Photoshop CS6 icons sometimes do not appear on Macintosh

[clinton_dyches]

Yes, this is a question.

I've been using my trial of Photoshop CS6 Extended for 10 days now. I have run into a peculiar problem - when saving a file Photoshop does not display any sort of icon. No thumbnail, no generic, nothing. It's not a huge problem, I can always open the image but not by double-clicking on the icon: it's just not there.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if there is a resolution to it - or is it just a bug? I didn't have this problem with the beta version and I've repaired all permissions on my hard drive to see if that was the problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Clinton

[captain1944]

I find it incredible that a company such as adobe would not want to use "any means necessary" to resolve this issue with one of its flagship products. It speaks volumes as to the company I am sorry to say.

[Chris Cox]

We are using whatever means we can -- but we have to wait for Apple to find and fix the bug in their code.

We cannot fix Apple's code for them.

[captain1944]

This dog has been played too many times Chris...I along with most onhere do not belioeve you.....saying it 100 more times will not make it true.......adobe should be ashamed of iteself for not having this resolved..it is their product...period!

[conroy]

.

A solution is known to Adobe but someone at Adobe adamantly refuses to implement it in Photoshop CS6 although it is implemented in other Adobe software.

That solution is to create icons which comply with Apple's published software development guidelines.

A developer at Adobe Photoshop has stated that they deliberately went against the published guidelines.

Apple have no incentive to find and fix the bug because they already advise software developers how to create icons which do not trigger the bug.

[captain1944]

I believe you!

[Chris Cox]

Conroy - How many times do we have to say that we are doing EXACTLY what Apple instructed us to do?  Please stop with the mis-information.   Apple is investigating their occasional failure to render thumbnails, which might or might not have anything to do with the way the thumbnails are written (and the current theory is that it has to do with other metadata).

Captain - I'm sorry you don't believe us when we tell you the truth.  Apple's OS is their product, and it is Apple's OS which is sometimes failing to extract and draw thumbnails.  We simply cannot fix Apple's code.

[conroy]

I'm not misinforming. I wrote Ps CS6 writes icons which do not comply with the published guidelines. That is a fact. You have already stated that you deliberately do not follow the published guidelines, and instead have arcane knowledge of Apple's future plans and that you follow unpublished instruction from Apple.

[Chris Cox]

Because Apple came to us and said to do it differently, then said they needed to update the documentation.

We have direct access to Apple.

And it is misinformation to say that the failure of the OS to extract or draw thumbnails is related - because the same files work in most directories for most people, and only fail sometimes.

This is just an OS bug, plain and simple.

[conroy]

Chris Cox wrote:

Because Apple came to us and said to do it differently, then said they needed to update the documentation.

The Apple published documentation was updated in July 2012, a good time after Apple would have instructed you to make CS6 create poor icons. The Apple published documentation logically improves icons for newer technology. Your explanation for the poor CS6 icons became different each time I pointed out the illogicality of an explanation. It is odd that dozens of posts were subsequently erased from this thread.

This is just an OS bug, plain and simple.

Only Photoshop CS6, amongst thousands of software titles including other Adobe software, seems to be triggering the bug, though.

[Chris Cox]

And we won't know why until Apple debugs it.

Photoshop does write slightly different metadata, and does other things just slightly different from other applications.

But the icons are the same for everyone -- including the majority for whom icons/thumbnails are working just fine.

And if the icons were the problem, then they would always fail, for everyone.

[bellevue scott]

Let me say that I have found the answers by Chris and Conroy helpful. But at this point (Conroy) I get it. I think we all get it.

I'm happy to have the answer. I'm not sure who's fault it is. It could very well be Apple messing with Adobe, as they've done a lot of that lately. It could be that Adobe won't budge on an issue they see as an Apple issue. But either way I get it now, and I feel I have resolution. It doesn't mean that it's fixed, but that I understand where the issue lies right now.

I would be forever greatful if Apple and Adobe would get along and resolve this, but as someone who has done development in the past for the largest software manufacturer in the world, I've seen far worse pissing matches.

