.ai and .psd preview on Windows 10

[claraiskn]

Hello,

I'm currently using a Mac but i will soon be working on PC: I was wondering if it was possible to previex the .psd and .ai files directly in the file explorer of Windows 10, without having to open them in Photoshop or Illustrator (as we can be done on OSX thanks to the spacebar)? It would be a great time saver!

Thank you,

Clara

[Myra Ferguson · Accepted solution]

In the Windows Explorer in Windows 10, you can see previews for a variety of file types by going to the View tab and turning on the Preview pane. You can preview .ai files but not .psd files.

[aquades]

But why can not we see the .psd? When will it be repaired?

[Brandon Loshe]

Hey Myra! I know this post is from several years ago, but I've been trying to figure this out on Windows. Your suggestion worked for me. But is there a way for this to work for .ai files, but still have Details Pane selected? I'd rather have Details Pane selected, but I still want to see a small preview. It works fine for jpeg files with either selected for me.

[Jonas DK]

You cannot view the content of AI files in thumbnails by default in windows 10 explorer. (This only applies to very few that have been exported with pdf preview). So no. 

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

You can always use Adobe Bridge to accurately preview these files.

[stefanim10184246]

Great! Thank you for the tip.

[khellstr]

I prefer to use Windows File Explorer. 

[Monika Gause]

The ONLY things that will do this 100% is
 

By @Jonas DK

You have posted that link 4 times in this thread alone.

[MichaelStephens]

I use SageThumbs to preview ai and psd files directly in Windows Explorer. You'll also have to download and install ghostscript as well, but there is a segment further down on the page specifically about which version you need.

[claraiskn]

Okay, I'll try this. Thanks a lot for your help!

[schroef]

Not sure why but i dont see thumbs for ai files. Installed Ghostscript but dont see any difference. To bad there is not much guidance on that page

[Monika Gause]

The ONLY things that will do this 100% is

By @Jonas DK

According to other participants in this thread there are other tools that do it as well.

[Jonas DK]

I garantee you - they are not answering the initial question AND the are all inferior sulotion that does not solve the problem. The is one answer - I have been persuing this for years. This is the simple and 100% good answer. The fact that 2 "correct answers" are given to solutiones that certainly not are the correct answer - is just... 

[abuse removed by moderator]

[Monika Gause]

I garantee you - they are not answering the initial question AND the are all inferior sulotion that does not solve the problem.

By @Jonas DK

I'm not referring to the answers marked as correct. Did you read the complete thread?

[Jonas DK]

I have read the thread. And many other threads like it. Why do you ask? This is a big issue to many people. I am trying to let people know the one simple simple answer to the thread - which is wrongly marked "correct" twice.    

[JoeMcCollough]

Back in my pre-retirement programming days I created previews for all of our products that would work on Windows.  Why doesn't Adobe supply a previewer with their products?

[narcomans]

Because it is the responsibility of Windows, for example, apple has support for everything, but windows does not.

[NetHawk]

I also think, that this is in the responsibility of Windows, however, Acrobat does provide previews/thumbnails for PDF files (although, you have to turn it on first - by default it's off). So if Microsoft isn't going to solve this, it falls back on the software provider to make their users happy. In the meantime I use Mystic Thumbs, it is an alternative to SageThumbs, which is mentionned above. But on directories with 1000+ files it consumes quite a bit of your pc resources to create the thumbnails. Once they are done, they're cached however.

[tt11]

Hi, I am not able to preview either .ai or .psd.  Is there a setting that I am missing?

[NetHawk]

What have you tried so far? Did you install SageThumbs oder Mystic Thumbs? If not, you won't see a preview (icon) under any Windows version. If you have installed one of these tools, which one? The default settings of Mystic thumbs show you previews of .ai and .psd files by default and I assume SageThumbs does this as well.

[Linda.R.Smith]

NetHawk, Re MysticThumbs: https://mysticcoder.net/MysticThumbs What about InDesign and other adobe software? Do you see all thumbnail from other formats when toggleing through placing or viewing like you can on a Mac? Do you feel the software is safe? I work on a governrment PC and cannot find the origin of SageThumbs.  

[NetHawk]

@LRS: since there are problems with replying to a reply, I write my answer here.

1. Yes, Indesign previews are available for MysticThumbs: here's a list of all the supported file formats:
   https://mysticcoder.net/MysticThumbsFormats
2. You see thumbnails from alle the formats in Explorer, you don't have to use the preview, but you can if you want a bigger view
3. I think the software is safe. But feel free to throw the downloaded file at https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload and test ist against most, if not all popular virus checkers.

[JovanZdravkovich]

It have would be perfect if it diddn't change the folders modified date. I use it to find my recent projects and recent changed files.

[NetHawk]

I think this is a one-off thing. Once all the icons are generated, it should not change the folder date anymore. I also group my files by date and have never had that issue again. But right after installation it might have behaved like you are experiencing it now.