Web Sharp Panel Version History

New: the top-right flyout menu has a new "Show crop overlay options" option, which may be used to hide the "Crop Overlays" button and tab in settings. This helps reduce clutter, and allows you to show more buttons for your saved settings. As of Web Sharp Pro v5, the Crop Overlays are almost never needed and the quick export approach is almost always simpler. Note that even if you hide this interface option, images with crop overlays will still be managed correctly - so you may safely remove this for your new work without having to worry about conflicts with images you've worked on in the past.
New: The flyout menu (top-right four bars icon) has an option to create generic masks. This makes it easy to apply the same local masking of HDR, sharpening, or grain every time you export from the source image. This allows you to change crops, resolution, and re-export without having to customize these results again. It also helps avoid the need for the "leave image open" workflow when working in a batch. This includes an option to create a generic mask for the "enhance SDR to HDR" workflow (and it will remember the HDR group opacity).
New: When exporting an HDR image and using the "leave open" option, the panel will show a "darken to" button. This may be used to show a darkened preview of your image so that you may work with images which content HDR values above the limits of your display. For example, you might use the "enhance SDR to HDR" workflow on a computer with no HDR support in order to create an enhanced image that others may see on Instagram, etc. You may option-click the preview button to set options for this preview. The button will list the number of stops of HDR headroom assumed for your display and will darken the image only as much as is needed to avoid blown highlights.
New: "Threads (full vertical)" template. This allows the view to click on the image and use the full screen of a smart phone such as the iPhone 16 Pro.
Updated: Added support for future versions of PS.
Updated: Cropping and HDR tone mapping choices are now cached. So even if you do not save the source file, you should have access to easily reuse the same settings. This is ideal to avoid needing to save a TIF if you do all your work on RAW files in LR. It also provides some backup if you forget to save the parent file, or do not wish to in batch operations. However, there are a couple limitations to the cache: (1) it applies only to the computer you use and cannot be synced to other computers, (2) it is wiped if you reset plugin setting, and (3) the cache files will eventually be cleared after a period of time so as to minimize the disk space used. So it is still best to save the parent file if you wish to guarantee you will have be able to easily reuse the same cropping / tone mapping in the future or on another computer.
Updated: Soft proofing for HDR images will now warn you if your image is excessively bright. Using too many pixels in the HDR range (especially the brightest pixels) is often considered distracting or unattractive by the viewer. HDR should be reserved for relatively small portions of the image for best artistic results. When your image is too bright (and you hover over "Sharpen" to soft proof), a dismissible popup window will provide a warning and feedback on brightness. The panel background color will change and any panel info tip for settings will list details, so that you will still get a visible indicator even if you dismiss that popup permanently.
Updated: Added detection / correction to manage excessively complex ACR info which may affect performance and not provide any benefit to the image.
Updated: Added a warning message if the user tries to back up the panel data to the source folder (which is not a valid option).
Updated: Optimizations for "enhance SDR to HDR" to better manage bright images.
Updated: Added workaround for PS bug where overlay is not visible during interactive cropping.
Updated: top-right flyout / Utilities / Import now shows a popup dialog for greater clarity, and adds an option to restore from automatic PRF preference backups.
Fixed: An error with some group layer configurations.

New: when using “enhance SDR to HDR”, you may customize the HDR upgrade locally (via layer mask) when leaving the output open to customize the results as you like. Note that you should not edit the SDR sharpening mask, it will automatically be copied from the HDR mask (so that you only have to customize a sharpening mask once).
Updated: <alt/option>-click "Sharpen" will invoke interactive cropping / tone mapping even if your settings are for "first time only". This applies to any cropping mode (but not if your settings request any "keep full image / fill" mode. [Note that this short previously was used to ignore crop overlays, and you may simply make the overlay hidden (eyeball icon in layers panel) to ignore them.]
Updated: Saved settings now breaks out categories for the folder location vs other file choices (name, metadata, etc). This helps provide more control over where to save vs what to include in the file. For example, you can create presets without saving the folder location so that all batch exports use the current target folder in your main settings.
Updated: Optimized results for Threads.
Updated: You may now create a generic HDR channel in your source image to be used with all exports. This is intended to allow you to locally customize where to apply "enhance SDR to HDR" in a way that can be reused for any future exports. Just create an alpha channel named "HDR mask" (or use the button for it in settings). Note that the name is insensitive to capitals / spaces.
Updated: Settings layout splits folder and file name / metadata choices into separate blocks to help reflect how the settings are saved.
Updated: Watermark sizing can now be done relevant to width or long edge (in addition to height).
Updated: Minor improvement to watermark size accuracy as % of final image.
Updated: Flyout / Tool tips & info / Settings Summary now has a more clean style.
Updated: When an image has been "left open" to refine before saving, most panel interface elements are now greyed out to make it more clear that changing panel settings will not affect the subsequent saving of the image.
Updated: Adding warning to prevent selecting the panel's live data folder when exporting preferences.
Updated: Added a workaround for a rare PS bug affecting metadata.
Updated: Added defensive code to help mitigate a couple of rare PS timing bugs.
Updated: Cleaned up some progress indicators.
Updated: Optimized "enhance SDR to HDR".
Updated: Faster exporting of documents containing smart filters.
Updated: Improved support for tone mapping rotated smart objects.
Updated: Minor performance updates for some images containing smart objects.
Updated: build process.
Fixed: When using overlay templates, drop shadow would be forced on from general preferences rather than use the value from the overlay template itself.
Fixed: Potential out of bounds SDR tone mapping for vibrant colors.
Fixed: When removing sensitive metadata and keeping the date, the full hours/min/seconds were not retained.
Fixed: An error using the "long edge" template without a fill under some rare conditions.
Fixed: Preference backups are improperly named.
Fixed: An error protecting sky with HDR images.

Updated: Added a "minimize moire" option in Settings / Sharp. In rare cases (such as a brick wall or other fine detail), this may help reduce moire. If you do not have such an issue, it's probably best to leave this off to obtain the greatest detail in the final image.
Updated: Added support to record "Batch" as an action. Settings in the popup are remembered and reused. If you request interactive playback or the action requests saved settings which are no longer valid, the popup will show to let you choose batch settings.
Fixed: An error if the source document contained all layers in a single group.
Fixed: an error exporting a single layer file if the layer is not selected.
Fixed: An error processing a 32-bit image with transparency.
Fixed: An error creating generic masks in 32-bit images.
Fixed: An error exporting 32-bit images with a generic mask.

New: HDR proofing when hovering over the "Sharpen" button (if enabled in the HDR section under Settings / File). This helps review for excessively bright highlights, or for shadows which may be too dark to be reliably seen across various devices or in bright ambient light.
Updated: Basic action recording of the "Batch" button is now supported. This just records use of the button and applicable modifier keys, not details such as specific sharpening settings or files. This is intended to allow you to invoke the Batch button from a shortcut key (ie single step action).
Updated: Similar to the generic masks for overlays, you may now create generic sharpening and grain masks in your source image to be used with all exports. This feature helps further eliminate the need to use crop overlays. Just create an alpha channel named "sharpening mask" or "grain mask" and it will be used to apply sharpening / grain per your custom channel. Note that the name is insensitive to capitals / spaces.
Updated: Settings / Sharp includes buttons to add the new generic sharp/grain channels to the current image. You may create those channels manually, this is just offered for your convenience.
Updated: Watermarks now support simple text watermarks.
Fixed: An error sharpening an image with a locked Smart Object.
Fixed: Watermark thumbnails do not show in settings.
Fixed: An error picking batch source files from a network drive on Windows.
Fixed: An error using generic sharp/grain masks when "enhance SDR to HDR" option is enabled.
Fixed: A rare error using overlay templates after prior selection of fill for out of bounds areas.

Updated: Improved compression of TIF exports.
Updated: Improved handling of unusual 32-bit colorspaces.
Updated: Optimized saving via ACR for SDR images.
Updated: "Enhance SDR to HDR" mode optimized for improved highlight color and detail.
Updated: Optimized HDR conversions for dark images.
Fixed: An error when re-importing quick export templates.
Fixed: TIF may be saved with an unexpected layer name when using watermarks.
Fixed: Colorspace annotation added even when annotations are not requested.
Fixed: "SDR" base layer ignored in 32-bit export.

Updated: Added action recording support for the Sharpen button. This can be used to help automate a batch of images where you wish to take some action and then finish with Web Sharp Pro. Note that playback of this action is just like clicking the button in the panel. It will ignore the settings which were active when you recorded the action. [requires PS v25.2 or later to avoid a known PS bug]
Updated: Added action recording support for the 3 optional saved settings buttons. This is similar to the previous option, but gives you some control over the settings which will be used. When played back, these will invoke the saved settings of the same name. If the settings have changed since recording, this will impact playback. The settings used at the time of recording are not stored in the recorded action. [requires PS v25.2 or later to avoid a known PS bug].
Fixed: Cannot change drop shadow option when using keep full image (fill with blur).
Fixed: Unnecessary sky protection mask may be created when 0% sharpening is used.
Fixed: An error when processing a grayscale image.
Fixed: Unnecessary popup asking to save changes when using a watermark.

