PhotoCraft reads and writes PSD and PSB, which can make it useful on Linux for files that arrive from a Photoshop workflow; the exact round trip still depends on the document features supported by the release. Open the file, check the layer panel against what the sender described, edit above a copy of the base layer, then save the project before exporting a flat delivery copy.
Install the Linux build All guides
Written against the build verified on 2026-10-13.
Many editors read PSD as a container they can flatten, not as a document they can round-trip. You may get the composite while losing groups or styles that have no equivalent, and hand back a file your colleague can no longer edit. The question is therefore not only "can it open" but "what survives when it comes back". PhotoCraft treats PSD as a working format and the repository publishes a compatibility test suite, but the current release still needs to be checked against the structures in your file.
Ask for a flattened reference PNG. You now have something to compare against when a difference turns up, and you can tell whether the change you see is your edit or an interpretation gap.
Note the layer count, group nesting and whether text layers survived as text. If text arrives as raster, you can still edit the composite but you cannot retype it.
Toggle each one. A mask that is present but misread will show as a hard edge rather than a feather.
Drop shadows, strokes and blends are the features most likely to fall back to something approximate. Judge them at output zoom, not at 100 percent on your monitor.
Before any edit, save an untouched copy under a different name. That is the file you reopen if the session goes wrong.
| Element | On open | On save | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layer tree and groups | Preserved | Preserved | Naming survives, which matters for handoff back |
| Layer masks | Preserved | Preserved | Check feather radius visually on complex edges |
| Adjustment layers | Preserved | Preserved | The core reason to keep working in the project rather than flattening |
| Text layers | Preserved where the font is available | Preserved | Missing fonts substitute; re-check kerning after opening |
| Vector shapes | Preserved | Preserved | Complex path operations may differ from another engine |
| Layer styles | Approximate for some effects | Approximate | Treat as a decision to verify against the reference export |
| Smart objects | Limited | Limited | Plan a flattened fallback rather than assuming nested files survive |
Work above the incoming layers rather than inside them. Duplicate the base layer once, hide the original rather than deleting it, and put every change in a named group so the person who opens the file after you can see the structure of your intent. When you need to compare, toggle the group rather than stepping backwards through history — history is a session feature; groups are a document feature that travels with the file.
Write the layered document first. This is the version that can still be edited.
Export PNG or JPEG from a flattened duplicate, never from the project you intend to keep working on.
Put your export next to the sender's flattened PNG. Differences you did not introduce are interpretation gaps, and it is worth knowing which ones.
Project plus export, under the same name. Six weeks later, that pairing is the only thing that explains the file.
Treat PSD round-tripping on Linux as solved for structure and unsettled for effects. Layers, masks, adjustment layers, text and shapes are what make this workflow possible at all; layer styles and nested objects are where you still verify against a reference image before committing a deadline to it.
One habit saves more grief than any setting: name the version in the filename of anything you hand back. A file called logo_final_v082.psd tells the next person which build produced it, and when a difference turns up later, that one string is the difference between a reproducible question and a mystery. It protects you too, because a bug report that names the build gets answered faster than one that says the latest version.
Yes, that is its central design goal: the layered document is the working format rather than an import. Verify it with your own files, because layer styles and nested smart objects are the two areas where interpretation still differs.
The editor substitutes, which usually changes line breaks and sometimes kerning. Re-read any text-heavy layout after opening, and install the fonts the file expects before you trust a delivery export.
Check your output target before starting rather than after. Bit depth and pre-press profiles are exactly where an alpha editor and a commercial print pipeline disagree, and the disagreement surfaces at delivery time.
Never as your only copy. Save the layered project first, then export a flat delivery file from a duplicate. That order is what keeps a revision request from turning into a complete redo.
Open it, save it, reopen the saved file and compare against a flattened reference from the sender. Three checks and one image, and you know precisely which elements did not come back.
