Switching from Photoshop to PhotoCraft: a practical migration checklist.
The move is less about installing an app and more about your files, your muscle memory and your clients. Here is the checklist, in the order that loses the least work.
PhotoCraft is an open-source image editor with layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, type, vectors and brushes, and its official page states it opens layered PSD and PSB files. If you are moving from a Photoshop subscription, that combination is what makes the move plausible. This checklist turns it into a safe, testable process.
The short answer
quotable summarySwitch by testing, not by believing. Install PhotoCraft alongside Photoshop, open five representative files from your own archive, verify the layer-level details that matter to your work, run two weeks of real jobs in parallel, and only then let the subscription lapse. Keep original files untouched, keep exporting in PSD or the format your client expects, and treat the first month as a hybrid period where Photoshop remains the reference implementation.
Before you install anything: the inventory
Write down the answers first — the whole migration is judged against this list.
- The formats you receive and deliver. Most Photoshop-centric work moves as PSD or PSB; note any TIFF, JPEG, PNG or raw-file endpoints your clients require.
- The features you actually touch weekly. Layer masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, type, vectors and brushes are PhotoCraft's stated surface. Anything beyond it — plugin-dependent effects, generative AI, Camera Raw pipelines — goes on the "will not transfer" list by default.
- The handoffs that pay you. Which files go to whom, in which format, and who has to reopen them. Migration failures are almost always handoff failures.
- Your plugin and preset dependencies. List them by name. Plugins do not travel between editors; presets sometimes do, format-permitting. Know what you are leaving before you leave it.
Moving your files
PhotoCraft opens layered PSD and PSB files, so in the common case your archive comes with you — no batch conversion, no export marathon. The discipline that keeps it safe:
1. Copy, never move. Your Photoshop-era originals stay exactly where they are, read-only, for at least one full billing cycle after the switch.
2. Test five files before trusting five hundred: heaviest layer-style stack, a mask-and-adjustment composition, a client-received PSD, an uncommon-font layout, and your most complex document overall.
3. Inspect layer by layer, not by thumbnail. Check that adjustment layers hold their settings, masks keep their edges, and type keeps its fonts — substitutions are the classic silent failure.
4. Round-trip once. Save a copy from PhotoCraft, reopen it in whichever tool your collaborator still uses, and compare. This single test predicts most real-world surprises.
5. Note anything that degrades and decide its fate: rebuild it in PhotoCraft's terms, keep that one file in Photoshop, or restructure the job so the fragile element disappears.
Rebuilding muscle memory
The honest part of a switch: the first week feels slower, and no comparison page can fix that. The official PhotoCraft surface — layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, type, vectors, brushes — maps to the core Photoshop workflows, but menu placements, shortcut defaults and dialog layouts are their own. Two habits shorten the ramp:
First, relearn by task, not by toolbar. For one real job, find each step's new home — mask, adjust, style, export — instead of touring every menu. Second, keep notes on anything that took longer than it should. After a week the notes turn into your personal shortcut sheet, and the ramp is over. The ArtCraft Discord community and the repository issue tracker are the right places to ask when a step has no obvious new home.
The two-week parallel plan
| Days | What you run | What proves it works |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Install PhotoCraft for your platform (macOS, Windows and Linux builds are published on the repository), open your five test files, inspect layer by layer. | A written list of what transferred cleanly and what did not. |
| 3–5 | Do one small, low-stakes real job entirely in PhotoCraft, exporting in the format your client expects. | The client's reopen test passes; nothing needed a rescue trip back to Photoshop. |
| 6–9 | Run your normal jobs in both apps: draft in PhotoCraft, keep Photoshop as the reference. Compare time and result quality per task. | Per-task notes: where PhotoCraft matched, where it fell short, where it was genuinely fine. |
| 10–13 | Move the real handoffs to PhotoCraft: deliver actual client files from it, after verifying each result reopens where it needs to. | Zero handoff failures across a full delivery cycle. |
| 14 | Decision point: migrate fully, stay hybrid, or stay on Photoshop. All three are legitimate outcomes of an honest test. | Your inventory list from day zero, answered line by line. |
Scope note: the plan is a testing schedule, not a claim about PhotoCraft's capabilities beyond its official feature list. Your own files are the evidence.
Working with clients during and after the switch
Nothing in a format change obliges you to announce it — PSD remains PSD. But the professional move is to tell collaborators what changed on your side, and to keep the original files untouched so any dispute can be re-verified in the reference tool. If a client's workflow hard-depends on Photoshop-specific behaviors you cannot honor, that job stays in Photoshop or that conversation happens early. The switch is yours; the contract is shared.
Evidence and editorial method
checked 2026-10-21Who wrote this: PhotoCraft Fan Guide editors, independent and unaffiliated with ArtCraft or Adobe. How: capability claims come from the official PhotoCraft product page and public repository; the migration method is standard editorial practice for tool switches, expressed as tests you run rather than numbers we invent.
What to verify yourself: current release notes before installing, the behavior of your own PSD and PSB files, and the terms of your Adobe subscription before cancelling anything.
Questions readers ask
Will my PSD files work in PhotoCraft?
PhotoCraft's official page states it opens layered PSD and PSB files. Which features inside a given file survive — layer styles, masks, adjustment layers, font references — depends on that file, so test representative files from your own archive before migrating anything important.
Should I cancel my Photoshop subscription on day one?
No. Run both editors through a test period — we suggest two weeks on real work — and cancel only when your representative files, handoffs and plugins have all been checked. Subscription plans usually renew monthly, so a short overlap is cheap insurance.
What is the safest way to keep working with clients during the switch?
Keep exchanging PSD and PSB files as before, keep the originals untouched, and verify each exported result reopens correctly in the tool your client actually uses. Tell collaborators what changed and keep one editor as the reference while you test.
What this article does not claim
It does not claim every PSD transfers perfectly, that PhotoCraft covers Photoshop's full feature surface, or that any specific schedule suits every workload. It publishes no benchmarks and no prices. It is an editorial checklist from a fan-made guide; the official sources remain the authority.