How to Back Up Photoshop Shortcuts and Workspaces

Upgrading Adobe Photoshop can occasionally overwrite or fail to migrate custom user settings, resulting in the loss of tailored workflows. Backing up your customized keyboard shortcuts and workspace layouts prior to running an update ensures you can quickly restore your preferred editing environment. This guide provides the direct steps to manually save, locate, and back up these critical configuration files on both Windows and macOS systems.

Step 1: Save and Back Up Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Photoshop allows you to export your keyboard shortcuts directly as a dedicated file.

  1. Open Adobe Photoshop.
  2. Navigate to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (or press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + K on Windows / Cmd + Option + Shift + K on macOS).
  3. In the dialog box, ensure your customized set is selected in the Set dropdown menu.
  4. Click the Save Set icon (the floppy disk icon) located next to the Set menu.
  5. Choose a secure directory outside the default Adobe installation folder, such as an external drive or cloud storage folder.
  6. The file will be saved with a .kys extension. Click Save, then click OK to close the dialog.

Step 2: Ensure Your Workspace Is Saved

Before backing up workspace files, make sure your active layout is formally registered.

  1. Arrange your panels and toolbars as desired.
  2. Navigate to Window > Workspace > New Workspace.
  3. Name your workspace, check the boxes for Keyboard Shortcuts, Menus, and Toolbar if you want them linked to this specific workspace, and click Save.

Step 3: Locate and Copy Workspace Files

Workspace layouts are stored as physical files in the system's application directory. You must copy these folders to a safe location.

On Windows:

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. Navigate to: C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [Current Version]\Adobe Photoshop [Current Version] Settings\ (Note: Enable "Hidden items" under the View tab if the AppData folder is not visible).
  3. Locate the WorkSpaces and WorkSpaces (Modified) folders.
  4. Copy these folders and paste them to an external drive or backup location.

On macOS:

  1. Open Finder.
  2. Click Go in the top menu bar, hold down the Option key, and select Library.
  3. Navigate to: Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [Current Version] Settings/
  4. Locate the WorkSpaces and WorkSpaces (Modified) folders.
  5. Copy these folders to your external backup destination.

Step 4: Comprehensive Settings Backup (Optional Fallback)

To preserve all user data—including custom brushes, actions, and general preferences alongside workspaces and shortcuts—copy the entire Adobe Photoshop [Current Version] Settings folder from the paths listed above to your backup drive.

Restoring Settings After an Upgrade

Once the update is complete:

  • Shortcuts: Return to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts, click the folder icon to load, and select your saved .kys file.
  • Workspaces: Paste your backed-up WorkSpaces folders into the corresponding directory for the newly installed Photoshop version, then relaunch Photoshop and select the workspace from Window > Workspace.