Photoshop Brush Management - one idea

[GPS]

I had over 344 folders with over 1000 brush sets, and when viewed in PS the list would not fit on the screen. One solution mentioned is to use the free abr brush viewer app, but I was not too happy with the feel or functionality of it. So here is what I did - there may be better ways, but this may help other newbies like myself.

I took the 344 folders and reorganized them to 84 folders, named by category. Each folder contained anywhere from 1 to dozens of brush sets. In PS open the Brush Preset Manager, select all (Ctrl A) and delete to clear the current collection. Then in explorer (or whatever the Mac version of that is) open your first folder category. Sort by file type so all the abr files are at the top. Select 15 abr files and click Open. (15 is the max PS will open). PS opens up. Go to the PS brush preset manager and you will see all 15 brush sets there. Select all, and save all into 1 single new abr file in your folder. Repeat as needed, giving unique names to each. Close PS to clear memory of the old brush sets. I should have also mentioned that you need a shortcut to your external brush folder in your PS internal brush folder, which for me is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5 (64 Bit)\Presets\Brushes <shortcut here>.

When I was done, I was finally able to see all my zillions of brushes from within PS. BTW most of these brushes are more like clip art of course, nobody really needs that many actual brushes. But I do like having them there at the click of a button inside PS.

[Hoogle]

if only you were 2 days earlier lol
can you save an image of your brush library

[GPS]

Oh, I should have also mentioned that immediately after you create the consolidated new abr file, delete the original 15 sets, otherwise they will still try to show up in your brush preset manager. Of course before I started, I zipped up my originals for safety.

[Hoogle]

see I just load the sets I want then after every use I reset my brush tools all my extra brushes are not in adobes folders so no problems there

[GPS]

My problem was that I had so many sets I could not see them all in PS, and as I said I found scrolling through dozens of thumbnails or using abr viewer to be a pain in the butt - I wanted to find a way to have a quick thumbnail view available within PS. But, as with so many things PS, there are many paths - I am glad you found one that works for you.

[Carrie56]

The brush viewing is definitely one that ps could work on improving. I never use the same brushes for different projects it seems.