Adobe Photoshop has a huge fan following, and hence has thousands of designers who produce custom brushes (our collection of best Photoshop brushes), gradients, actions, patterns and layer styles to be installed for extra functionality.
When you download such files, you may not know how to install them on your computer. But do not worry – we have proper steps to install such extras on both Windows and Mac OS X. Most files are packaged into zip files for smaller file sizes. Before installing the files, you must extract them from their ZIP files – by double clicking the downloaded folder. Once installed, you must restart Photoshop for these brushes/gradients etc. to show up.
Presets folder
Most of the downloaded files are installed in appropriate folders within the Presets folder, whose location is as given below:
For Windows users:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop X\Presets\
where X is the version number for your version of Photoshop.
For Mac OS X users:
/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop X/Presets/
where username is your Mac OS X account user name.
Presets folder in Mac OS X (notice folders like Brushes, Actions etc.)
Install Photoshop brushes
Photoshop brushes have a .abr extension. Put those files into Brushes folder.
Install Photoshop gradients
Photoshop gradients have a .grd extension. Put those files into Gradients folder.
How to install Photoshop Layer styles
Photoshop brushes have a .asl extension. Put those files into Styles folder.
Installing patterns
Photoshop brushes have a .pat extension. Put those files into Patterns folder.
Photoshop actions
Photoshop brushes have a .atn extension. Put those files into Photoshop Actions folder.
Related reading
- How to install GIMP plugins, scripts, brushes and gradients
- Free Photoshop brushes
- Download free GIMP brushes (1400 brushes)
- Free Twitter patterns and texture backgrounds