Windows 11 File Explorer PSD thumbnail view

Question

Hi, everyone. Over the last couple of days, new .PSD files display in File Explorer as plain white squares vs. thumbnails. Older .PSD files display properly. I've Googled the problem and hit up Reddit and tried all the "fixes", but none work for me. What I've tried so far:

1) Checked folder view to ensure that Always show icons, never thumbnails is UNchecked
2) Restarted File Explorer in the Task Manager
3) Restarted my computer
4) The folder I view from is a shortcut. I have checked the source folder as well - same behavior
5) Checked my graphics card driver and ensured it is up-to-date
6) Copied the errant .PSD files to my desktop - same behavior.

I thought perhaps just those 3 file thumbnails were corrupted some way, but I just created a new .PSD and I have the same issue.

Any ideas on the problem and how to fix it?

D Fosse · Accepted Answer

Windows Explorer does not display .psd thumbnails, period. It started out as an age-old disagreement between Adobe and Microsoft dating back to Photoshop version 7.0 or so, back in the beginning of the 2000's, that was never resolved - and eventually the whole situation just settled and has been unresolved ever since. A number of third-party codecs are out there to display .psd thumbnails in Windows Explorer. A lot of people have probably installed one of these at some point and forgotten about it.

GottaScrollFast · Answer

I've been having a slightly similar problem, though not exactly the same. Some of my PSD's when viewed in windows file explorer display as the blue Photoshop PS icon, others display thumbnail previews of the actual PSD's contents. I'd prefer they all display previews of course. I tried adjusting the setting you found "Maximize PSD and PSB File Compatibility" to "Always" like you said, and then resaved the PSD, but it didn't fix anything for me.

I'm also seeing other comments in the Adobe Community forums saying Windows doesn't natively have the ability to display PSD thumbnail previews like this. But then why is it doing so for me in some folders rather than others? I never installed anything special to make that happen as far as I'm aware. So something else must be going on here.

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