the following:

• In the Brush pop-up palette or Brushes palette, select a brush, and choose Delete Brush from the palette menu.
• In the Brush pop-up palette or Brushes palette, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the brush you want to delete.
• In the Brushes palette, select a brush and click the Trash button , or drag a brush to the Trash button.

To save a set of preset brushes as a library:

1. Choose Save Brushes from the Brush pop-up palette menu or Brushes palette menu.
2. Choose a location for the brush library, enter a filename, and click Save.

You can save the library anywhere. However, if you place the library file in the Presets/Brushes folder inside the Photoshop program folder, the library name will appear at the bottom of the Brush pop-up palette menu and Brushes palette menu after you restart Photoshop.

Note: You can also use the Preset Manager to rename, delete, and save libraries of preset brushes. For more information, see Managing libraries with the Preset Manager (Photoshop).