Updated: Added 2 and 3-column splits for IG quick exports.
Updated: Threads column splits are hidden by default in new installations. Go to Settings / Quick Export / Edit size... to make them visible if you wish to use them.
Updated: Preview for SDR settings made in LR may be used. This allows you to make these adjustments in LR. This helps eliminate potential rework when using LR for advanced conversion to HDR. If the image has already been exported with WSP, the settings used with WSP will become the new default.
Fixed: Incorrect file name when using layer comps.
Fixed: Added some mitigations for known PS v25.x concerns.

Updated: Added a mitigation for Capture One integration ("-delay##"). Detailed in tutorials for the plugin integration.
Updated: Added support for rotating crops at arbitrary angles. You may use this to improve alignment issues with slight rotation. These crops will not be remembered for future use, to avoid unexpected results.
Updated: Improved handling of unusual characters or long names when using title for the file name.
Fixed: An error instead of guidance when the user make an invalid crop.
Fixed: An error when the source image was a single top-level group.
Fixed: Using marquee to pre-crop did not work with the IG auto vertical template.
Fixed: Cropping data was saved when using pre-crop, which is not a repeatable use case.
Fixed: An error when tone mapping HDR to SDR
Fixed: An error running G-Bench tests.
Fixed: Watermark buttons were too small.
Fixed: "Load" button for settings was too small.
Fixed: An error when using "compare" in G-Bench

Updated: "Interactive crop when filling" now remembers previous crop location, so you can easily reuse or refine that cropping the next time you export.
Updated: Added a workaround to address a PS bug where interactive cropping may get stuck on Windows.
Updated: Added message to notify when content-aware fill is used as a fallback if generative fill is not available.
Updated: Added support for Generative Expand in PS beta.
Fixed: Generative Fill offered on some versions of PS where not available.
Fixed: Unexpected results with some border / fill combinations.
Fixed: An error message if exporting with a border and opting to use asymmetric borders.
Fixed: Exporting a cropped image with a border may ask for a fill type.

New: You may now use Generative Fill (AI) to fill any gaps when exporting images in aspect ratios which would otherwise result in cropping. This allows you to add a little more to the edges of your images to fit the needs of specific platforms, without cropping or using letterbox to fill the gaps. Go to Settings / Quick Export and under the crop/fill dropdown select "Keep full image (fill via Generative Fill)". Note that this feature is not supported for HDR and content-aware will be used instead for HDR images. Note: this feature requires PS v24.6+.
New: "Interactive Crop when filling" option allows you to move the image around to determine where generative fill or content-aware fill will be used. For example, you could move the image down in the frame so that filling only applies to the sky and not the foreground. This option is only relevant for generative or content-aware fill. Other types of fill (solid, blur) are symmetrical by default.
Updated: Crop/fill quick export options now allow you to select "Keep full image (fill via Content-Aware Fill)". Note that this feature is not supported for HDR and content-aware will be used instead for HDR images.
Updated: Settings / Quick Export now includes an option to split the final saved image into columns. This allows simple splitting for social media sites without the need for overlay templates.
Updated: Added support for content-aware fill during interactive cropping.
Updated: The 3-column Threads template is no longer fixed to 16x9 so that it can more fully utilize the display vertically.
Updated: Refined Threads templates for improved 2, 4, and 5 column output (improved iPhone rendering).
Updated: Added a workaround to mitigate a cropping bug.
Updated: Improved rendering of transparent pixels.
Fixed: Shadows in transparent images may be altered.
Fixed: When using "leave open" on a new export, a previous export may be overwritten. (When re-saving the same export, it is intended to overwrite with subsequent use of "SAVE", but not if the file left open was newly created).
Fixed: Incorrect icon in "move down" for quick export template editor.
Fixed: Request to use auto color with out of bounds color may instead use the default fixed color.
Fixed: Request for solid fill during out of bounds overlay crop is ignored.
Fixed: The option to choose the folder was not working correctly when leaving the file open.

Updated: Added multiple Quick Export templates for the new Threads social network: a dynamic smart template for a single image and templates for automatic column splits (with various aspect ratios as noted). Note: when uploading to Threads, you should click the desired order of the image during image selection - note the blue bubbles there show numbers. Also note that Threads reduces the resolution of images when uploading several at a time, so these templates adapt accordingly. If Threads is upgraded to support higher resolution with multiple images in a single post, I'll update to take advantage of it (still looks pretty good now, just unfortunate).
Updated: Tall / wide arrow from ratio template no longer added to file name.
Updated: When picking files for batch export, the last folder used is remembered to make it easy to reuse.
Updated: When using "choose folder while saving", the location is remembered to make it easy to reuse.
Updated: File name no longer gets "_auto" added to the name when using Lightroom integration and annotations are turned off in settings.
Updated: "Good" quality for a TIF will now convert 16-bit to 8-bit depth.
Updated: G-Bench now requests CSV file name at the start, which makes it easier to name when making system changes to test performance impact.
Updated: Increased size of the Quick Export editor to make it easier to scan long lists.
Updated: When batch exporting with various presets, the progress indicator shows settings currently being processed.
Fixed: Cropping gets stuck in an endless loop if interactive crop is not done proportionally.
Fixed: Running a preset with an invalid folder prompts for an export location even when choosing the option to save in the source location (so the default is not needed).
Fixed: Choose folder while saving does not work when using "leave open".
Fixed: Clicking to pick new folder did not respond if previous folder became invalid and there were other options.
Fixed: Processing may be delayed for a source image with smart objects using filters.
Fixed: An error message may occur when a folder picker was last used with a folder which no longer exists.
Fixed: An image with transparency may be filled.

Updated: Save via ACR name includes potentially incorrect annotations for color space and quality (which may be changed during the ACR export).
Updated: Updated the AVIF names on Windows to provide clarity when choosing the 3rd-party plugin vs ACR.
Updated: Mitigation for a UXP bug which may cause the plugin to become unresponsive.
Updated: New guidance for ACR export via AVIF. It's faster if you just click ctrl/cmd-S and <return> twice (assuming you do not need to change the HDR toggle).
Updated: "Choose folder while saving" option is ignored when saving via ACR as the export location is determined in ACR.
Updated: Simpler feedback for bad profiles and guidance on how to repair on MacOS.
Updated: Improved tolerance for some bad profiles.
Fixed: A nuisance warning if upgrading from a version older than v5.4.2.
Fixed: "Enhance SDR to HDR" checkbox may not be available.
Fixed: AVIF option not available via Save via ACR for an SDR source image.
Fixed: Quality annotation added to TIF / EXR files, which is not relevant as these are lossless.

Note: v5.6.3 is skipped (was never released).

New: Added an option to help export AVIF via ACR, which enables support for AVIF exports on MacOS (as well as on Windows if the 3rd-party AVIF file format plugin). This avoids the need to create a temporary TIF file, open it manually via ACR, and then dispose of the temporary TIF. It also avoids the need to change default ACR settings. While a completely automated AVIF export is not possible with the current capabilities of Photoshop / ACR, this lets you take full advantage of the other features of Web Sharp Pro (social media templates, custom crops, watermarks, borders, etc). This feature is ideal for exporting a few images. For bulk exports, the fastest method is still to use temporary TIF files (as this avoids the need to use the ACR interface for each image). [requires ACR v15.4 or later]
New: Settings / File / "Enhance SDR to HDR" allows you to easily enhance any standard image. This feature will convert an SDR image to HDR and significantly enhance it by automatically expanding the dynamic range in an intelligent way. This may be useful for enhancing your existing edits, converting stock photos, enhancing images created by AI tools like MidJourney, etc. See https://gregbenzphotography.com/hdr/ for more information on HDR images.
Updated: Guidance message when a new default folder must be picked is now dismissible.
Updated: If using "leave open" and the intended folder location becomes missing/invalid, "SAVE" will now prompt for a location instead of showing an error.
Updated: Mitigation to avoid the potential the plugin could be unresponsive with a future PS update.
Fixed: Quick overlay for manual sizes is locked to document ratio.

Updated: Added some guidance messages for interactive steps (they will show in the panel, you may need to move any popup dialog to see the text in the panel).
Updated: File setting to "choose folder while saving". When this is enabled, a folder picker will be offered to let you choose where to save the output as you create it. The folder picker will default to the output folder, so that dropdown is still relevant.
Updated: Reduced some permissions prompts for simplicity.
Updated: The list of saved files now indicates the final file size.
Updated: Some minor enhancements to interactive cropping.
Updated: Increased the minimum version of Photoshop to v24.2.0.
Updated: Added a mitigation to help manage a PS bug where interactive cropping get stuck.
Fixed: transparency is not preserved when using supporting formats (PNG, TIF, webP).
Updated: Replaced the simple alert for saved settings with dismissible popups.
Fixed: An error message when cancelling a naming conflict dialog.
Fixed: An error using "Crop Overlay" if the setting for "dimmed cropped areas" is set to 0%.
Fixed: Initially active document does not remain so when processing a batch of open images (and not leaving any open).
Fixed: Previous interactive crop may be reused after switching to auto-centered crop.
Fixed: Layer / filter masks may be locked for editing when using grain and leaving the image open.
Fixed: "Show folder after export/save" was not used if the image was left open.
Fixed: "Save" button may show for a finished image.
Fixed: Exported image may be larger than necessary.
Fixed: An error when using "save for web" and "save to source folder".

