Install Layer Styles in Photoshop Elements 9 or 10—Mac

[Linda Sattgast]

Here’s how to install a layer style in Photoshop Elements 9-10 for the Mac:

Step 1: Place a copy of the layer style in the appropriate folder inside Photoshop Elements

• If Photoshop Elements is open, close it.

• Open a Finder window and navigate to the folder that contains the layer style file you want to install. The style will have a .asl ending.

• Click on the layer style you want to install and press Cmd C to copy it.

• Navigate to the appropriate folder inside Photoshop Elements: Macintosh Hard Drive > Library > Application Support > Adobe > Photoshop Elements > 9.0 or 10.

Note: You cannot simply click on Home in the Finder window and then on Library and find the correct path. You must start with the Macintosh Hard Drive.

• In this folder you'll see a file called ThumbDatabase.db3. Delete this file by clicking on it and pressing Cmd Delete.

• In this same folder click on Photo Creations > layer styles

• Press Cmd V to paste your layer style(s).

Notice that the layer styles folder contains three kinds of files for each layer style:
• An .asl file, which is the style itself
• An .xml file
• One .jpg file for each style within the style group
Note: The jpg files are not necessary for your style to show up, so just ignore them.

Step 2: Create a Metadata file for your layer style, which will cause it to show up in the list of styles.

• Click on one of the metadata.xml files, press Cmd C to copy it, click on your desktop, and press Cmd V to paste a copy of the xml file. Change the name of this file to your new layer style, making sure you keep the .metadata.xml ending.

Please Note: Always copy the name of the original layer style exactly as it is, or you may find that this procedure doesn't work. I've changed the name of the original file and then tried to install it without success, so stick with the exact original name!

• Right click or Ctrl click on the file and choose Open with Text Edit.

• Find the two places in the code where you see the name of the original layer style entered twice with an = sign between them, and replace the original names with your new layer style name using the exact same structure. If the title has more than one word, the first name will have no spaces between the words of the title, and the second name will have spaces between the words of the title. In both cases, the words should retain their capitalization.

• Starting with the line after the name, highlight all the code except for the very last line. Press the Delete key to remove it. There should be one line of space between the line with the name and the last line that says </PSEContent>

• Choose File > Save to save your changes.

• Click and drag this new metadata file into the layer styles folder it originally came from.

Here’s one more optional thing you can do: To make the layer styles show up in the Custom Shape Styles menu in the Options Bar, copy just the .asl layer style to the following folder:

Home > Library > Application Support > Adobe > Photoshop Elements 9 or 10 > Presets > Styles

Step 3: Open Photoshop Elements 9 or 10

• When you open Photoshop Elements, you’ll get a dialog box that says "Building Content and Effects." This may take up to 5 minutes.

• When the dialog box disappears, open the Effects panel, click on the Layer Styles icon at the top, open the menu and you should see your styles in the list.

• Now you can double click on a style to apply it to an object on the selected layer.

Enjoy adding new styles to the Effects panel in PSE for Mac!

Note: If these instructions don’t get you the desired results, you may need to also delete the MediaDatabase.db3 file in addition to deleting the thumbData- base file. Look in the same folder where you found the thumbDatabase.db3 file, click on Locale > en_US, where you’ll find MediaDatabase.db3. Once you’ve deleted both the thumbDatabase.db3 and MediaDatabas.db3 files, restart Photoshop Elements. Be prepared to wait a LONG time as Photoshop Elements rebuilds both databases. (It can take several hours.)