Photoshop CS2, also known as Photoshop 9, is shipping as of April 28, 2005. I've compiled these tips and frequently asked questions to help ease the transition for those of you upgrading from an earlier version.

More tips...

Be sure to visit Adobe's Photoshop Expert Center to register your copy of Photoshop and get access to the registered users area containing tips and tutorials, free downloads, and more.
The File Browser introduced in Photoshop 6 has been replaced by Adobe Bridge ? a separate application ? in Photoshop CS2.

Adobe Bridge is now included with all Creative Suite 2 applications. Explore the Bridge in my product tour of Adobe Bridge.

If you're upgrading from Photoshop 7 to Photoshop CS2, you can learn more about some of the features you skipped from Photoshop CS in my article, Favorite New Features in Photoshop CS.

Color management was completely revised in Photoshop 6.0. For more information on Color Management in all versions of Photoshop, refer to my collection of links on Photoshop color management.

In previous versions of Photoshop, you could easily correct many common errors by deleting the files that stored your preferences settings. This was commonly referred to as "Trashing your prefs". In Photoshop 6.0 and higher for Windows, many of the Photoshop preferences are now stored in the Windows registry.
? How To Restore Default Preferences In Photoshop

Transferring plug-ins...

Most plug-ins are compatible with newer Photoshop versions. However, you may need to reinstall your plug-ins to use them in the new version.

Simply moving the plug-ins to the new Photoshop plug-in folder will not always work. Since you'll probably need to reinstall them anyway, you might as well use this as an opportunity to plan for the future.
Rather than installing all your plugins to the default PlugIns folder, it's a good idea to create a separate folder for your plug-ins. This will make things easier when the next upgrade comes out, and it also makes it easier to selectively load and unload plug-ins on an as-needed basis. You can locate the central plug-in folder anywhere you like. Each time you install a plugin, install it to a subdirectory of this folder. For instance, on my computer I have the following directories:
G:\Plugins\AUTOFX
G:\Plugins\AV Bros
G:\Plugins\BladePro
G:\Plugins\PenTools
and so on...

To make these plug-ins available in Photoshop, all you need to do is create a shortcut or alias for the plug-in in the default Photoshop PlugIns folder. For details, see Managing Photoshop Plug-Ins with Shortcuts.

How to create a shortcut in Windows
Arrange Windows Explorer or My Computer so you can see both the source folder and the destination folder. Right click on the source folder and drag it to the destination folder. When you release the mouse button, you will get a pop-up menu with choices to copy, move or create a shortcut. Choose the option to create a shortcut.

How to create an alias on MacOS
Press Command+L in OS X and Command+M in Classic.

More of this feature:
? Part 1: Do's & Dont's
? Part 2: Upgrade Q&A
? Part 3: FAQs Continued, Notable Changes
? Part 4: You are here

Questions? Comments? Post in the Forum!