psd thumbnails, not seeing

[Cinde]

I'm using PE 5.0. I have NEVER seen a thumbnail of any psd files using Win XP sp2. All I see is an icon with PSB (in blue) imposed over a camera.

When I select a psd file in Win Explorer and choose open with Windows Picture and Fax viewer, the viewer tells me "no preview available" If I double click on the file in Explorer, it auto opens PE. That's the long way around when all I want to do most of the time is look at thumbnails.

It's a PITA to try to figure out what each pic is without a thumbnail. I have been getting around this by saving each pix as both a psd and jpg.

I have checked in Windows> tools> folder options> file types> extension> psd> file type> psd> Opens with > Adobe Photoshop Elements. Which goes back to what I said above about double clicking auto opens PE. Which is good if I want to work on the file, but again, most of the time all I want to do is look at thumbnails.

Is there a fix?

[hpharley90]

I know the frustration of not seeing your clips.
I always kept mine in jpeg format so that I could see them.

When I made graphics I left them psd because I knew what they were.
Photos always got changed back to jpeg after editing in Photoshop Elements.

Now that I have Adobe Bridge all psd files display their contents.
But I still use jpeg so we can e-mail photos.

[Steve Grisetti]

And, of course, that's what the Organizer is for! (Although the Organizer defaults to displaying your media files by date, you can set it to browse your folders, just like Windows Explorer, except that you get full thumbnails and live previews!)

Coincidentally, my January Steve's Tips is all about how to make full use of the Organizer. We should be posting that and lots of other new stuff right after the first of the year!

[Ron]

IrfanView is the viewer you need. It's not only a viewer, but a relatively powerful image editor as well. Best of all, it's free

It's a must have utility tool. Too many features to list here.

http://www.irfanview.com/

[Steve Grisetti]

hey, Ron! Don't dis my article! I worked hard on it!

[Ron]

I actually posted at the same time you did ( as opposed to after you posted, hence appearing to dis your article ). AND, I thought she was talking about the organizer for some reason.

Need more coffee.

IrfanView is still a must have, though.

[Steve Grisetti]

And read my article!

[Ron]

[Chuck Engels]

I use the organizer to view PSD files, and I haven't even read Steve's article yet.

[Ron]

And read my article!

[Steve Grisetti]

Thank you.

[Bob]

Adobe used to provide the necessary DLL file and registry entries to generate PSD thumbnails for use in Explorer. Over time, it became apparent that there was a problem and the icon generation was causing problems. Of course, there was the obligatory finger pointing which was never resolved. There is a timing element involved so it affected customers erratically. Some seldom encountered a problem while others saw it frequently. Usually, files were mysteriously marked in use and couldn't be deleted, renamed, updated, or opened in some cases. Sometimes directories couldn't be deleted. It was even known to interfere with Photoshop updates sometimes. Adobe removed the DLL and the capability for letting the OS generate icons beginning with Photoshop CS.

There is a way to download the DLL and install the registry entries to make it work, but I wouldn't recommend it, given the potential problems and the fact the the dll and registry enties do not reflect any current versions of Adobe products and will not be supported or maintained. Instead, Bridge or Organizer work great, or you can use the Irfanview thumbnails program instead of Explorer to browse your files.

[Chuck Engels]

Now that you mention it Bob, Adobe Bridge is an excellent way of viewing the files in a Windows Explorer kind of way.

[Steve Grisetti]

See? I knew you guys would eventually see the light!

Thanks, Bob.

[Ron]

...or you can use the Irfanview thumbnails program instead of Explorer to browse your files.

Yep, thanks, Bob.

And sorry, Cinde for cluttering this thread, but I think you have all of your options now