Cleaning up Brush Files

[Julie Magerka]

I have reached the point where I feel that I should delete all the brush files I have accumulated over the past few years. They are getting unwieldy to handle. I did try deleting with some I never used, but all I end up with is black circles in the brush tool dropdown list in PSP.

Then, there are the brushes I THINK I added that don't show up on that list but they are in the Brush folder in PSP.

This has bothered me for some time, but Carole's mention of the article What File Goes Where in the newsletter got me going on this.

Does anyone have a surefire system at keeping those files organized and cleaned up? I've searched on the Blog and other places and can't find what I might need to read....please!

[Cassel]

Yes.

The blobs you see are likely because one of the two files is missing. You might have accidentally deleted the other but more likely, you didn't save it where it is supposed to go (maybe yu didn't know about the BrushTip_ file since it ends in .pspScript). You can always "import" them and PSP will create the missing file for you.

You can also use sub-folders for the brushes, always making sure you have both files together. So you can have a sub-folder for my corner punches, one for the stitching brushes, one for watercolor brushes, etc. That way, if you know what you want to use, you can always change the Category on top to the sub-folder you want to browse, instead of "All", which is then quite long to scroll. You can even point PSP to only some sub-folders if you don't want it to load them all. For example, if you have brushes for specific holidays (like Christmas), you might not need them in June.

[Julie Magerka]

7 minutes ago, Cassel said:

Yes.

The blobs you see are likely because one of the two files is missing. You might have accidentally deleted the other but more likely, you didn't save it where it is supposed to go (maybe yu didn't know about the BrushTip_ file since it ends in .pspScript). You can always "import" them and PSP will create the missing file for you.

You can also use sub-folders for the brushes, always making sure you have both files together. So you can have a sub-folder for my corner punches, one for the stitching brushes, one for watercolor brushes, etc. That way, if you know what you want to use, you can always change the Category on top to the sub-folder you want to browse, instead of "All", which is then quite long to scroll. You can even point PSP to only some sub-folders if you don't want it to load them all. For example, if you have brushes for specific holidays (like Christmas), you might not need them in June.

It just seems like so much work to get this sorted out! Now I am confused because of the two file types that go together (brushtip & pspscript). You're right, when I was trying to delete some unused brushes I very likely deleted only ONE filetype. I will have to tackle this patiently. Thanks, Carole.

[Rene Marker]

I sorted mine to sub-folders like Carole suggested. I don't have many brushes so it didn't take that long to do. Now when I do get new brushes, I set them up in Windows in a sub-folder in the Brushes folder right away.

[Cassel]

33 minutes ago, Julie Magerka said:

It just seems like so much work to get this sorted out! Now I am confused because of the two file types that go together (brushtip & pspscript). You're right, when I was trying to delete some unused brushes I very likely deleted only ONE filetype. I will have to tackle this patiently. Thanks, Carole.

One thing I found out is the the BrushTip_ file that ends in .PspScript, refers to the file name of the .PspBrush file. If you might have changed the name of that file (say, you want to rename them so they had the designer's name or some other way to be meaningful), that change has to also be done INSIDE the .PspScript file, otherwise, you get that blob. 

I have done that mistake when I tried to organize brushes!

[Julie Magerka]

45 minutes ago, Cassel said:

One thing I found out is the the BrushTip_ file that ends in .PspScript, refers to the file name of the .PspBrush file. If you might have changed the name of that file (say, you want to rename them so they had the designer's name or some other way to be meaningful), that change has to also be done INSIDE the .PspScript file, otherwise, you get that blob. 

I have done that mistake when I tried to organize brushes!

I don't think I've ever renamed any brushes, but I'll watch out for that.

[Corrie Kinkel]

I have recently put all my supplies as brushes, gradients etc in a separate folder called My PSP supplies and pointed the PSP version I use to that masterfile which is outside PSP and it is backed-up. And it was a lot of work, getting all the brushtips and matching scripts there from the different PSP versions I have. When I started PSP in the beginning of 2020 I didn't quite now how to do that, but now I have managed it! However I'm not finished yet, now I have to tackle how to make subfolders and point PSP to those. I also have asked a question for the upcoming Q&A about where some supplies are hidden by PSP in the program files. 

[Rene Marker]

I did that as well Corrie only it screwed up everything for me. So many different things to detail it all out. So I put everything back to where PSP wants it (the numbered files PSP creates in the Program Data files) and the personal files in Documents for user created files. For now I am putting anything I obtain into the user files for one version that I use the most then go into my other versions of PSP and direct them to use those files.

Maybe someday I'll get brave enough to try it again but for now I've found a solution that works for me.

[Cassel]

11 minutes ago, Rene Marker said:

I did that as well Corrie only it screwed up everything for me. So many different things to detail it all out. So I put everything back to where PSP wants it (the numbered files PSP creates in the Program Data files) and the personal files in Documents for user created files. For now I am putting anything I obtain into the user files for one version that I use the most then go into my other versions of PSP and direct them to use those files.

Maybe someday I'll get brave enough to try it again but for now I've found a solution that works for me.

That is strange. Although one issue might be duplicates since supplies included in the data folder might be the same from one version to another. When you point PSP to a different file location, it does not usually include anything in the data folder. Even if you "import from previous version", it does not consider the data folder. Although they are often the same, it is not ALWAYS the case. For example, some picture tubes in PSP9 have not been included in subsequent versions.

The suggestion to have "all supplies" outside of PSP, mostly means the ones in Documents. Having all in one folder has several advantages:

• supplies are available in multiple versions at the same time, if you are using more than one version.
• as soon as you add new supplies, they are immediately available in all the versions pointing to that folder
• if you uninstall one version, there is no risk of losing supplies you have created/purchased/downloaded. Although you are asked if you want to remove those folders when uninstalling, it is not 100% sure. It happened to me ONCE.

The only inconvenient I found is that some supplies are somewhat version-dependant. For example brushes used in older versions could only be 500 pixels. Then, in version X, it went up to 999 pixels, and in X8, it went up to 3000 pixels. This means that if you download a brush that is 1500 pixels, you cannot use it in versions older than X8, even if the File Location points to the folder where they are. In that case, you might want to make sure to identify the folder by the Brush size (I offer brushes with the suffix -999 for larger ones and -500 for the smaller ones).

[Rene Marker]

It was multiple issues and I think it was because of the actual computer. I was having all kinds of issues with that one. I could only have one program open at a time and that really hurt my scrapping process. Because of that all of my programs were freezing all the time. That computer actually had problems from the beginning, I just didn't realize how deep they went. The guy that helps me with tech stuff figured it was a lost cause. So I bought a new one and haven't had issues since.

Basically what I am doing is instead of the resources folder, I'm using the folders in Documents as that folder only just putting new stuff in one version and pointing all versions (oldest is X7) to those folders. So in a way, it is the same as you but located in a different place. I also have a copy of those folders on an EHD as a backup.

[Julie Magerka]

So yesterday I spent a couple of hours and did the dirty deed! It was laborious and challenging, but it worked! I created categories within the PSP version Brushes folder. I kept getting all kinds of warnings about duplicate files, but I just closed those and kept going. Then I shut down everything, did a restart, and OMG, the brushes were all sorted within PSP!!! I also got rid of lots of brushes I had downloaded for free but didn't use, and found some others that I had mistakenly put in the Scripts-Restricted b/c of the file extension! No wonder they didn't work for me....

Thanks for helping me out, much appreciated. I feel calmer now.