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Participant
July 6, 2022
Question

PSD icons not always showing image preview

  • July 6, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 283 views

Hi,

I'm running a Mac Studio Max with the latest version of Photoshop.  When viewing the files through Finder not all the thumbnails show the image preview.  Some do but a majority do not.  They just display the generic Ps icon.  

 

I've tried to look through the various conversations on this but can't seem to find the answer.  Anyone got any ideas?

 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

c.pfaffenbichler
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 6, 2022

Do the images have Alpha Channels? 

gener7
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 6, 2022

Try going into Preferences > File Handling and set Maximize PSD and PSB compatibility to "Always"

 

Under "File Saving Options" at the top: Image Previews: Always Save and Thumbnails should be checked on.

Also might be best to Restart the Mac as well. What version of MacOS do you have?

Participating Frequently
August 27, 2023

PSDs with layers and 16 bits per channel do not show icons in the Finder without turning on Maximize Compatibility. Unfortunately Maximize Compatibility doubles the file size, which can mean hundreds of additional megabytes per file simply for the purpose of showing the icon. If Photoshop is embedding the thumbnail when the thumbnails box is checked, the macOS Finder is ignoring it and instead trying to parse the large complex image itself. This is also why the Finder is so incredibly slow to show the icons when it does manage.

 

This problem has continued for years, ever since Apple "deprecated" the old way of showing icons. (Old PSD icons still work, by the way.) It's time Apple and Adobe worked together to fix this rather than ignoring it or pretending they've never heard of this problem. Believe me when I say PSD Finder icons are broken.