Today’s Question: In earlier versions of Photoshop I had dozens of simple shapes I could draw like stars and hearts. Now, in Photoshop 2023, when I click the Shape dropdown, all I have is four folders of not-so-useful shapes like Wild Animals. Is there a way to get the original shapes back?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can load the shapes from earlier versions of Photoshop by enabling the ” Legacy Shapes and More” group.
More Detail: With a relatively recent update Adobe completely overhauled the shapes available for the Custom Shape tool. Granted, this isn’t a tool that photographers tend to use all that frequently, but it can be very helpful for adding things like symbols and arrows or other simple shapes for things like slideshows or other presentations.
Fortunately, you can get those shapes back relatively easily. Start by bringing up the Shapes panel by selecting Window > Shapes from the menu. In the Shapes panel click on the panel popup menu, which has an icon showing three horizontal lines at the top-right of the panel. From the popup menu that appears choose “Legacy Shapes and More”.
When you select this command, you’ll see a “Legacy Shapes and More” group on the Shapes panel as well as on the Shape popup on the Options bar for the Custom Shape tool. Within this group you’ll find a variety of subfolders containing the many different shapes that had been included by default in earlier versions of Photoshop.
