Step 9: Open The Preset Manager

To save any layer styles we've created so that we won't lose them if we ever need to re-install Photoshop, we need to use Photoshop's Preset Manager, which you can find by going up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and choosing Preset Manager:

There is an option directly in the Styles palette for saving layer styles, but it doesn't give us any control over which styles we save. All it can do is take every layer style that's currently loaded into Photoshop and save them all as one big group, which usually isn't what we want to do. The Preset Manager, on the other hand, allows us to pick and choose exactly which layer styles we want to save.

Step 10: Select "Styles" From The "Preset Type" List

When the Preset Manager dialog box appears, it defaults to show the list of Brushes that are currently available. Select Styles from the Preset Type selection box at the top:

Step 11: Select And Save Your Layer Style(s)

Once you select Styles from the list at the top, all of the layer styles that are currently loaded into Photoshop appear in the Preset Manager with the same thumbnails we saw in the Styles palette. To save the photo frame style, simply click on its thumbnail to select it. You'll see a black highlight border appear around the thumbnail to let you know it's selected. If you have other layer styles that you also want to save as part of this style set, hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click on their thumbnails as well to select multiple styles at once. In my case here, I'm saving only the "Simple Photo Frame" style. Then click the Save Set button over on the right of the dialog box:

Photoshop will pop up another dialog box, this time asking you to name your style set and choose where you want to save it. Since I'm only saving one layer style, I'm going to name my set "Simple Photo Frame.asl". Make sure you include the three letter extension at the end of the name if you want to be able to use your style set on both a PC and a Mac. The easiest place to save your style set is to your Desktop. In my case, I've created a folder on my Desktop named "layer styles" which is where I'll save my set to. Of course, you can choose whichever location is most convenient for you. Once you've named the set and chosen a save location, click the Save button to save the set:

When you're finished, click Done in the top right corner of the Preset Manager to exit out of it. Your layer style is now saved safely outside of Photoshop, so if Photoshop happens to die on you, it won't take your layer style along with it! Of course, if your entire hard drive crashes, well, that's another story.

Step 12: Select "Load Styles" From The Styles Palette Menu

If we ever need to load the layer style back in to Photoshop, we can do that easily from within the Styles palette. Simply click on the palette's menu icon in the top right corner of the palette (I'm using Photoshop CS3 here. In Photoshop CS2 and earlier the menu icon appears as a small arrow), which brings up a fly-out menu. Select Load Styles from the list of options:

Photoshop will pop up a dialog box asking you which layer style set you want to load. Simply navigate to where you saved your style set, which in my case was a folder on my Desktop named "layer styles". Click on the name of the set you want to load, then click on the Load button to load the set into Photoshop:

Photoshop loads the layer style set, and the "Simple Photo Frame" style will appear once again inside the Swatches palette, ready to be applied to a new image:

And there we have it!

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