The PSD opens flattened
Procreate’s own PSD export keeps layers, names, opacity, visibility and blend modes, so a flat result is a surprise. The cause isn’t always clear. An Adobe community thread from April 2026 reports PSDs sent from Procreate by AirDrop opening flattened in Photoshop 26, with no confirmed fix in the thread. Another simple cause is opening a PNG or JPG that was exported by mistake, so check the file extension first.
What to try:
- Export again from Procreate with Actions > Share > PSD.
- Save it to the Files app, iCloud Drive or another cloud drive.
- Open that copy in Photoshop with File > Open.
If you have the .procreate file but no iPad, drop it on the toPSD converter. It writes a layered PSD from the original layer data.
Colors look pale or different
Procreate canvases are often in Display P3, a wider color space than standard sRGB. If the PSD has no color profile, Photoshop falls back to its own working space, and the image can look washed out or shifted. An Adobe community thread traces pale colors to exactly this.
- When Photoshop shows the Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog, choose Use the embedded profile.
- In Edit > Color Settings, set the RGB policy to Preserve Embedded Profiles, so Photoshop doesn’t convert files to your working space.
- If the PSD has no profile at all, try Edit > Assign Profile with the profile the canvas was made in, often Display P3.
- PSDs from toPSD include the original color profile, so a Display P3 canvas stays Display P3.
“Not compatible with this version of Photoshop”
| Cause | How to tell | Fix |
|---|---|---|
The file is a .procreate renamed to .psd |
It came straight from the iPad gallery, or its size matches the .procreate | Convert it properly with the converter |
| The file is over 2 GB | Check the file size | Save as PSB (Large Document Format) instead |
| The canvas is over 30,000 px wide or tall | Check the canvas size in Procreate, or in toPSD’s preview | Save as PSB |
| The download didn’t finish | The file is much smaller than expected | Download or export it again |
toPSD checks both limits for you. When a canvas is too big for a regular PSD, it writes a PSB and the file name ends in .psb.
Dark edges around objects
Some people see thin dark lines around soft-edged shapes after opening a Procreate PSD. In the Adobe community, the accepted fix is Layer > Matting > Remove Black Matte on each affected layer.
We checked PSDs written by toPSD for this. Semi-transparent edge pixels keep the color of the stroke instead of turning dark, so converting the .procreate file again with toPSD is another way around the problem.
Photoshop on the iPad
Sending a PSD from Procreate straight to Photoshop on the iPad has failed for some people, with Photoshop opening but not importing anything. In an Adobe community thread, the suggested workaround is to save the PSD to Files and then open it from inside Photoshop.
When you have no iPad at all
All of the fixes above that start with “export again” need the iPad. If it’s gone, or the person who made the file can’t be reached, the .procreate file is enough. See how to open a Procreate file in Photoshop.