PaintShop Pro has been around for many years, first as a Jasc program, then as a Corel one. The structure of the program has remained pretty much the same over the years, at least since PSP7, which is the first one i used.
How many versions?
Over time, users have upgraded their PaintShop Pro for various reasons, whether it was to simply keep up with the newest version, to take advantage of some new features and tools, or because their operating system is no longer supporting their older version.
Automatic folders
Upon installation, PaintShop Pro will create a series of folders for you to put all the resources you want. Although it is not the best way, in my opinion, to save those supplies (read more about Configuring your PSP resources), that is the way the installation goes. Actually, it is not a terrible option if someone has only one version!
Where are those supplies?
When you first use your PaintShop Pro, you will find some resources already loaded in the program, yet, those extra folders are empty. Why is that? That is because some other folders are created inside the PaintShop Pro installation, and those folders already are loaded with supplies. Depending on the version you are installing, you might have more or less of them. For example, in version X has 47 picture tubes, version X4 has 357 and version X7 has 67 (plus additional content that you can download from the Corel site). Some of those supplies are the same, while others differ.
How can I use those supplies?
Can you use all the supplies from any previous version in a new installation? Of course, you can. You can point the program through the File > Preferences > File location, like in the tutorial mentioned above. One possible problem is that the program will likely encounter some duplicates for supplies that are common among different versions. In that case, you could copy all those supplies from the individual installations and put them all in one “master set of folders”, and point your new version to them.
What if I need to uninstall older versions?
If you need to remove older installations of PaintShop Pro, maybe because you need more disk space, or maybe because those versions are not compatible with your newer operating system, take a few minutes to copy those supplies and save them somewhere else, before uninstalling those versions. This will ensure that you can use those older resources that might no longer be included in newer PSP installations.
I cannot find the Brushes folder
Oh yes! starting at version X1, Corel changed the name of the folders in the program installation (not the empty folders it created for you). So it might be a little harder to figure out what supplies are in which folder, so here is a little cheat sheet to help you:
| Previous name | Recent name | Previous name | Current name | |
| Brushes | Corel_01 | Picture Frames | Corel_09 | |
| Bump Maps | Corel_02 | Picture Tubes | Corel_10 | |
| Deformation Maps | Corel_03 | Preset Shapes | Corel_11 | |
| Displacement Maps | Corel_04 | Selections | Corel_12 | |
| Environment Maps | Corel_05 | Styled Lines | Corel_13 | |
| Gradients | Corel_06 | Swatches | Corel_14 | |
| Masks | Corel_07 | Textures | Corel_15 | |
| Patterns | Corel_08 | Mixer Pages | Corel_16 |
Isn’t it great that those supplies provided by PaintShop Pro can still be used in other versions instead of being lost in time? This should allow you to collect more and more resources without going to outside sources. But of course, you will probably want to add to your library of brushes, frames, tubes, masks, gradients, etc. Check out the Resources section of the Campus to find more sources for new supplies. Happy PSPing!