Updated: Significant changes to the settings interface to provide clarity and support new HDR options. Sharpening and grain have been moved to their own tab, and HDR controls are more explicit for clarity and control.
Updated: Improved support for tone mapping HDR images. When you subsequently export the same HDR image in a format which requires tone mapping, your previous tone mapping choices will be retained so that you may quickly and easily re-apply the same work to new exports (such as different sizes or when you need to re-export after updating the source image).
Updated: Improved support for 8 or 16-bit HDR images created with Lumenzia to ensure consistent HDR output.
Updated: Improved sharpening quality for HDR images.
Updated: Added P3 support for Windows.
Updated: Increased minimum version of Photoshop to v24.1.0.
Updated: Settings summary now also notes tone mapping (when applicable for a 32-bit image).
Updated: Support for the OpenEXR ("exr") file format when exporting HDR images (intended for CG artists).
Updated: Support for the ACES CG Linear color space when exporting HDR images (intended for CG artists).
Updated: "protect sky" option is greyed out when sharpening is set to 0, for clarity.
Fixed: A layer named "SDR" may receive unnecessary tone mapping.
Fixed: Transparency was not preserved when exporting an image to webP, PNG, and TIF formats.
Fixed: May need to approve an export folder twice.

Updated: When batching with some documents are left open, the batch is sequenced to minimize memory impact.
Updated: The free panel now also saves custom interactive crops.
Updated: Batch popup now has a text input field to add an optional suffix to all images exported in the batch.
Updated: Settings / General now includes an option to append a custom suffix to the file name. This allows you to name the file differently from the template or to append simple text without needing to turn on the option for all annotations.
Updated: Re-ordered some general settings to put renaming options together.
Updated: When clicking "Save" for an image open, it now saves to the location intended by the prefs use to create it, rather than the active prefs at the time of save. This is more consistent with user intent when using Batch to export via multiple presets.
Updated: Reloading saved prefs no longer affects the dropdown list of folder locations, it stays constant for any prefs.
Updated: Performance optimizations.
Fixed: An error when exporting a batch where some saved settings request to leave images open.
Fixed: Exporting a batch with mixed settings with some marked "leave image open" may have unexpected results.
Fixed: Settings summary shows the "save to" location as the default folder when save to source is selected and is valid for the active image.
Fixed: Output folder list may be unresponsive after importing preferences.
Fixed: Pinterest not exported at expected height.
Fixed: Tooltips were not working in the free panel.

Updated: The Facebook and Instagram dropdown options no longer automatically fill the frame. Instead, you may choose filling or cropping like any other template via Settings / Quick Export (with the new save/load settings, the old behavior is no longer necessary and this change gives you the freedom to crop instead of fill when desired).
Updated: The free panel now includes Facebook, Instagram, Flickr/500px, and Pinterest templates. These should be used instead of manually created crop overlays, which have been removed from the free panel.
Updated: Option to set file name from saved settings name instead of quick export dropdown (when using batch or auto-processing).
Updated: Save / load settings now breaks out a separate options for color/quality settings vs file metadata. This helps target exports for HDR or other scenarios where color and quality tend to be related.
Updated: The deletion confirmation dialog for auto-processing now has an option to scroll in case you have a long list of files you wish to review before making a decision.
Updated: Template name for "Flickr / 500px" no longer references the output size in the dropdown (simpler and more consistent with other templates).
Updated: If the current template requests a watermark which is not valid, a warning message is now shown instead of cancelling the export.
Fixed: Save / load settings did not save soft proofing options.
Fixed: Loading settings did not use the saved output folder as expected.
Fixed: Watermark buttons not properly updated when last watermark was deleted.
Fixed: Custom buttons may not be labeled correctly at startup.
Fixed: Quick export shows may not be deleted as requested.
Fixed: Instagram (keep full image) template may fill with a color other than white if no border is specified.
Fixed: DPI may not update as requested in settings.

Updated: When using batch export with saved settings, <shift> click to toggle all saved settings at once.
Updated: When using batch export with saved settings, there is now an option to use saved settings name may be used instead of the quick export dropdown name.
Fixed: Height / Width inputs were not used correctly.
Fixed: Quick Export Template Editor "New Preset" button was unresponsive.
Fixed: An error message using overlay templates which use rows or columns.
Fixed: blur fill with solid border uses only blur fill.

New: Occasional reminder to backup preferences.
Updated: "Interactively convert to SDR" now remembers previous tone mapping (similar to the ability to remember previous crops). This makes it easier to export the same HDR image for SDR needs.
Updated: <alt-option>-clicking shortcut button to load prefs may show a message to confirm prefs were loaded.
Updated: Added help links to the settings dialog.
Updated: Move the crop overlays tab to the end of settings, as crop overlays won't be necessary as often with the v5 updates.
Updated: "Add copyright metadata" option remains unchecked if no sub-options are checked.
Updated: Bumped minimum Photoshop version to v24.0.
Updated: Watermark offset slider now snaps to nearest 5 pixels (hold ctrl/cmd while sliding to move by smaller amounts).
Fixed: If there are no layers selected in the source document, the first becomes selected.
Fixed: Manual HDR tone mapping may show an incorrect warning about merging.
Fixed: An error may be thrown when importing folder preferences.

Updated: Increased slider maximum for grain amount to 60%.
Updated: Settings / Quick Export now has a "DPI" dropdown where you can choose 72 or 300. This has no effect on the image pixels whatsoever, it's just metadata for those who prefer one or the other.
Updated: HDR exports now convert to the requested color space unless you choose "do not convert".
Updated: Instagram Story template renamed to include Reels and now rotates counter-clockwise.
Updated: HDR TIF now uses the requested color space. You may use "save / load settings" to create an HDR-specific template if desired.
Fixed: Processing a batch using multiple different watermarks may throw an error.
Fixed: TIF dual export does not output HDR if there is an SDR base layer.
Fixed: A source image with an alpha channel may produce an unusable TIF.
Fixed: When using batch with different settings and leaving an image open, the image left open uses current settings instead of those from the batch.
Fixed: Output folder is not listed correctly if previous folder list contains more than 10 items.
Fixed: An issue where the final image size may 1 pixel too large.
Fixed: Using "Save" twice with a TIF left open may throw an error.
Fixed: Unnecessary warning about auto-processing when running a manual batch.

New: Lightroom / Capture One integration. This allows you to rapidly process files from multiple different source folders at once. Click "Tutorials" for more details.
New: "Batch" now offers an option to iterate through saved settings you have saved (via "save/load settings" dialog). This lets you process your images multiple different ways all at once (such as to output several images with unique settings for Flicker, Instagram, etc). Note that this option is only offered if you have created presets via Save / Load Settings.
Updated: Interactive crops are now remembered. If you export again with the same image ratio, the interactive crop will start in exactly the same place you cropped it last time. This significantly reduces the need for crop overlays, to help simplify many workflows.
Updated: "Save / Load Settings" dialog now includes an option to add the first 3 presets as quick sharpening buttons in the main panel. When you click these, the saved settings will be used to immediately sharpen the current image. Or you may <alt/option>-click to load the settings without having to open the Save / Load Settings dialog at all.
Updated: "Batch" now includes an option to process just the active image. This is intended to allow you to use the new option to iterate settings easily on a single image (ie "batch" in this case is processing the same image multiple different ways).
Updated: Settings / Quick Export / Crop dropdown now differentiates interactive crops. "Crop (interactive: every time)" will always prompt you to crop interactively, though it will start from start from the last place you cropped. "Crop (interactive: first time)" will automatically apply the same crop if known, or let you interactively crop if there is no relevant previous cropping data in the source image. Previous crops apply when exporting with same aspect ratio, the original image has not been significantly cropped, and the source image was saved after exporting with a given crop (so that the information is retained).
Updated: If you fail to resize an interactive crop proportionally, you will now have the opportunity to try again.
Updated: Settings / Quick Export now includes an option to rotate the final output.
Updated: The Settings / Quick Export tab now includes an option to rotate the final image +/- 90 degrees. This helps reduce the need for crop overlays when exporting landscape-orientation images intended to be viewed on a mobile phone held sideways (such as on Instagram).
Updated: Save and update buttons in "Save / Load Settings" are now only available when relevant.
Fixed: The "keep full image" caused the wrong size output.
Fixed: Save / load settings "update" does not immediately update the footnote showing what is saved with the settings.
Fixed: An error when loading saved settings which request use of a watermark which is no longer available.
Fixed: When rotating final image with a watermark, the watermark was not rotated.
Fixed: "Show folder after export" shows the wrong folder when saving to the source location.
Fixed: An error in addition to warning when interactive cropping is inconsistent with the intended output.
Fixed: G-Bench may not show results if there were no open images.
Fixed: G-Bench throws an error if a saved CSV file included failed tests.
Fixed: An error message when processing large batches with "auto show the home screen" enabled.
Fixed: A bug which caused previously created Quick Export templates to be lost during migration. The v5.0 and v5.1 updates automatically back up your preferences and you can re-import them now. If you were affected, go to the flyout menu at top-right of the panel, Utilities. First, choose "export panel data (create backup)" to save everything you have currently. Then cmd/ctrl-click the red "Import panel data (overwrites existing prefs)" button. You will be prompted with the location of your backups, but will need to manually navigate there (due to UXP interface limitations) and manually pick the ".prf" file to import. There may be a couple, I'd start with the oldest, but as long as it works, you're fine.

