Photoshop 2018 can't be set as default "open with" for any file type

[graham.geary]

I installed CC 2018 yesterday. When I try to set Photoshop as default program to open JPG, PNG, etc., the program is not listed under Recommended Programs. When I choose Other Programs > Browse and navigate to PS 2018, select and hit open, nothing happens -- it's not added to the list of other programs.

If I go to Control Panel > Set Default Programs, NONE of the Adobe CC 2018 programs are available to select as default programs.

Please help!

[Ronald Keller]

What happens if you go to Control Panel > Default Prgrams > Associate a file type or protocol with a program and choose say PSD?

[graham.geary]

Thanks for the reply! PSD is the only file type that Photoshop 2018 will associate with: it does list it as the current default for PSD files. If I go up, however, say to PNG, choose Change Program, Photoshop ISN'T recommended. Under Browse, if I navigate to Photoshop 2018, select the EXE file, and choose Open, nothing happens: it's not added to Other Programs and can't be chosen.

[Ronald Keller]

I see what you mean. I tried to add Photoshop CC 2017 to a png file type (it's already assigned to 2018) and indeed CC 2017 is not added either.

Have you tried right-clicking in Explorer and do it that way?

[cliffords10226705]

The same thing happens the default won't change.

[mteetank]

Hello,

it is of my experience that the problem root cause is that the psd file association must be reset in windows 10 before windows 10 has a clear path to the version of of PS in use. Once I reset the PSD file association as below, I was able to set windows 10 to default PS to any image file. Up to that point, I was unable to get anything to work.

Locate any PSD file and complete the following: "Right Click on the PSD file and go to the bottom and click the "Always use this App to open psd file" box. Then find the Photoshop CC version you use and select it. Photoshop will open the file." I am of the opinion that this then gets Windows 10 file paths aligned. I would have used a registry fix if it would have come to that but in my case that was not needed. Good Luck!

[VWM1900]

I am having the exact same problem. The program is there in other formats, but I cannot select it from any menu's and when I do, nothing happens. This blows, because right now it's set to Dreamweaver opening up my PSD files.

[graham.geary · Accepted solution]

This issue might have resolved itself: after dragging the problem file types into Photoshop to open them, eventually Windows learned to associate Photoshop 2018. For example after dragging JPGs into Photoshop a few times, all of a sudden Photoshop appeared as a possible default program for JPGs. I guess this issue is resolved for me, sort of? Do you get the same results if you drag files in a few times?

[S_Gans]

graham.geary,I was JUST going to suggest that! I can confirm that the method above is what eventually worked on my Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 system.

For Mac users, I can tell you that this was not an issue on my MacOS 10.12.6 Sierra (do not have High Sierra). On that OS, it worked as expected.

[ClaireAnna]

Is this happening with anyone after the 2019 Photoshop CC update? I can't set my .psd's to open with Photoshop 2019 since the update. I've tried everything....:(

It won't register for some reason, when right clicking and when choosing in default app list...

[D Fosse]

This is an ancient problem. You see the default is set to Photoshop Image 19? That's the previous version now uninstalled.

The default setting for the CC app is to remove old versions after the new one is installed. This sometimes hijacks the registry so that the old version takes file associations with it, leaving them orphaned.

You couldn't know this, but Photoshop should always be installed in strict version order, and uninstalled in strict reverse version order. Last in, first out.

Try to uninstall and reinstall. If that doesn't work, run the CC cleaner tool and then reinstall.

The forum is always flooded with this when a new version comes out. It's rather disappointing that nothing has been done about this after all these years. It should be easy to instruct the CC app to uninstall first, then install the new.

[ClaireAnna]

Shucks, okay. Thank you for answering my question exactly! This makes total sense, although aggravating. So there is no way to correct this issue besides the cleaner tool? I already uninstalled and reinstalled and restarted...:(

Would you mind tell me exactly which one to use? As my boss will most likely ask me if it's legit, lol. Thank you!!

[ClaireAnna]

Adobe Support? Anybody know how to fix my .psd's being a file type of Photoshop.Image.19 after CC update yesterday?? I really don't want to use the CC cleaner and lose all my settings!

Can anybody help? Thank you!

Files automatically save as Adobe Photoshop Image.19

Please see below for the exact step I'm on, I click ok and NOTHING happens. I've uninstalled/reinstalled 4 times

[isidorekol]

this is just ridiculous! thanks for your answer though!

[Trevor.Dennis]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/D+Fosse  wrote

This is an ancient problem. You see the default is set to Photoshop Image 19? That's the previous version now uninstalled.

The default setting for the CC app is to remove old versions after the new one is installed. This sometimes hijacks the registry so that the old version takes file associations with it, leaving them orphaned.

You couldn't know this, but Photoshop should always be installed in strict version order, and uninstalled in strict reverse version order. Last in, first out.

Try to uninstall and reinstall. If that doesn't work, run the CC cleaner tool and then reinstall.

The forum is always flooded with this when a new version comes out. It's rather disappointing that nothing has been done about this after all these years. It should be easy to instruct the CC app to uninstall first, then install the new.

