P: .psb file thumbnails display improperly in MacOS Monterey

[FrancescaSF]

For me, large file format thumbnails (.psb) do not display correctly. I'm running Photoshop version 23.2.1, MacOS Monterey 12.2.1 and have had this problem for several months. An Adobe help tech played with permissions and other solutions today but couldn't fix it. The .psb files display ok at smaller sizes but at larger sizes they display a colorblock full of noise like you'd see on a television screen. While pretty, it's very frustrating to work with because I can't tell which version of the project to click on. Help!!

Normal .psd file thumbnails work fine, as do all other thumbnails on the computer. Things I have tried: resaving the files with the most recent version of Photoshop after updating to 23.2.1. Moving the files to another folder that's on the desktop, not in Dropbox, etc. Some file permissions changes. Restarting. Toggling on and off different display types from list to icon. These files were not created on an external drive, but locally. Saving as a new file with a new name doesn't help.

How the problem manifests: I enlarge the thumbnails in MacOS by dragging the thumbnail size slider to the right. At some point the .psb files switch to weird colorful versions while the rest (.jpg, .psd) continue to resize all the way up to the largest possible display.

[J453]

I can't reproduce. What is the color mode, bit-depth, of the documents? Any special color profile? Can you scale down one of your PSBs and share it and let me know what size to scale it up to reproduce?

[Earth Oliver]

what machine do you have? Is there a dedicated video card?

[TheDigitalDog]

I can't reproduce this either on the same OS using a 16-bit document, ProPhoto RGB. Seems it is something with your Mac that may need some maintenance routines.

Did you try quitting the Finder or a shutdown and restart?

Try logging into another account (you may need to make one), still no preview? 
Try starting up in Safe mode (hold down Shift Key when booting), still no preview? 
You might want to try running a free utility like Onyx: still on preview? 
https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html
Also view:
https://www.macworld.com/article/352902/onyx-review-macos.html
https://www.macworld.com/article/224955/how-to-reset-a-macs-nvram-pram-and-smc.html

[FrancescaSF]

RGB color, bit mode 8 bits/channel. No special color profile that I'm aware of. I'm running a MacBook Pro 14 inch 2021 with 16 GB and Apple M1 Pro chip, could this be an M1 compatibility problem? It's the Mac graphics card, whatever comes standard with that model, I haven't installed anything else if that's even possible. I'm sure it's state-of-the-art. It's not possible to reset NVRAM and PRAM in the new M1 models but I'll try the Safe mode option

[FrancescaSF]

I can confirm the problem persists in safe mode. Here are the document color settings:

[FrancescaSF]

Unfortunately this is a document I'm creating for a client so I'm not comfortable sharing it online. I can say that it has around 40 layers in several groups with a couple text layers and many masks. I tried saving a version with no text layers and the problem also persisted. Same for removing all the masks, removing two adjustment layers that were hidden anyway (eyeball off). I tried releasing the three clipping masks and the problem persisted. So I don't know what's going on.

[Earth Oliver]

So i can test, how large are the saved .psb?

[Earth Oliver]

Hey @J453 , i can reproduce on my M1 here. I just created a 2.6GB .psb, saved to local, Finder to icon view, then used the slider to increase the icon size and the thumbnail breaks at about 30%.

[FrancescaSF]

File size is 3.65 GB. Interestingly after removing all the hidden layers, taking the file size down to 1.84 GB, the problem went away. So it may indeed be file-size related, as I can't figure out why else hidden layers would affect display. I do need those hidden layers though! And of course a designated large file format should work for larger file sizes.

[J453]

Thanks. I'm building a heavier PSB to try and debug more. Looking between OS versions, they used to switch to a generic PSB icon over a certain size of thumbnail in prior versions macOS. Apple owns their PSD/PSB codec in their Finder so I will work with them if I can reproduce.

[J453]

OK. I can repro with a file. I'll see what I can do about getting this fixed. 

[CShubert]

Hi @FrancescaSF, let's try this, please try to force quit "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent " process from the activity monitor and try to relaunch the finder. First, you need to select "All Processes" from the View menu in the Activity monitor. Then only you can see this process in the Activity monitor. This process regenerates the thumbnails for the file.

Also, can we request you try assigning a different color profile "Wide Gamut RGB" and check if the issue reproduces or not? The reason we are suggesting "wide gamut" is because Apple has updated all the new macintosh with P3 color gamut which is a wider color gamut compared to sRGB.

Thank you,

[JiriCastka]

Hello, I've run into a problem on my Macbook Air M1 16GB where when I try to open photos in PS, the thumbnails don't show up (or only partially) if I use the external (4K) monitor view. On the internal monitor, the error does not show up.

[CShubert]

This appears to be a bug on Apple's side so the team will work with them to try to find a solution.

Thanks all,

Cory

[FrancescaSF]

Sorry, I never saw that request re wide gamut till I got pinged about the recent update. LMK if still useful.