Updated: Moved "Save / Load Settings" button from flyout menu to settings so that you can control everything within settings.
Updated: You may may double-click on a saved preset in the popup dialog's list to load it.
Updated: Custom settings dialog now includes an "update" button so you may update an existing preset without having to delete it.
Updated: Custom settings save dialog's category checkboxes are now sticky.
Updated: Template editor sharpening slider now snaps to nearest 10% (you may still hold ctrl/cmd for finer control if desired).
Updated: Default is now to proceed if there are overlay crops, but none of them are visible.
Updated: Custom settings list defaults to last position used during the session, to make it easier to quickly update or see which option was loaded.
Updated: Increased minimum PS version to v23.4.0.
Fixed: When selecting a new custom preset, the main panel's Quick Export template and size do not immediately reflect the new settings.
Fixed: When selecting a new quick export from the Settings popup, the main panel's Quick Export template and size do not immediately reflect the new settings.
Fixed: Auto color used instead of requested blur fill.
Fixed: Saving watermark settings may cause watermark errors when later loading the saved settings.
Fixed: Template editor did not set drop shadow value from currently selected template.
Fixed: Template editor did not use existing overlay values when editing the master template.
Fixed: An error when "use title for filename" setting was enabled for an image without a title.
Fixed: When saving a new preset for favorite settings, the name input may generate and unexpected error.
Fixed: Settings button may not respond if there are no open documents.
Fixed: Watermark may not be visible when using a secondary border.

New: Save and reload your favorite settings. This makes it easy to change multiple settings at once. For example, you can switch between using a Facebook export with a border and 100% sharpening to a Flicker export at full resolution with no sharpening. Go the flyout menu (top right four bars icon) for "Save / Load settings..." You may save preferences in any of several categories (similar to copying just specific settings in LR / ACR). When you subsequently go back to this menu and click on the preferences you saved, it will update the preference categories as you had saved them.
New: Import multiple watermarks. This allows you to easily toggle between different designs, sizes, etc. You may combine this with the new ability to save preferences in order to both the active watermark and preferences for its usage all at once.
New: Existing overlay templates may now be modified through the template editor. If the active layer is an overlay when you invoke the editor, the editor will be pre-populated with the values from the template. You'll have buttons to choose whether your updates replace the selected template or just add a new one.
New: Edit overlay border colors interactively by just double-clicking the layer thumbnail. You no longer need to put the border color into the layer name, just double-click the border layer's thumbnail to pick a new color. (Note that the template name still uses color for filling without a border, as there is no border layer to edit in such a template - but the color is no longer used for borders and may be removed from the template name).
Updated: Overlay templates now support secondary borders.
Updated: Overlay templates now support "full resolution" in a more flexible way. Specific dimensions are no longer added to the overlay template name. Whatever you have inside this crop overlay will be exported at its native resolution (ie cropped but not resized). This may be helpful if you leave extra pixels in your image to accommodate certain crops, but do not wish to include the full image area as your largest export.
Updated: An overlay border is now skipped if it is hidden. This allows you to easily toggle the use of border within a template.
Updated: "Remove sensitive metadata" now includes some sub-options to keep some metadata, such as the image capture date.
Updated: Removed extra gray in basic overlay template editor.
Updated: Optimized AVIF to further reduce the size of HDR images where possible (without impact to quality).
Updated: If a 32-bit image only has the bottom "SDR" layer visible, no HDR variant will be exported.
Updated: Added a button in "Utilities" to import panel preferences which were previously exported. This may help facilitate copying settings to your second computer or restoring from a backup.
Updated: Added M2 MacBook Pro data to flyout menu / Utilities / G-Bench.
Updated: Default backdrop for overlay template now uses partial transparency to help differentiate between templates and the backdrop.
Updated: Guidance is now provided if an overlay template requests to use a watermark (the "_wm" flag), but one has not been specified.
Updated: Crop overlays can now export full resolution crops. Create a template with no dimensions at all. The image will be cropped per the overlay but not resized in the export.
Updated: If the border flag for fill is updated, the border will be updated (a gradient coloring is shown when using fill auto or fill blur).
Updated: Improved edge quality under certain conditions.
Fixed: Overlay tips dialog text is cut off.
Fixed: Full resolution quick export does not show selection dimensions in the panel when Settings / Quick Export / Pre-crop to active selection is selected.
Fixed: Template editor buttons may be somewhat cut off when the row/column notes use two lines.
Fixed: An out of bounds overlay template may produce unexpected results.
Fixed: "noSharpGrain" added to file name even if "Add settings to file name" was unchecked.
Fixed: Overlay template does not properly resize when being used to keep full image for tall images.
Fixed: When leaving image open, green "save" button continues to show when it should not.
Fixed: Transparency not preserved when using TIF output.
Fixed: Did not see expected results when choosing to fill with blur and add a solid border.
Fixed: Overlay template request for drop shadow was ignored.
Fixed: An error if selecting to add copyright, but not adding any options.

New: Added support for AVIF exports on Windows (requires a free 3rd-party AVIF plugin). This allows significantly smaller files at the same quality level, as well as support for HDR (ie, preserving the look of 32-bit files from Photoshop). [Note: this feature is not available for MacOS as the plugin is Windows-only].
New: Feature to re-compress JPG images as AVIF (requires a free 3rd-party AVIF plugin). This can substantially reduce the size of your images for faster website loading, reduced bandwidth costs, smaller emails, etc. When using this option, the images will be processed to be visually nearly identical to the original source (no additional cropping, sharpening, borders, etc). This can be found under the flyout menu (top-right four bars icon in the panel). [Note: this feature is not available for MacOS as the plugin is Windows-only].
New: "Sharpen" soft proofing supports soft proof correction group like Lumenzia v11.3+. It will not create the group for you, but if you put a layer or group on the top of your document and name it "Soft Proof", it will toggle visible when soft proofing to help refine the image. This allows you to directly compare the original image (without soft proofing) to the corrected image (with soft proofing). Just add any corrections you need (such as an HSL layer to desaturate) to this group. Note: hold <shift> when you stop hovering over "Sharpen" to leave soft proofing on, so you can see it while making corrections.
Updated: "Sharpen" shows in red when the panel's soft proofing is active.

Updated: Soft proof when hovering over the "Sharpen" button. This allows you to see how the image may be changed when outputting in your requested color space (such as sRGB). This feature is off by default and may be enabled in a new dropdown in the panel's general settings (just right of the color space). You may choose between soft proofing or seeing a warning for out of gamut pixels.
Updated: Added guidance to help avoid problems when converting HDR to SDR.
Updated: When using dual SDR + HDR export and an interactive crop, the first crop is automatically applied on the 2nd version for simplicity and to ensure identical results.
Updated: When output has been left open and has not yet been saved, the "SAVE" button is shown as green to help make it clear the image needs to be saved.
Updated: Added tutorial link for G-Bench.
Updated: Added Microsoft Surface Pro 9 data to G-Bench.
Fixed: <ctrl/cmd>-Batch does not work as expected for layers in groups.
Fixed: An error using "Settings" if a destination folder was no longer valid.
Fixed: An error graphing results from Utilities / G-Bench benchmark tests.

Updated: Watermark can now be placed more precisely. The settings include "asymmetric" offset options to set horizontal and vertical offset independently for corner positions.
Updated: Watermark offsets can now be specified as a percentage instead of pixels.
New: <cmd/ctrl>-click "Batch" to process each selected layer like a separate file. This can be used for example to export a series of images (layers) which all get a common set of adjustments. This is like showing each of the layers one at a time (all other selected layers hidden) and sharpening. Any selected groups or overlay layers will be ignored.
Updated: Added support for HDR to SDR conversions when exporting 32-bit images to a format which only supports SDR (anything other than TIF). While SDR is inherently less compelling than original HDR, this helps preserve as much of the image quality as possible when exporting to a more limited file format. There are new general settings to choose automatic or manual options to convert to SDR. See the tutorials for more information on 32-bit / HDR images.
Updated: When exporting a 32-bit image as TIF, the 32-bit depth is preserved.
Updated: When batch processing, the full list of files processed is now listed (the popup dialog can be scrolled if it is too long).
Updated: Provides a warning if layer comps result in all layers being hidden.
Updated: Improved results when working with overlay templates larger than the source image.
Updated: Utilities / Optimize updated to better support the latest version of Photoshop.
Fixed: An error when using "protect sky" on some non-sky images and certain versions of PS.
Fixed: Overlay templates set to "keep full image" were not properly resized when importing the template.
Fixed: A nuisance popup when cancelling some operations.
Fixed: If a source file ended in "264", it was removed from the output filename.

