We'll start with exporting presets as I think it gives a good understanding of how the files work and makes it much easier to import them at the other end. As we saw on the previous tutorial page, "Adding and Removing Presets", each preset category is a single file on disk containing all of it's presets. When we export a preset however, we create a single file that contains only the single preset. If we exported a preset and called it "Fred", then it would have the filename "Fred.kpt" ( or Fred.kpt5 if you are using kpt5 ). This is useful to know about, because it means that you can tell if someone else's preset file is a single preset of an entire preset category ( a preset category would just be called "Fred" with no extension ).

Exporting a single preset is pretty easy. All you need to do is open the preset manager, click on the preset you want to export, then click the Export button at the bottom of the preset manager.

Let's say you've found a preset that you want to add to your collection on a website. Once you've downloaded it, if it has a "kpt" extension, e.g "Fred.kpt" it means you have a single preset only and you can import it fairly simply.

Click the "Import" button at the bottom of the preset manager.

KPT does not have the inbuilt ability to export an entire category but we can do it. If I hadn't foolishly deleted my category "Blue" then I might want to export it to show one of my friends my amazing collection of blue lightning bolts!

To export a category we need to exit KPT, browse to the folder containing all out preset categories ( C:/program files/Adobe/Photoshop 6.0/Plug-Ins/KPTfx/Presets/Lightning/ in my case ) and copy the file to another location. In my example I would make a copy of the file "Blue" to another folder, put the file on my website or email it to my friend if it was small enough to do so with.

See if you can find the preset category you made from the last tutorial page. If you can find it you can export it! If you are unsure about it's exact location, just do a search on your PC or Macintosh for the name of your category.

KPT is unable to import an entire category, but just like exporting, we can still do it. If you have just managed to get hold of a preset category and want to add it to your own collection the same pretty much applies as for exporting. You can tell that the file you have obtained is a preset category if it has no extension e.g. "Fred" would be a preset category, "Fred.kpt" would not.

Take the preset category file and copy it to your presets folder ( C:/program files/Adobe/Photoshop 6.0/Plug-Ins/KPTfx/Presets/Lightning/ in my case ). There are a couple of important things to note here. Firstly, make sure that you are copying a preset category from the same plugin. A KPT Lightning preset category isn't going to be much use in KPT Shapeshifter!

Now we can add and remove, import and export presets and preset categories. If you have any questions or feedback relating to this tutorial, feel free to email me and I'll do my best to help you out.

-Dave