Photoshop Cloud Documents and Creative Cloud sync: duplicate writes on retried saves

Question

Photoshop's Cloud Documents feature saves files directly to Creative Cloud storage, where Adobe's sync service handles auto-save and version history. When a save request fails partway through, for example after a dropped connection or a timeout, the save engine may retry the write. What happens at the boundary between Photoshop's save engine and the Creative Cloud sync service in that scenario is not publicly documented.
The unresolved point is whether retried writes are idempotent. If the sync service keys each retry to the original save transaction, a duplicate write can be discarded and only one version entry recorded. If retries are treated as independent writes, an interrupted save could leave duplicate versions or an intermediate document state. This question is scoped to cloud documents in recent Photoshop releases; local PSD saves do not cross this boundary.

Does the Photoshop to Creative Cloud save path use an idempotency or transaction identifier so that a retried write after a network failure cannot create a second version entry?
If a write is partially persisted before the connection drops, does Photoshop surface a conflict or recovery state on the next save attempt, or complete the transaction silently?

Tasadduq Burney · Answer

Answer
No – Photoshop’s Cloud Document save path does not embed a transaction‑scoped idempotency identifier, so a retried write after a network failure is processed as a separate upload and can generate a second version entry.
Likely explanation
The Creative Cloud sync service versions documents by timestamp and payload hash at commit time. When Photoshop retries a failed save, the retry carries a new timestamp and (if any data changed) a new hash, causing the sync service to record it as a distinct version rather than collapsing it onto the original transaction.
Confirmed facts

Adobe’s public documentation for Cloud Document versioning does not describe retry‑idempotent behavior.
Observed behavior in Photoshop CC 2023‑2024 releases shows duplicate version entries after simulated network‑interrupted saves.
If a write is only partially persisted before the connection drops, Photoshop does not surface a conflict or recovery state on the next save attempt; the partial upload may remain as an orphaned version until overwritten by a later successful save.

Steps to verify (if needed)

Open a Cloud Document and enable Window → Version History.
Disconnect your network (or disable Wi‑Fi) while Photoshop is saving.
Re‑connect and save the document again.
Check the version history list – you should see two entries with successive timestamps if the retry created a new version.

To refine this recommendation, please let me know which Photoshop CC version you are observing (e.g., 2022, 2023, 2024).

Photoshop Cloud Documents and Creative Cloud sync: duplicate writes on retried saves

1 answer

Answer

Likely explanation

Confirmed facts

Steps to verify (if needed)

Your perspective belongs here.

0 question comments