Updated: The minimum version of PS required has been updated to PS v23.3.2 to help take advantage of important updates in PS. If you are using an older version of PS 2022, you should skip this update until you are ready to update PS.
Updated: Added support for exporting as a TIF (for niche workflows, TIF is not generally recommended as a format for web use).
Updated: "Batch" now supports choosing PDF files to process.
Fixed: Updates to avoid nuisance errors messages during background activity.
Fixed: An error when using the "protect sky" option with images that do not have any sky.
Fixed: Other various quality updates.

Updated: For PS v23.3 or later: Settings / General now includes a checkbox option to "show folder after export/save". Use the dropdown to choose whether this applies to all exports or if you just want to see the folder after batch exports. (This checkbox will not show if you are using an version of PS older than v23.3)
Updated: Improved edge quality when overlay template cropped out of bounds.
Updated: When prompted to manage out of bounds crop, previously used option is now blue/default to work more quickly.
Fixed: When prompted to manage out of bounds crop, selecting to fill with color does not use the requested color.
Fixed: When prompted to manage out of bounds crop, selecting to fill with blur used fill instead.
Fixed: When prompted to manage out of bounds crop, selecting to fill with content aware used fill instead.
Fixed: An error message when batch processing some images with watermarks and some without.
Fixed: Added a workaround for a transient PS bug.
Fixed: "Leave image open" ignored on first use of "Sharpen".

Updated: Performance optimizations for PS v23.3.
Updated: When using batch suffix ("allow renaming during save") and a non-sRGB color mode, the batch suffix may not be at the end of the filename.
Fixed: Batch suffix (for "allow renaming during save") was ignored if "add settings to filename" was not checked.
Fixed: Possible gap between the image and stroke when using an inner border.
Fixed: A border larger than the image could cause the interface to get stuck.
Fixed: An error message when using a watermark and an image with multiple crop overlays.
Fixed: An error using files with certain restricted characters in the filename
Fixed: Minor updates to G-Bench (consistent with its v1.1.1 update).

Updated: When processing a batch, Settings / General / Rename on save will prompt for text to append to the end of each filename.
Updated: Improved edge quality for some images.
Updated: Added a warning if the aspect ratio is altered during interactive cropping, which would cause unwanted result.
Updated: Moved up the border fill color in Settings / Quick Overlay to make it more clear that it is also associated with the fill and may be used even without explicitly requesting a border.
Updated: Updated the display of secondary border options in Settings / Quick Overlay for better clarity.
Fixed: Unable to change fill settings in Quick Export settings for "keep full image (fill with color)" if the border had been set to "auto".
Fixed: Request to create unique file (if output file already exists) ignored for PNG and webP.
Fixed: Output is blank if the source layers are all inside a group.
Fixed: Output may be blank under some rare PS configurations.
Fixed: Fixed crop overlay does not render inner border consistent with the preview.
Fixed: Importing an overlay template with an exterior border did not resize to keep as much of the image as possible for fixed width/height templates.
Fixed: Selecting crop if prompted with the "crop as needed" popup may result in lower quality image.
Fixed: Could not easily undo <shift> - crop overlay to import a template to the current image.
Fixed: Border may be hidden when using "keep full image" for blur/solid fill.

Updated: Stroke may now be place around the image or around the border (outermost edge). Previous behavior was around the border. This new setup makes it simpler to put a thin stroke around the image.
Updated: Outputting by sub-folder has a dropdown which now allows you to selectively use sub-folders only when outputting split images (those that use rows or columns).
Updated: PNGs saved in "ultimate" quality are now 16-bit.
Updated: Optimized performance when outputting as PNG.
Updated: Improved edge quality for some images.
Updated: Improved performance under background conditions.
Updated: Improved error handling during panel startup.
Updated: When leaving open, the sharpening layer's mask is left active, so that you may immediately start painting black to remove any unwanted sharpening.
Fixed: Selecting "save for web" was possible with PNG / webP formats (only JPG may use this option). If PNG or webP are selected, then "save for web" will be updated to "good".
Fixed: Crop overlay with inner border which crops the image may result in a gap to the border.
Fixed: Overlay editor auto-populates the name field with "keep full image" for templates which do not dynamically resize to fit the image. Only the fixed width and height templates do this for overlays.

New: Export as a "webP" file. This growing file standard offers the ability to preserve transparency as well as smaller files than JPG/PNG at similar levels of quality. Note that "ultimate" quality will use lossless (larger than JPG as ultimate, but no compression) and the good/high are designed to offer quality comparable to the same settings as JPG and yield slightly smaller file sizes. [requires PS v23.2 or later]
New: You may now add a stroke (secondary border) under Settings / Quick Export. This allows you to do things like add a think black border around an existing white border, for example. Note: Overlay templates do not currently support this feature.
Updated: General settings for the output folder now shows a dropdown list so that you may quickly choose from the most recently used folders.
Updated: Flyout / Tooltips & Info now includes "Summary Settings" to show important settings below the panel (be sure to click and drag down the bottom edge to see below the copyright line). If the active layer is an overlay template, the summary will also show which settings it is requesting, which can be helpful for validating any advanced options you may be using the layer name (click "overlay tips" in the panel while viewing the master template to see a full list of supported options).
Updated: General settings now include a "Add template name as keyword" checkbox to allow you to export without new keywords as preferred (the panel has always included this by default to help you search and sort the output, this simply gives you a way to skip that feature if preferred).
Updated: Moved watermark offset section under placement, to keep positioning items together.
Updated: Added a clarifying message when the combined use of a quick export template marked "keep full image" and an inner border necessitates the use of an asymmetric border.
Updated: Minor performance optimizations for watermarks.
Updated: Streamlined code to facilitate future updates and quality.
Updated: Added "Add template name as keyword" checkbox to Settings / General to allow the user to opt out of tagging the exported image with the template used (leaving this box checked causes the panel to behave exactly as it did previously).
Updated: Added workarounds to avoid some UXP bugs with high-frequency document activity.
Updated: Increased robustness for interrupted startups.
Fixed: Flickering progress bar.
Fixed: An error message when using the option to save to sub-folders when clicking the "save" button on an open image.
Fixed: A misleading error when processing a file with an invalid crop overlay template.
Fixed: "SAVE" may not be an option after leaving a document open.
Fixed: An incorrect warning about overlay templates aspect ratios.
Fixed: Could not select CR3 files with "Batch".
Fixed: A history error when using "Batch".
Fixed: Option to export to sub-folder ignored if destination file exists.
Fixed: When using a selection with the pre-crop option, the final image may not conform to the aspect ratio required by the Quick Export template.
Fixed: Keywords may persist when removing sensitive metadata.
Fixed: Layer comps prompt wasn't reset when resetting choices.
Fixed: Solid fill layer was created when no border/fill was needed.

Updated: If you click to cancel or hit <ESC>, temporary documents are cleaned up automatically if you cancel during export.
Updated: Optimizations for faster interface updates.
Updated: Flyout / tooltips now includes PS info, which you can use to see color space and bit depth. Note that unlike Lumenzia, sRGB and 8-bit depth don't show any warning as these are acceptable and often preferred for exporting images (whereas Lumenzia is trying to warn not to use these settings on your original source images).
Updated: Flyout / Utilities now includes an option to export all panel data in order to create a backup (includes custom templates, overlays, and preferences).
Updated: Flyout menu now includes the ability to turn tooltips on and off (you may still right-click buttons to toggle the tooltips).
Updated: Batch" prompt to use open images or pick a folder defaults to the last option used to make it faster to use.
Updated: Improved progress bar during batch processing to more clearly show current image number.
Updated: Clicking "save" on an image left open multiple times will automatically overwrite the last approved name so that you do not create multiple copies of a single export.
Updated: Updates to support changes in Adobe error APIs.
Fixed: Warning about leaving images open during batch appeared on every image instead of just once.
Fixed: Facebook template updates are created in the wrong size after previously choosing a rotated size or working with a tall image (portrait orientation).
Fixed: scrubby values worked when they should be disabled.
Fixed: Updates to help mitigate the risk of stuck tooltips.
Fixed: An error message when working with documents in niche color modes.
Fixed: An error when processing docs with some unusual profiles.
Fixed: Crop dimming appearance was not optimal.
Fixed: An overlay template may be imported at the wrong size.
Fixed: If an overlay template was open before importing overlays, an unwanted group was added.
Fixed: An error message if crop overlays were set to create a generic sky protection mask but no sky was found in the image.

New: Export as a PNG file. This allows you to preserve transparency and produces lossless files. However, file size is much larger and save times are much longer, so JPG is recommended unless you need to export with transparency.
Updated: The quality dropdown names have been updated to indicate the impact on speed and file size. Note that PNG saves are much faster using the "good" option. The image quality is generally identical for PNG, however transparent edges are affected by the quality setting.
Fixed: Added a workaround for an issue which may result in panels becoming unresponsive.
Fixed: An error when working in unusual colorspaces, such as indexed color.
Fixed: A possible error message when selecting fill colors.
Fixed: Cleaned up some intermittent errors in the background.
Fixed: Watermark file is left open after sharpening.