But really I think we've beat this horse enough at this point. Laying proper blame won't help us. And honestly, if I were to really get angry with Adobe, it would be for other bugs, like Dreamweaver constantly crashing (finally fixed in CS6 thank you). And if I were to get on Apple's case publicly, I'd pick a bigger issue, like the fact that we haven't seen a new Mac Pro for three years now, and as a power user I need one.

So, can we please let this rest a bit. And I say that with all due respect to both Chris and Conroy, both of whom have provided what I feel to be valuable information on this issue.

[gener7]

Well,leastways Apple tries to render PS thumbnails. Microsoft for some reason doesn't and I ended up buying a third party codec pack. Rather spend a little bit and get results. I've gone the route of posting in Microsoft tech forums and getting nowhere.

It's project management priorities and policies that limits what the Adobe programmers do as well as the amount of cooperation from the OS (both Apple and Microsoft) side and whatever their priorities and policies are. Stuff beyond my control. Buying a software license only entitles us to only so much.

[captain1944]

@Scott.....Yes we get it...we have gotten it for how many months? And the problem still persists? Very easy to drop it....get it fixed.....adobe...it is your product......It might also help if a different adobe rep came on here as many of us do not have much faith in the present one who has said the same thing ad nauseum yet has not resolved the issue.....FIX IT!!!!!!!

[Noel Carboni]

I have to say that this is one area where I'm very glad I'm on PC and don't have this particular issue.  I feel for the Mac folks here.  It's pretty central to using Photoshop to be able to see what you're trying to edit in the integrating tools of the operating system (e.g., Explorer/Finder, File Open/Save dialogs, viewers, etc.)  You're reminded of what doesn't work every single day! 

Here's hoping for a fix soon, though it seems unlikely to come from Adobe, which means that those not keeping up with the very latest Apple OSs will still continue to have the problem.

-Noel

P.S.,  Adobe, you may be allergic to spending money, but there IS one sure way to get another company to move on things:

Offer them a chunk of cash to address this problem, specifically.

How many Mac sales are you losing because this doesn't work?

[Chris Cox]

Captain: again, logically there is nothing that Adobe can do about this.

If it were an Adobe bug, then MacOS would always fail to draw thumbnails/icons for files saved from Photoshop CS6. But they only fail for a small percentage of users, some percentage of the time -- and they can work after the OS thumbnail cache is cleared.  This means that the OS usually can read the thumbnails/icons, but has a bug that causes it to fail in some circumstances.  The files written by Photoshop are the same, but the OS has a bug that makes it sometimes fail.

That could not be caused by a bug in Photoshop, only by a bug in the OS.

Adobe cannot fix bugs in MacOS.  Yes, we work around as many of the OS bugs as we can (since Apple is slow to fix them), but this is something outside of our control.

Apple is the only party that can fix the bugs in MacOS.

If you want to see this fixed sooner, please let Apple know that.

We are doing what we can -- but we cannot fix Apple's bugs for them.

[conroy]

Chris Cox wrote:

[...]

And if the icons were the problem, then they would always fail, for everyone.

That's not necessarily correct. There are various display modes for Finder and icons can be displayed at a wide variety of sizes and spacing. Perhaps a certain combination of Finder settings in conjunction with the non-compliant Photoshop CS6 custom document icons triggers a bug, and the bug can never be triggered when icons comply with Apple's published guidelines.

Edit: I wrote the same months ago and received no response. I guess it was in one of the posts that were purged.

[Chris Cox]

Again, I have already told you that the Photoshop icons are compliant with Apple's requests/wishes/guidelines.

Their external documentation does not match what they have communicated directly to developers.

Please stop repeating that misinformation.  (yes, you've pissed off a couple of admins)

[Noel Carboni]

Chris, I'm going to go out on a limb here and hazard a guess that Conroy might be satisfied to hear something like "we tried it the way the documentation prescribes and the problems remained or there were new problems".  That's what's gone unsaid that's got him repeating himself.  I'm sorry to have to point out something obvious.

I'm going on the assumption that you've tried it and it didn't help, because that's also such an obvious thing.  I'm not sure what would block you from actually stating that detail, but perhaps there's something.

If you didn't actually try it, well then Conroy's disappointment might well be founded and shame on you. 

-Noel

[Chris Cox]

We didn't try it - BECAUSE APPLE EXPLICITLY TOLD US TO STOP WRITING THEM THAT WAY.

