Photoshop Settings

Technology Previews: Accessing Beta Features and AI Tools

Technology Previews give you early access to upcoming Photoshop features. While these are “experimental,” many are stable enough for professional use and can significantly speed up your design and retouching workflow.

• Enable Preserve Details 2.0 Upscale
• Enable Content-Aware Tracing Tool
• Precise color management for HDR display (High Hardware Demand)
• Precise previews for 16-bit documents
• Open JPEG without Background layer
• Older GPU mode (pre 2016)
• Enable Modern User Interface

Under the Technology Previews Section

• 1. Check “Enable Preserve Details 2.0 Upscale” (The best way to enlarge images in Photoshop)

When you increase the size of a low-resolution image, it usually becomes blurry. Enabling this preview allows you to use Adobe’s advanced AI-assisted upscaling. It uses machine learning to detect textures and edges, keeping your photos sharp even when blowing them up for large prints.

Navigation: Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews > Check "Enable Preserve Details 2.0 Upscale"

• 2. Check “Enable Content-Aware Tracing Tool” (Speeds up vector path creation)

This is a game-changer for vector artists and logo designers. Once enabled, you will find a new “Content-Aware Tracing Tool” under the Pen Tool group. It allows you to simply hover over an object in a photo, and Photoshop will automatically detect and create a vector path around it with a single click.

Navigation: Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews > Check "Enable Content-Aware Tracing Tool"

• 3. Uncheck “Precise color management for HDR display” (Only for users with specialized HDR monitors)

This is a niche setting for high-end video editors and photographers. If you have a certified HDR monitor and are working with High Dynamic Range content, this ensures Photoshop maps colors correctly to your display’s peak brightness. For standard graphic design, leave this unchecked to avoid unexpected color shifts and save system resources.

Navigation: Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews > Uncheck "Precise color management..."

• 4. Check “Precise previews for 16-bit documents” (Improves color accuracy for high-end retouching)

If you work with 16-bit images, Photoshop often “simplifies” the preview to save performance. Checking this forces Photoshop to display the actual 16-bit data, ensuring you don’t see any “banding” or color artifacts that aren’t actually in the file.

Navigation: Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews > Check "Precise previews for 16-bit documents"

• 5. Uncheck “Open JPEG without Background layer” (Determines how JPEGs load)

By default, JPEGs open as a locked “Background” layer. If you check this, JPEGs will open as a standard, unlocked “Layer 0.” While this sounds convenient, it can break some older Actions that rely on a “Background” layer existing. It is usually best to keep this unchecked and simply click the lock icon manually when needed.

Navigation: Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews > Uncheck "Open JPEG without Background layer"

• 6. Uncheck “Older GPU mode (pre 2016)” (Troubleshooting for aging hardware only)

This setting disables modern GPU features to help Photoshop run on graphics cards from over a decade ago. Enabling this will disable your performance optimizations and make the canvas feel laggy.

Navigation: Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews > Uncheck "Older GPU mode"

• 7. Check “Enable Modern User Interface” (Ensures the latest UI scaling and layout)

This ensures that your Photoshop interface uses the latest coding standards for high-resolution displays. It fixes “blurry text” issues on modern monitors and keeps the UI responsive.

Navigation: Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews > Check "Enable Modern User Interface"

Pro Tip: The “Relaunch” Requirement

Unlike standard settings (like UI color or Transparency grids), almost every option in the Technology Previews tab requires a full restart of Photoshop to take effect. If you enable the Content-Aware Tracing Tool or Preserve Details 2.0 but don’t see them active in your menus, simply close and reopen Photoshop to initialize the new engine components.