Fixed: Workaround for a Photoshop bug which may cause vertical lines on images processed with an M1 (Apple Silicon) processor.
Fixed: An error message when using “Batch” on open images.
Fixed: Errors with untagged images under new API.
Fixed: Panel background is dark in a light theme.
Fixed: Filename with multiple commas not properly managed.
Fixed: Filename with multiple commas not properly managed.
Fixed: Save dialog shows file name with two backslashes on Windows.
Fixed: Crop Overlay template may be closed if it was open before <alt/option>-clicking "Crop Overlay" in another document to import a template.
Fixed: "<shift>" was missing from Sharpen slider tooltip.

This release emphasizes quality improvements, but includes blur borders and simplified templates for Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest that allow you to keep the full image under a wide range of source aspect ratios (these are probably best for most use unless you intend to crop).

Note: This update is REQUIRED for users on PS v23.0 or later. The previous versions of Web Sharp Pro will not work on PS v23.

Note: This update supports Photoshop v22.5.x, but the panel will run slowly under v22.5 due to a bug in UXP. If you are using PS v22.5 or think you might test v23.0 and then fall back, it may be best to defer this update because the Adobe UXP marketplace will not allow you to downgrade UXP panels (ie, you can not install anything but the latest version of a plugin via the Adobe store).

New: “Batch” lets you choose to sharpen all open images (or pick a folder of images as you could previously). This makes it easy to sharpen your current work, or if you prefer to open images to verify before sharpening.
New: Single history state for crop overlays makes it easy to undo and simplifies your history.
Updated [Pro]: Adding progress indicator for batch sharpening jobs.
Updated: Optimized speed when choosing to remove sensitive metadata (~25% faster).
Updated: Added performance benchmarking feature (under top-right flyout menu / Utilities)
Updated: Improved support for some non-standard profiles.
Updated: Reduced some duplicate error messages.
Updated [free]: Added guidance when <shift>-clicking “Crop Overlay” button.
Updated: Added footnote to the Quick Export tab to note that settings there have no effect when exporting via overlays.
Updated [Pro]: Quick export controls are available even when no documents are open, to facilitate batch processing.
Updated: Internal enhancements for future robustness.
Updated: Improved tooltips in the main panel to be more readable.
Updated: Option to reset notifications moved from utilities to flout menu and now allows you to only reset choices or notifications.
Updated: Improved illegal character check to remove some filename characters which are not supported by UXP.
Fixed: Updates to address some potential conflicts with other panels/scripts trying to operate at the same time.
Fixed: Overlay template using fixed width/height and an inner border was imported at the incorrect aspect ratio and may throw an error message. [Note: any one-off templates or imported templates previously using a single width/height dimension should be recreated, as they would have been improperly sized at import]
Fixed: Drop shadow always added with fill or blur.
Fixed: Save to source would fail with ~ in the path name.
Fixed: An error when working with some documents in unusual color spaces.
Fixed: Error when working with overlay templates using “live shapes”.
Fixed: Saving now allows a wider range of valid characters, such as umlauts.
Fixed: Progress indicators do not show clear naming when sharpening.
Fixed: Color space may be converted to Adobe RGB when choosing “do not convert”.
Fixed: The popup message to show what was saved showed previous outputs when running “Sharp” through the Settings popup.
Fixed: Could not permanently dismiss warning about hidden crop overlay layers.
Fixed: An error when importing a watermark and then immediately trying to edit it.
Fixed: An error message adding crop overlays with some color profiles.

This release emphasizes quality improvements, but includes blur borders and simplified templates for Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest that allow you to keep the full image under a wide range of source aspect ratios (these are probably best for most use unless you intend to crop).

Updated [Pro]: Blur borders! This is similar to the current option to “keep full image (fill with blur)” but allows you to add a complete 4-sided blur around your image. Note that if blur borders cannot be used with “keep full image (fill with color)”. Ie you cannot put a blur border around a solid fill. The panel will automatically update the corresponding setting as needed to avoid a conflict.
Updated [Pro]: Adaptive quick export templates for Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Social media sites aren’t optimized for a single fixed landscape or portrait size. There is actually a wide range of optimal sizes. So rather than giving you fixed options, Web Sharp Pro now intelligently keeps as much as possible of your image when choosing these templates (marked with an *). Not only does this give you more flexibility to keep more of your image, you no longer need to switch between portrait and landscape options, it’s fully automatic to help save time and simplify batch exports.
Updated [Pro]: Removed the separate “landscape”, “square”, and “portrait” options for Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest as they are less flexible/useful than the new adaptive templates and keeping them creates unnecessary clutter. However, if you wish to continue using such quick exports for Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest, you may of course add them back by creating your own via the Quick Export Template Editor in Settings / Crop Overlay. Manual sizes for Facebook are 1200 wide with a height of 1500 for portrait, 1200 for square, or 628 for landscape. Manual sizes for Instagram are 1080 wide with a height of 1350 for portrait, 1080 for square, or 566 for landscape. Manual sizes for Pinterest are 1500 tall with a width of 1000 for portrait, 1500 for square, or 2250 for landscape. I would generally recommend using the new templates, unless you wish to crop an image square.
Updated [Pro]: "Remove sensitive metadata” now keeps existing keywords from the source document to help facilitate use of tagging for search engine optimization.
Updated: Added support for 32-bit source images.
Updated: Warning for excessive overlap with rows/columns now displays the % overlap for greater clarity.
Updated: Minor enhancements for non-RGB images to improve consistency.
Updated: When resetting preferences, you may now opt to keep user templates for Quick Export templates.
Updated: If using “do not convert” colorspace and adding annotations, final filename will show _DNC to differentiate from default conversion to sRGB.
Updated: Added a warning message when using watermark recoloring with a watermark source which is not white, as this will fail to produce the expected result.
Updated: When overlay crop is out of bounds and requests a border, fill defaults to same fill without asking.
Updated: Added a warning for artboards, which are not currently supported due the complexity involved.
Updated [Pro]: When working with a Smart Object watermark, recoloring now preserves the Smart Object.
Updated: Spaces in the middle of a template name no longer replaced with underscore (_).
Updated: Filename annotation starts with underscore (_) instead of dash(-).
Fixed: Could type in a dimension <10 pixels for output, which is useless and inconsistent with the minimum applied for scrubby sliders.
Fixed [Pro]: A single-layer Smart Object may be rasterized.
Fixed [Pro]: An error message importing watermarks into certain documents.
Fixed: “Sharpen” continues to show as “Save” when opening a new (unsharpened) file.
Fixed: Workarounds for a few issues where Photoshop bugs prevents creation of a new file using special characters which are otherwise valid for the host operating system or even in other uses of Photoshop. This will remove characters like #:\ from the output file name so that it may be safely processed.
Fixed: An error message when importing preferences from one computer to another.
Fixed: “Protect Sky” option fails.
Fixed: Watermarks may not be exported as expected.
Fixed [Pro]: An error message when using a watermark created in some color modes.
Fixed [Pro]: A watermark source file created in color modes may lose its background transparency. Note that if you imported such a watermark prior to this update, you may find that it has lost any transparent background. If that is the case, please re-import it or edit the watermark to create transparency as desired.
Fixed [Pro]: Final image may not be split into rows and columns as requested.
Fixed: An error message when using “saving to source” if the user gave permission to the full drive.
Fixed: Error message when adding one-off crop overlay andthe top layer was a group.
Fixed: <alt/option>-clicking to add an overlay template to the existing group fails to resize to fit the image when importing the new template(s).
Fixed: Added workaround for a PS bug that prevented working with certain 3rd party Smart Filters.
Fixed: A nuisance error message when using a source image with layer comps and leaving the outputs open.
Fixed: Mitigations to help avoid a nuisance error message when closing a background document manually.
Fixed: Source doc history is unnecessarily truncated.
Fixed: File rename on export allows the user to enter some forbidden characters.
Fixed: Workarounds to help avoid an error when creating / importing overlay templates.
Fixed: Choosing to output a unique name when there was a conflict may overwrite an existing JPG.
Fixed: Choosing to use a unique name and remember that setting for the future may result in the final file have two JPG extensions.
Fixed: Colorspace annotation for P3 / Adobe only added if image was left open and then saved.
Fixed: sRGB annotation added (intent is no annotation for this default output space).

Updated: Settings / General checkbox to request ability to rename the output when it is saved (ignored for Batch operations).
Updated [Pro]: You may now position watermarks at exact locations. This is achieved via overlay templates names with a flag: _wm###x###y where wm indicates request to use a watermark (nwm would indicate no watermark) and the ### represent the number of pixels to offset the top left corner of the watermark from the top left corner of the final image. (Note: Only zero or positive integers are valid. Watermark size is considered after trimming any blank pixels, and so its top-left position represents the top-left of the bounding box that would contain any pixels which are not fully transparent. If you wish to force inclusion of unused empty space in the watermark template, just add a 50% gray solid fill background at 1% opacity (or a single similar pixel in the corners). This will have no visible effect on the image. If you wish to view your template without the unused blank space, use Image / Trim in Photoshop.)
Fixed: When generic masks may not be properly imported or generate an error message when using “remove sensitive metadata”.
Fixed: “Sharpen” button should not be available in settings if the active document is the master template or a sharp doc left open.
Fixed: Output name may return _row or _col
Fixed: Incorrect cropping when using overlay with external border.
Fixed: Watermark is ignored on quick export.
Fixed: Overlay editor not available on Windows.
Fixed: Error message when sharpening an image with a background layer and “remove metadata” option enabled in settings.
Fixed: _w1 and _w0 overlay flags fail to use / not use watermark as requested.
Fixes to help avoid error 92734923764 when running the panel the first time.