We're doing exactly what Apple says to to do, even if their public documentation still says otherwise.

This is an Apple bug, plain and simple.

Arguing otherwise after seeing the facts and logic is just foolish.

[Peter_Trinder]

Dear Chris, I have followed this thread since May, and like most of us and yourself must be getting bored with it. However I was head scratching today and saved a test file out of CS6 - No icon on Desktop where I saved it. I lauched FileBuddy (yes it still works in Mountain Lion). Getting info on the file showed the Custom Icon entry was checked. I unchecked it and immediatly the icon appeared on the file on the desktop. I wonder if this gives you or you coleagues a clue.

By the way please can you point me to where on the Apple site do I send a bug report.

Kind regards Peter T Sussex UK

[conroy]

If you mean that after using FileBuddy to remove custom file icon, a generic filetype icon is displayed instead of nothing, then that's perfectly understandable. The problem of invisible icons may be an OS X bug, but that bug is triggered by the particular non-Apple-guideline-compliant icons created by Photoshop CS6 and no other application, in my opinion.

[Peter_Trinder]

Not certain If I explained myself clearly. I saved a Photo in CS6 on the Desktop. There was no thumbnail just the filename. I popped this file into FB and selected Get Info in the vertical list on the right there is a custom icon entry which was ticked. When I unticked it immediately the icon appeared, not a generic icon but the thumbnail.

I tested a CS5 photo and in this case the icon appeared on the desktop on saving, and the custom icon box was NOT checked in FileBuddy. Is this clear to you?

[conroy]

Yes, I understand now, thanks. It's interesting that clearing a "custom icon" tick in File Buddy can make a custom icon become visible.

[Kurt Lang]

I had just the opposite experience. Ticking the custom icon off with File Buddy caused the desktop icons, which already existed, to disappear. Instead, they were replaced with a generic PS icon.

I noted somewhere in this thread that I reinstalled the OS after the CS6 Master Collection and all icons returned to normal. The only exception is that .psd and .psb file will show an icon on the desktop, but not in the Open dialogue box; something I've been putting up with for years. Related to that, when I add .psd files to my image archive in Media Pro, they also show up blank white, just like the Open box.

Now get this. I opened a bunch of Nikon .nef RAW images. I saved them directly to a .psd file after opening them out of the Camera RAW plugin into Photoshop. Every one of those has an icon! Both in an Open box and when dropped into Media Pro! They continue to hold an icon even if I press Command+S to save work as I go. BUT, as soon as I do a Save As… to a new file, the icons are gone. I don't even have to change anything. Just open a file where the icons work everywhere, save as to a new file, and the new file will not show an icon in the Open box or Media Pro.

In all cases, PS is set to always save icons, no Windows thumbnail. Maximize PSD and PSB File Compatibility is set to Never.

Now I know what someone is going to say already. That's why I'm not getting icons. Change compatibility back to normal. Sorry, no chance. I have no desire waste gigabytes of disk space saving a hidden flattened view of a file just for the sake of an icon. We work on high res images for print day in, day out. It's a severe waste of disk space to have that option on.

From what I recall, the whole point of that option had to do with PS version 3, which introduced layers. Since version 2.5 and older didn't understand layers, the hidden flattened image is what those versions opened when users received a file from someone using version 3. So here we are, 18 years after the release of version 3, and this grossly obsolete function is still part of the options. Why? Get rid of it! As far as I've read, it has no other purpose.

Edit:

Fer' cryin' out loud, it doesn't help that things that were repeatable just a couple of hours ago don't behave the same way later. I double checked by opening some of the same files I just mentioned and did a Save As… . This time, the new files held their icons in the Open boxes and in Media Pro. Still with max comp turned off. This just isn't making sense. You can't figure out if PS or OS X is goofing up.

[Was DYP]

conroy wrote:

Yes, I understand now, thanks. It's interesting that clearing a "custom icon" tick in File Buddy can make a custom icon become visible.

Clearing a "custom icon" tick in File Buddy DOES NOT make a custom icon become visible. It make the OS generated icon become visable. The icon has the white border around it. A PS generated custom icon does not have a white border around it.