Yes, it got me this time.  I went with the default when updating, and found that left me with the CC 2018 versions, which I then removed via the Application Manager.  I didn't think of it at the time, but it makes sense after reading your post.  Mine is still not fixed, but I think I'd rather uninstall, and reinstall Photoshop than mess with the Registry.

Hmmm....  I have just checked, and my Premier Pro files have the same issue, which means all the other Adobe apps will be the same.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Yep. That fixed it, but I am not sure what the icon is to the left of 'Clock Face Master.psd'.  Anyone?  I wonder if it is a broken Smart Object link?  This is the file I had a lot of trouble with causing severe lag, and I tried to fix it by simplifying the layers, flattening the SOs and groups after saving them as unique files. I was a bit frustrated at having to do this, and may not have been as careful with my asset management as I should have been.

In case you missed that discussion, I recently discovered that the lag was linked to zoom ratio.  100% pixel size caused lag.  Any other zoom ratio didn't.  Resource Monitor showed no maxing out with CPU, drives, or GPU, and I still don't know why it was happening.

[Eric Jay Toll]

Yes, I am having the exact same problem, and what's worse, Windows 10 no longer has the default file settings in Control Panel. If you try to reset default apps in the control panel, you're taken back to the cutesy-wootsey useless Settings feature.

Does anyone know how to set the defaults in the Registry? I believe that is going to be the only option.

I have not tried the drag-and-edit with Photoshop, so I'm going to give that a whirl. I did use PowerShell to uninstall the "Photos" program, so now all raster files default to Paint 3D with no option to use Photoshop.

what's even weirder is that among the option for raster image defaults like jpgs, is Audition, Illustrator, and Word.

[chetd12857457]

Same issue.  Can't associate jpg, png, etc. with Photoshop as the default program for opening these file types.  I have gone through all the steps above including uninstalling everything, using CC cleaner and then installing again with no luck so far.

PSD files worked right from first installation of Photoshop 2019, but I am unable to manually assign file types to Photoshop as their default program.

[isidorekol]

hey guys! i have the same problem! No one from Adobe is here to give a solution....any association solution has failed so far!

[Jeff Macholz]

This is a problem that I had when upgrading to Photoshop 18. You have to edit the registry to correct this.

NOTE: If you don't know what you are doing you can fry your OS.

Under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\Photoshop.exe\shell\open\command, right click on (Default)( in the right side window) and select Modify. Change Photoshop CC 2018 to Photoshop CC 2019.  Exit the Registry Editor. You will now be able to open jpegs from Explorer.

[chetd12857457]

Thanks for the post, however, my registry entry is already correct.  Still can't associate jpg, png, etc with Photoshop 2019 being the default program.  I am able to open said files in Photoshop 2019 by right clicking and choosing "open with" and selecting Photoshop 2019, but it will not set as the default program for which to open them.

Thanks for the effort though!  Hopefully it helps at least some of the folks having a similar issue.

[chetd12857457]

Some additional info...

Fresh install of Windows 10 and a fresh install of Photoshop 2019 on a new hard drive.  I'm still running into the inability to associate jpg or png files with Photoshop being the default application.  I CAN open png files and jpg files in Photoshop, but I need to choose "open with" to do so.  I would like to open these (and a few other file types) by simply clicking on the file itself.

If I right click on an image file and select "properties" and then "Change" the "Opens with:" portion it will not take effect if I select "Photoshop CC 2019".  It simply stays at the default "Photos".  I AM able to select  any other program (such as "Paint", etc.) and the change WILL take effect.  Only Photoshop will not register here.

If I go to Windows "Settings" and select "Apps" and then "Default apps" Photoshop does not even show up in the list of programs available when trying to change either the Photo Viewer app default or when selecting "Choose default apps by file type".  Photoshop DOES show up in several other file types and did indeed set up properly on its own to use .psd files as well as several others.

update-- tif files and other image file types are able to be associated with Photoshop as the default program via regular methods through windows, but .jpg and .png are still not able to be associated with Photoshop. 

[DJC1962]

I also have a similar problem

My workstation was just upgraded to windows 10, now the file associations are broken.

I can't get .jpg, .jpeg or .png files to open in photoshop by default. I have tried EVERY fix on the forum including registry edits and removing / re-installing photoshop but NOTHING has fixed the issue with file associations.

I've had our IT technician here all morning and he can't get this to work AT ALL! Even on the Built in windows administrator account.

Adobe and Microsoft need to get together and fix this issue. it's been a problem since the 2015 version.

[D Fosse]

Actually it's been a problem for much longer than that.

See my reply to this post, which sort of sums up all the other 20-30 threads we have had about this for the last month or so:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2562300

[ch1ck3ns]

You are lucky. When I select 'Open with' it does not show Photoshop 19, just Photoshop Express plus of course the usual options for other programs. I don't want to have Photoshop 19 as my default, but I do want the facility to 'Open with'. I can open all jpg files in Photoshop 19 but have to do it from within that program. As someone mentioned above, you would have expected Adobe to have overcome this problem. At £10 per month we should expect a better service.