New: Added Sharpening % slider to the main panel to allow quick changes. If you wish to preview different values, try <shift>-clicking “Sharpen” to create an unsaved image (which you may then simply discard).
New [Pro]: Options to add a border to either quick overlays or overlay templates. You may specify the width (in fixed pixels or percent of average image width/height), whether the border is inside (too keep final dimensions as specified) or outside (so the final image grows to keep the image constant), and border color.
New [Pro]: Fill options now include a blurred option, which allows you to use a fill which is harmonious with the image itself.
Updated [Pro]: Added drop shadow option for solid fills, blurs, and borders.
Updated [Pro]: Overlay editor lets you pick from all quick export templates to quickly set dimensions. Use this to create overlays which aren’t in the default master template or to use advanced overlay options.
New: “Add settings to filename” now also add the template name (current quick export or overlay) to the exported image’s filename to use the outputs. Note that anything after an opening parenthesis is removed. This allows you to hide extra info as well as prevent the overlay flags from being exported.
Updated [Pro]: Watermark may now be set as % of final image size (height).
Updated [Pro]: You may now set the watermark blend mode to get the exact visual look you desire.
Updated [Pro]: Added a watermark color option. When this is checked, the selected “color" will be applied to your watermark. This is an easy way to make an overlay look white, black, red, etc. Transparency and luminosity will remain unchanged.
Updated [Pro]: Added support for exports in AdobeRGB to provide a simple wide gamut option that works on both Windows and Mac.
Updated [Pro]: Added support for any RGB color space via “do not convert” option. Note that exporting as ProPhoto RGB or very low gamuts (such as “linear” ICC profiles) creates some risk of shadow noise/banding is not recommended as JPG is an 8-bit format. Unfortunately, there are no widely supported 16-bit formats designed for the small file sizes required for the web. I would recommend P3, AdobeRGB, or using "do not convert" for other profiles you may use such as Rec.2020.
Updated [Pro]: New overlay templates are now better designed to to facilitate resizing.
Updated: Template name (quick export or overlay) is added to the folder name when using sub-folders. This helps make it clear the intended use for each.
Updated [Pro]: Added square and portrait quick export sizes for Facebook.
Updated [Pro]: Pinterest dimensions increased per new recommendations. Note that Pinterest only recommends vertical (portrait) pins, so they will warn you if you use the square or landscape templates.
Updated [Pro]: When new system templates are added, they will attempt to sort in the intended default order. If the templates have already been sorted, results may vary.
Updated [Pro]: Upon importing a watermark, the “apply watermark” option will be automatically checked.
New [Pro]: <ctrl/cmd>-click “Sharpen” to export with no sharpening or grain to create a “before” reference. File name will be appended to indicate no sharpening or grain.
Updated: Popup for out of bounds crops is now also shown when using Quick Exports. This allows you to intentionally crop out of bounds in order to add a fill or blur. For example, you may <alt/option><shift>-click and drag from a corner when cropping in order to easily enlarge the cropped area and fill the resulting blank areas.
Updated: The Manual (WxH) quick export now allows you to specify a single dimension and the other will be set automatically to export the full image.
Updated [Pro[: Overlay editor now allows specification of just 1 dimension in template editor (via the manual drop option). This makes it easy to specify an output for a target width or height which will keep the full image, which may be particularly helpful for creating splits and panoramas. These templates assume the aspect ratio of the document into which they are imported and will therefore be resized to fit the full image at the time they are imported. (Note that safe width/height are not available when a dimension is left blank.)
Updated: Pixels are locked when leaving the image open to prevent accidentally painting on the sharpening image instead of its layer mask.
Updated [Pro]: General Settings now includes an option to set output document resolution to custom values (other than the default 72 dpi).
Updated [Pro]: When choosing a dropdown size in the template editor, the name field will be automatically updated if it was blank. This makes it faster to quickly create one-off templates with names matching the quick export source.
Updated [Pro]: “Add overlay grid” is checked by default for new templates.
Updated: <alt/option>-click “Crop Overlay” to select overlays to import. If you used the previous shortcut to clear overlays, just click normally and choose the option to delete.
Updated [Pro]: Improved formatting for the list when importing just selected overlays.
Updated: Revised the layout of Settings for clarity and to help make it more clear which settings apply to quick exports vs overlay templates vs both.
Updated [Pro]: Overlay template editor shows row / column size when set to 1 to help clarify splits.
Updated: Overlay editor now shows row / column details when using “auto” options.
Updated [Pro]: Reorganized watermark tab.
Updated: Made it more obvious that color swatches in dialogs are interactive.
Updated: Improved styling of main panel.
Updated: A warning and the option to undo are offered when a crop overlay is resized incorrectly (not proportionally).
Updated: Solid Fill and Content Aware overlay template flags updated to _fs and _fc to be more consistent with the new _fb option to “fill blur”. The legacy flags should work, but you may wish to update your template names.
Updated: Solid fill is done on a separate layer (not merged with the image layer) to allow you to revise fill / border color when leaving images open.
Updated: Quick export inputs in main panel are disabled when viewing the overlay template or an already sharpened image, as these are not useful at that time.
Updated: Settings / Crop Overlay custom color swatch hidden when disabled.
Updated: Panel now warns if you move a hidden overlay template, which is probably not the intended target.
Updated: Crop dimming will adapt when toggling the internal use layer as well.
Updated [Pro]: Added a notification for rows/columns that splits will be applied upon using “SAVE” when leaving the output open to refine.
Updated: “Save” button shows in blue only when file has has unsaved changes.
Updated [Pro]: “Batch” button only shows in blue when there are no documents open as there is no need to call attention to this option when working with a specific image (but it is still available and works the same).
Updated: Sharpen and Batch buttons in the settings popup are always available, as you will now be prompted if an output folder needs to be set and you are not leaving images open.
Updated [Pro]: Batch button greyed out when viewing an image which has been left open to help emphasize the relevant options for finishing the image.
Updated [Pro]: Settings / Main / Cropping options renamed to be more clear.
Updated: Reduced zooming during processing for less flicker.
Updated: Reordered tabs in settings to better reflect importance.
Updated: The internal copy of a watermark is converted to RGB upon import (avoids issues with alternative color spaces, such as indexed color).
Updated: Removed “Set height and width from overlay template when possible” from settings. An overlay template now always used its dimensional information when provided.
Updated: Selected tab in settings remembered from session to session (previously only until PS restarted).
Updated: [Pro]: If there are empty pixels when using a border, any unspecified letterbox color will default to the border color. This makes it easier to quickly filling small edge gaps with a matching color (but you may still choose to use content-aware fill instead).
Updated: User is now prompted to select an output folder if not set. Was throwing an error message if clicking “Save” with a file left open before having set the default output folder in preferences.
Updated [Pro]: User is now prompted to give permission if exporting quick exports to a destination file that already exists (previously caused an error message).
Updated [Pro]: Reorganized the advanced settings dialog to better group related concepts, and revised some names for clarity.
Updated [Pro]: Overlap % feedback in template editor is more precise for overlap <10%.
Updated: Added a workaround to help protect against a PS bug on Windows that may cause a button to respond as if clicked twice if there are no documents open.
Updated [Pro]: The internal copy of a watermark is converted to RGB upon import (avoids issues with alternative color spaces, such as indexed color).
Updated [Pro]: Overlay template may now force watermark. Add “_w0” to force no watermark or “_w1” to force use of watermark. Other watermark settings inherited from default Settings.
Updated [Pro]: Added a warning message if a watermark is requested but the source file is missing.
Updated [Pro]: “Overlay tips” can now be left on screen while you edit your overlay template.
Updated [Pro]: "Use title for file name” option in settings. If this is checked and the source file has a title metadata attribute set, it will be used for the output filename. This is helpful when setting names in Lightroom while keeping the original filename.
Updated [Pro]: Added square and portrait quick export sizes for Facebook.
Updated: Enhancements to support future updates.
Fixed [Pro]: Custom Quick exports does not calculate secondary dimension to scale full image when only one dimension is provided.
Fixed [Pro]: An error when importing crop overlays and cancelling.
Fixed [Pro]: User could select multiple crop overlay files during import, resulting in an error.
Fixed [Pro]: Watermark edit button available even if watermark file is missing.
Fixed: Watermark loses its transparency.
Fixed: An error message if there was an unusable overlay template group.
Fixed [Pro]: An error message when exporting crop overlay templates.
Fixed [Pro]: An error message when adding a one-off overlay template to an image which already has overlay templates.
Fixed [Pro]: An error message when adding an overlay template if the main overlay group was hidden.
Fixed [Pro]: Selection was used for pre-crop with overlay templates.
Fixed [Pro]: "Long edge" quick export does not keep full image.
Fixed: Crop dimming may not look correct under certain conditions.
Fixed: New Web Sharpen group may not be red color.
Fixed: Warning for transforming hidden overlays did not show if the first one was transformed.
Fixed: Color picker may cause unwanted changes to a shape layer.
Fixed: Popup message during settings may become unresponsive to button clicks (such as confirmation after importing a watermark).
Fixed: Popup message during settings may become unresponsive to button clicks (such as confirmation after importing a watermark).
Fixed: Could not save to folders using some valid but unusual characters.
Fixed: Overlay template popup was unresponsive.
Fixed: An error message when cancelling the Quick Export preset import file picker.
Fixed: Additional robustness checks to prevent conflicts when another panel is active.

