Viewing and using brush files

You can view brush files in Manage mode just like fonts or other files. This means that you can assign ratings or organize them just like any other file in ACDSee 12. Because many .abr files are actually groups of images in one file, you need to open them in View mode to see the individual images.

ACDSee Photo Manager BTN FileList Brushes Viewing and using brush files

This icon indicates an .abr brush file in ACDSee 12.

To view brush files:

In Manage mode, navigate to the folder containing your brush files.

  • To see just the top image in any .abr file, hover over the thumbnail to activate the pop-up, or click it to see the image in the Preview pane.
  • To view the other images in the .abr file, double-click it to open it in View mode. The file opens in View mode showing the individual images in a pane on the left-hand side.
  • To see the number of images, and select them by number, click the down-arrow at the top of the sidebar, and then select the number of the image.
  • To scroll through the images, click the right and left arrows at the top of the sidebar, or on each image.

To use brush files in Adobe Photoshop:

With both Adobe Photoshop and ACDSee 12 open, drag the file from the File List (in Manage mode) onto the Photoshop window.

Even though nothing appears to happen, the brush is loaded into the Photoshop brush library. To view the new brushes, open the library and scroll to the bottom of the pane.

ACDSee Photo Manager tip Viewing and using brush files

To make it even easier to use brushes in Photoshop, you can configure it to be your default editor. Then you can use CTRL + E to open Photoshop and use the brush right away.

Viewing and using brush files