Increasing size of thumbnails for Mac?

[Forrrest Grump]

I'm new to Mac and cannot really see the tiny thumbnail icons which PS seems to give as standard- is there a way to enlarge them. They look especially tiny on my 27 inch screen!

In Win 10 there was a choice of several sizes and I always used the largest when secection an image to work on.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Pete.

[gener7]

So basically here is what I see in the File > Open window.

[gener7]

To summarize, this is a fix for Icon size display in the abbreviated Open/Save/Export/Import Finder dialogs MacOS serves to third party software. Those dialogs keep the thumbnails at a fixed size, usually 80 pixels and that cannot be adjusted like the normal Finder. This advice can help those who need the large thumbnails, but review this procedure first and don't attempt it if you are unsure.

It's been a stable and reliable fix for me. Feel free to let others know, but note:

It's been tested on MacOS 10.15.7, I can't vouch for later versions. Back up the old plist just in case.

It's worked with "Plist Editor" from the App store. It hasn't been tested using other editors.
"iconsize" is the only setting I've touched. Do not adjust any other setting unless you absolutely know what you are doing.

[David Kilpatrick]

Interestingly my Retina 5K 27 inch screen is happy with 160 pixels instead of 256 and this is now working much faster. I did the 256 change using PList Editor from the App store, but found the thumbs were not building quickly. At 160, they have always appeared immediately and never been replaced by generic icons.

[gener7]

I'm glad that is settled for you and I would ask you to pass this method around the ID and other forums as needed. I only picked 256 because it worked best for my old non-retina MBP. I do encourage others to find what iconsize works best for their situation.

[kathydannelvitcak]

Thank you for taking your time to explain so carefully. People often don't realize how hard it is to explain steps in something like this, without assuming we know some steps. Thank you. It was easy to find everything, but when I completed the fix, and stopped patting myself on my back, I realized it works in Finder itself, but not within Photoshop. Maybe I missed something, but I would LOVE to be able to, via Photoshop, view a folder full of images at a bigger size. The 160 was perfect for me. I'm on Apple Studio with Studio Display monitor. Latest PS/IND and Ventura 13.3. THANK YOU again! Kathy  

[gener7]

Hi Kathy,

You can adjust Finder icon sizes without the Plist fix.  Cmd / will place a slider at the bottom of the Finder window where you can adjust the thumbnail size.

But it doesn't work for Finder dialogs you call from Photoshop or any other app. That is what the fix is for. You should make sure you saved the new settings and relaunched the Finder.

"Go to the "FKDefaulticonviewsettings" and click on the triangle to expand to the settings.

Enter 256 or 160 in "iconsize" as shown. Then press Enter to confirm, File > Save to keep the changes.

Next Relaunch the Finder by pressing and holding Option/Alt on your keyboard and pressing the Finder icon in the dock. You should see "Relaunch" as a menu option.

I would suggest to run the edit again to make sure the new value is in there.

I'm working off MacOS 12.6.3, so hopefully Apple has not closed that option.

Edit: File > Save is the plist editor's command in case you weren't sure. 

[kathydannelvitcak]

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!! I've searched for this workaround off and on for years. I've had a couple of eye surgeries and am having a few issues getting Photoshop and InDesign how I need to work with less strain due to all that. But, it is so, so much better now. Imagine this, some crazy almost 70-year-old woman with purple/teal/blue hair way up north in MN (near Canada), with her nose about three inches away from  27" Apple display and squinting at the teeny icons. My team will be thrilled, as I keep telling them I'm never gonna retire as long as I can see.  I'll tell them tomorrow that you gave me ten more years...at least.

Seriously, I am so so very grateful and you have to know that YOU are my HERO today! I'm rambling, so one last THANK YOU!!!

Kathy

[gener7]

You are very much welcome, Kathy. 🙂 I've worked the forums for years and the best answers I've come up with are the ones that are not very well documented and yet they solve someone's issues and keep them solved.

Keep notes on this workaround, you may someday make someone else's day.  Gene--

[georgeb73469922]

Can you tell me where FKDefaulticonviewsettings is? Thanks. I'm in Ventura 14.3 and a search in Finder doesn't locate it.

[georgeb73469922]

Never mind, I see, it's in the Plist thingy.

[michaelw2639783]

can you tell me where as I cannot find it in ventura ? ta

[georgeb73469922]

Ah, your instructions were crystal clear. This worked a treat. Thank you! Honestly, this really should be simpler.

[gener7]

Thanks. I do my best to remember how I wished I was instructed in the first place.

[CathalMcCarthy]

This works I am so thankful to you for resolving this issue. I had to download and pay 6.99 for the plist editor then put the path/string into the editor. It works brilliantly. I am on Ventura 13.6.3. It has been so hard to navigate to folders and find the nice pictures from Indesign. I am so super happy to have found a solution. Bridge is ok but it is another app to open and the thumbs are small there too.. Now I can work with Preview!!

[gener7]

Nice to know the fix works for Ventura. If you upgrade MacOS, you should not have to run the procedure again.

[mdrayerrn]

I understand you completely. I am very savy about my computer and i know what you are talking about. In Photoshop when you are trying to import into PS those icons and print are tiny. I too have trouble reading them and would love to know how to make those bigger.  It sucks to get old and blind. LOL  I dont think doing something with the com.apple finder plist is going to help an Adobe program. Am I right in assuming we are talking about the same thing?

[Forrrest Grump]

Hi, poster of the original question here! I'm glad that some folks have learned how to adjust the thumbnail size in the Mac Finder window but that wasn't really what I was asking about; perhaps my questions were badly put and my knowledge of Mac at that time was not vast! 

The issue I still have is the tiny size of the thumbnails in Photoshop CC; when I used Windows 10 on a PC it was possible to change the size of the thumbnails very easily but using PS CC on the Mac there does not appear to be a facility to change the size, or if there is I can't find it.

What I resorted to doing was to look at the much larger thumbnail in Finder then go into PS CC and find the tiny thumbnail to open up the file for editing. If anyone could tell me how to skip this step I would be very pleased.

I have never used Bridge, didn't need it before and can't see that I really want to now, it just introduces even more steps to get where I'm going.

Thanks everybody for your interest. Pete.

[gener7]

What I resorted to doing was to look at the much larger thumbnail in Finder then go into PS CC and find the tiny thumbnail to open up the file for editing. If anyone could tell me how to skip this step I would be very pleased.

Thanks everybody for your interest. Pete.

By @Forrrest Grump

Sure. Start with the "Correct Answer" post and go over it until you understand it before attempting it. Once set up, it will remove that extra step like it has done for others by increasing the size of that tiny thumbnail.

Gene

[gener7]

If for any reason you do not want to attempt the fix, try the Columns view in the Open Dialog:

[richknecht]

I bought the plist editor ap and I can't find the path that is mentioned above in the answer.

[gener7]

MacOS hides certain files and folder by default. Here's how to unhide them:

https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-show-hidden-files-in-macos

I prefer to keep them unhidden at all times, so I use the Terminal command shown in the instructions.