Updated: Optimizations for faster crop overlay import.
Updated: Sharpening slider snaps to nearest 10% (smaller increments are too minor to have significant visual impact, but you may still hold <ctrl/cmd> if you want more control to move in increments of 1%).
Updated [Pro]: The one-off template editor (<shift>-clicking “Crop Overlay”) offers a new “original ratio (document)” option so that you may create a template based on the current document. (This is not offered in the template editor, since its size is unrelated to any subsequent use in various images).
Updated [Pro]: Increased width for the quick export editor to better show long names.
Updated [Pro]: Quick export editor now includes scrubby options for setting height / width (just click and drag on the labels, hold <ctrl/cmd> for more control or <shift> for faster changes).
Updated [Pro]: Quick export editor now warns if no height or width has been provided for a user template.
Updated [Pro]: “Full size (as is)” has been renamed to “Full size (document)”. It will show as “Full size (selection)” if the pre-crop setting is checked and there is an active selection.
Updated: Quick export’s original ratio now says “(selection)” instead of “(document)" when using the appropriate setting and there is an active selection to make it more clear what is controlling the aspect ratio.
Updated: Grain size / roughness sliders snap to 5% (smaller increments are too minor to have significant visual impact, but you may still hold <ctrl/cmd> if you want more control to move in increments of 1%).
Updated: Settings / Main: Crop dropdown has been updated to be more clear that these options affect quick export and to note the fill option.
Updated: Prompt to set the output folder is no longer dismissible, as this folder does not need to be reset for every PS session.
Updated: Watermark sliders snap to nearest 5 value (smaller increments are possible by holding <ctrl/cmd> while sliding).
Updated: Added warning if multiple versions of the panel are installed (if you have installed Web Sharp Pro, you should disable or uninstall the free Web Sharp panel).
Updated [Pro]: Added 2:1 and 3:1 panoramic ratios.
Updated [Pro]: Added some short descriptors for some ratios (such as “pano” for 3x1 or “cinematic” for16x9)
Updated [Pro]: Quick export ratios now default to landscape orientation on first use.
Updated: New documents now now reflects 72 dpi (this has no effect on the actual whatsoever).
Updated: Warning message about a Photoshop bug which impacts use of the panel when working with certain Smart Filters.
Updated: Crop overlay button is now greyed out when working with an already sharpened document to help guide the workflow.
Updated: Utilities / Reset all panel preferences to defaults now shows in red to urge caution (just resetting notifications is more typically what’s desired).
Updated [Pro]: Added link to customer support group in the welcome popup.
Updated [Pro]: “Crop overlay” now offers option to add one-off generic sharpen / grain masks, so that you may add them later or delete the generic mask and start over clean without resetting all the overlays.
Updated [Pro]: Generic sharpen / grain mask names updated to be easier to read.
Fixed: When using the appropriate setting and an active selection to pre-crop, “Full size” and “Original Ratio” quick export dimensions did not update to reflect impact of the selected area.
Fixed: An error message when another panel was in use.
Fixed: Error using the “Save for Web” compression option on Windows.
Fixed: Settings / Quick Export editor tooltip was inaccurate.
Fixed: Canceling output folder showed a warning, even though previous value was still valid.
Fixed: Error message (8968623423423) on older builds of PS 2021.
Fixed: Error using the “Save for Web” compression option on Windows.
Fixed: Error message when clicking to import a watermark and cancelling the dialog.
Fixed: Error message when adding one-off template with a grid.
Fixed [Pro]: clicking <enter> in one-off template editor creates template cancels the dialog.
Fixed [Pro]: Scrolling in quick export editor during move up/down was erratic.
Fixed: Quick export editor would not clear you clear height / width.
Fixed: Batch continues if users cancels during warning about hidden overlay.

Updated [Pro]: “Crop Overlay” can now be used to add a custom template to the current document. This allows you to create new overlays without having to add them to the master template. Just <shift>-click Crop Overlay, or choose it from the options when clicking “Crop Overlay” if you already have overlays.
Updated [Pro]: Added support for batch processing RAW files. [Note: if your image has an XMP “ idecar" file in the same folder, the RAW processing will be used. If you are using Lightroom, go to the Catalog settings and check “automatically write changes into XMP” so that future edits are saved in sidecar files, this will allow you to batch process RAW files edited in Lightroom without having to export temporary files from Lightroom.]
Updated [Pro]: Template editor now includes option to override default sharpening amount.
Updated [Pro]: Template editor now includes option to override default grain amount (size/roughness options not available here, just edit the overlay name if further customization desired).
Updated [Pro]: Template editor now includes option to set margins in template to help visualize safe width/height.
Updated [Pro]: Template editor layout visually updated (cropping and override color grouped).
Updated: A keyword is added to the exported file to note the overlay / quick export / layer comp used to produce it. This allows you to help sort and search the output in Lightroom (search for “contains words” or "contains all” when searches include a space).
Updated: Added flyout menu link to release notes for the panel.
Updated: Automatic cleanup of unused internal layers, to make it easier to manually delete overlays one at a time.
Updated [Free]: Info about Web Sharp Pro panel.
Updated: Output folder is now remembered (no need to specify it every time you load the panel).
Updated: Panel icon colors (to help differentiate free and pro panels)
Updated: Long output folder names in Settings are now truncated with …
Updated: Speed optimizations when using grain.
Updated: Updated popup behavior so that <tab> moves better through input fields.
Updated [Pro]: Added “Crop” label to the crop dropdown options.
Updated [Pro]: Added scrubby input for column/row dimensions (ie, click and drag the text label to change the numeric values).
Updated: When choosing “remove metadata”, the creation date in the original tab is now preserved (as well as copyright, which was already preserved). Note that the “date created” field in the Basic tab is actually separate and set by the file system and will therefore continue to reflect the date the new sharpening file was created.
Updated: Robustness improvements to handle opening and immediately closing an image.
Updated [Free]: Added button in free panel welcome menu to learn more about the Pro panel.
Updated: If no documents are open, clicking “Crop Overlay” will ask if you would like to edit the master template.
Updated [Pro]: New one-off overlays are now visible when created.
Updated: Added a warning for improper settings.
Updated: Added some additional error checks.
Updated [Pro]: List of batch filenames truncated for simplicity.
Fixed [Pro]: Quick export still prompted to crop even when dropdown is set to use letterbox.
Fixed [Pro]: Could not ctrl/shift-click to select multiple files for “Batch”.
Fixed [Pro]: Batch attempted to proceed after canceling file picker.
Fixed [Pro]: An error message when using layer comps.
Fixed [Pro]: Multi-column output creates wrong number of columns
Fixed [Pro]: Improper error message about row overlap when splitting too rows.
Fixed [Pro]: Advanced template editor overlap estimate was incorrect.
Fixed [Pro]: When leaving document open, final output may be flattened instead of showing separate sharpening/grain layers.
Fixed [Pro]: Overlay template rotation may be ignored.
Fixed [Pro]: Multiple prompts asking about layer comps when processing a file with multiple overlays.
Fixed: An error with some options when processing untagged images.
Fixed: “_ca” or “_lb” flag may be ignored if followed by “)"
Fixed: Wide popup message may not be fully visible.
Fixed: Could not set inputs for batch with no document open.
Fixed [Pro]: Batch allowed to proceed when missing dimensions (as required per quick export dropdown).
Fixed [Pro]: “use full size” quick export showed irrelevant numbers for height/width if no documents were open.
Fixed: Enhancements to avoid nuisance message when closing documents.
Fixed: Adding protections to avoid error 9010 when closing a document
Fixed: Utilities / reset info popups may not make some dialogs reappear.
Fixed: Formatting of popup dialog for untagged images.

A panel interface within Photoshop for easy access to sharpen at any time (also includes quick access to tutorials).
Extremely high-quality sharpening so that your images look their best.
New: Interactive cropping overlay templates to help you get the perfect crop.
New: Save custom preset sizes for Facebook, Instagram, etc (via the cropping overlays).
New: Output multiple sizes (or color conversions) of the image at once.
New: Add copyright metadata to images.
Remove sensitive metadata (GPS location, etc).
Automatic color space conversion to sRGB (or optionally to P3 on macOS).
Add film grain for a dreamy, nostalgic quality.
Multiple compression options to control the balance between file size and quality.