Adobe is testing a free web version of Photoshop

Adobe is now experimenting with a free-to-use variant of Photoshop on the web, and it intends to make the service available to everyone as a means to get more people using the app. Adobe is currently testing the trial version in Canada, where users can use Photoshop online using an Adobe account for free. The service is dubbed "freemium," and Adobe eventually wants to fence off certain capabilities that will be accessible only to paying members. Adobe considers basic operations such as these to be among Photoshop's essential features.

“We want to make [Photoshop] more accessible and easier for more people to try it out and experience the product,” says Maria Yap, Adobe’s VP of digital imaging.

Adobe debuted its online version of Photoshop in October, which offered a simplified edition of the program that could be used to do simple modifications. Layers and fundamental editing capabilities made the jump, although the service did not come close to including the app's full breadth of capabilities. Adobe marketed it instead as a collaboration tool — a method for an artist to contribute an image with others and have them get involved, make some notes, and make a few minor changes before giving it back.

Adobe has made a few changes to the service since then, and it's also started to make it accessible to more people. Someone had to email a file from the desktop software previously, but now anybody with a Photoshop account can log in and start a new document right from the web.

Adobe's objective is to make the web version of Photoshop more accessible and potentially entice people who would want to purchase the full version in the future. The firm has followed a similar path with several of its mobile apps, including Fresco and Express. Because the web version of Photoshop is such an important service for Adobe, it becomes available on Chromebooks, which are popular in schools.

Adobe has yet to announce a date for when the free version of Photoshop will be available more widely. Adobe is also continuing to improve Photoshop for the web with new features, including refine edge, curves, doge and burn tools, and Smart Object conversion. Mobile support for viewing and commenting on photos is now available on the web version.

Adobe also introduced a new AI-powered Neural Filter for Photoshop proper at the event. The new "photo restoration" filter in Photoshop can restore scratches and some of the color from a yellowed photograph automatically. When used with Adobe's existing colorize filter, which adds color to black-and-white photos, the two filters may quickly breathe life into an old photo, even if it appears cartoony.