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Hi,
My Dad has a Mac and elements 2022 installed.
The problem he has is that when he is choosing a picture to use all of the thumbnails are quite small and he has difficulty picking the right picture he wants to use.
Is there a way of enlarging these picture thumbnails to make it easier for him?
He's 89 and not doing too bad. I don't use a Mac so easy to understand instructions would be good. We use Teamviewer so I can log in and try your suggestions without making the 2 hour trip to try them 🙂
I've googled it and some youtube videos say to use, I think, File>preferences>interface, but we have no interface!!
I found how to do it in Finder, but this makes no change to PSE. He can use finder and d/c the picture to open in elements but it's a bit of a faff.
Cheers.
2 Correct answers
I'm surprised your Google search hasn't found a better solution, but there are several easy options. I'm a Windows user and know very little about Macs but you should be able to find the following options in Mac:
- The most obvious one is the Zoom control slider at the lower right of the grid.
- If you double-click on a thumbnail, it will appear in Full Screen View. Double-click again and it will return to the former Zoom level.
- In Windows, you can use the Ctrl+ and Ctrl- keyboard shortcuts
Your in the photoshop elements organizer in Media view and don't have the Zoom slioder in the bottom right as in the screenshot below?
If rather your referring to in the photoshop elements editor using File>Open, then there is no way to enlarge
the thumbnails while in the Open dialog.
If you were to import the photos into the Elements Organizer then the thumbnail size can be adjusted with the
Zoom slider as shown in the screenshot.
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I'm surprised your Google search hasn't found a better solution, but there are several easy options. I'm a Windows user and know very little about Macs but you should be able to find the following options in Mac:
- The most obvious one is the Zoom control slider at the lower right of the grid.
- If you double-click on a thumbnail, it will appear in Full Screen View. Double-click again and it will return to the former Zoom level.
- In Windows, you can use the Ctrl+ and Ctrl- keyboard shortcuts to zoom in and out. I assume in Mac that Cmd+ and Cmd- will work the say way.
My final suggestion is to use the Details view. Elements opens in a default adaptive view (as shown in my screenshots above). Press Ctrl/Cmd+D to get to the Details view. My aging eyes find it a lot less cluttered for viewing my images:
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Hi Greg,
I found the zoom slider option, but we don't have a zoom slider to slide on the bottom right, it is just blank down there.
Cmd+ / - works when the picture has been slected and is being worked on, so you can zoom in on the picture, but doesn't work when selecting the picture from the gallery.
I've not seen anything about adaptive/details view, I'll investigate.
There are a lot of things you'd think would work on a Mac. Selecting multiple pictures in one go clicking on one then holding down the shift key and selecting the last one doesn't work. I found if you draw round them by left click and hold and drag the cursor, works - weird.
Thanks so much, I'll try tomorrow and get back to you.
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@skierhughes said:
I found the zoom slider option, but we don't have a zoom slider to slide on the bottom right, it is just blank down there.
Are you saying that the zoom slider is in a different location than the lower right? As I indicated, I have no experience with a Mac. So I suppose it's possible that the slider is in a different location than on Windows.
@skierhughes said:
Cmd+ / - works when the picture has been slected and is being worked on, so you can zoom in on the picture, but doesn't work when selecting the picture from the gallery.
I'm not understanding what you are describing. Elements has two programs - the Organizer and the Editor. Are you saying that Cmd +/- works in the Editor but not in the Organizer? It should work in both programs. If you are talking about the Media grid (the Gallery?) in the Organizer, Cmd+/- operates on all photos in view to either increase or decrease the size of the thumbnails. At least that is the case with Windows. I'm going to ping @Jeff Arola who is an expert on both Windows and Mac to see whether he can explain any differences you are seeing.
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Hi Greg,
1. Zoom Slider
Sorry, my poor grammar.
I found a result on google which said to use the zoom slider, but we do not have a zoom slider to move.
2. cmd+/-
The problem we have is when you click on open to open a picture to edit, a window opens to select your picture. I'm not sure what it is called. I'll take some screen shots if I can when I am working with him tomorrow.
When that window opens cmd+/- does not make the thumbnails larger/smaller. It does nothing.
When a picture has been chosen and opened to edit, cmd+/- will zoom in and out of the picture being edited.
I hope that explains it properly.
Graham
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Your in the photoshop elements organizer in Media view and don't have the Zoom slioder in the bottom right as in the screenshot below?
If rather your referring to in the photoshop elements editor using File>Open, then there is no way to enlarge
the thumbnails while in the Open dialog.
If you were to import the photos into the Elements Organizer then the thumbnail size can be adjusted with the
Zoom slider as shown in the screenshot.
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Hi Jeff,
I'm not fully conversant with hte names of the windows that open, but I'm pretty sure this is what is happening.
My dad opens PSE and goes file>open and it opens and he edits the picture. Therefore I expect he is oppening and viewing the pictures in PSE Editor and that's why we have no zoom slider and can't find a way to enlarge them.
I'll do some research on PSE organiser and how to import your pictures.
Later today I'll log in and have a look and make sure this is correct and then import his pictures into organiser and hopefully we'll be away and he'll be back happy.
Thanks both.
Graham
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Graham, I don't know whether your father is interested in using the Organizer - I certainly recommend that he does - but, if not, perhaps the following may help. As I now understand the issue, your father was using the Elements Editor and using File>Open to find the files that he wants to edit. In Windows, this will open a normal Windows File Explorer view. I assume on a Mac, it will open a Finder window. You have asked whether the size of the thumbnails can be changed. In Windows, the size can be changed. See my screenshot:
Perhaps @Jeff Arola can confirm whether a similar thumbnail size view is available on a Mac.
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Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, had other more important items to deal with. Dad is now better and we spent some time on the computer and I've shown him how to use organiser and he is wella nd truly very happy.
Is the easiest way to get your chosen picture into editor to, right click and choose edit in PSE editor?
Many thanks for the info guys it is so much easier for dad and he is getting back with renewed enthusiasm.
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@skierhughes said:
Is the easiest way to get your chosen picture into editor to, right click and choose edit in PSE editor?
My personal preference is to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+I (Windows). I assume it is Cmd+I on a Mac.
You can also click the Editor button in the lower bar.
I also recommend that your dad try the Organizer's Instant Fix editor (button next to the Editor in screenshot above). It does a pretty good job of basic edits for most photos and can also be used to edit multiple photos in batch mode.
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Thanks I'll have a look on Tuesday when I'm over. Most of his editing is to crop pictures to go into coasters that he makes and into a calendar app that he has to produce them for a charity he attends for hsi heart failure.
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Thanks, we are sticking with what he knows.
Is there a way to print direct from organiser. I had a good look round but couldn't find an option.
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@skierhughes said:
Is there a way to print direct from organiser. I had a good look round but couldn't find an option.
It's where I would expect to find it in Windows (in the File menu). I assume it is also there on a Mac. Windows KB shortcut is Ctrl+P. Is it time for new glasses? 😉
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I selected a picture and then looked, but we had no file menu option and Cmd+P did not work.
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OK. This is a job for @Jeff Arola.
Added: But I'm not seeing any difference between Windows and Mac in this HelpX Article.
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On the mac side the Organiser does have File>Print, but the printing is done from within the photoshop elements editor. So if you select a photo(s) in the Organiser it will open the photoshop elements editor and then show the print dialog.
If your not seeing the File, Edit, Find View and Help menus in the Organizer, can you post a screenshot of what your seeing?
The reason this is different than on windows is the Picture Package and Contact Sheet commands
are in the Editor under File, where as on windows everything thing is in the Print dialog in the Organizer.
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I will, but it may be a few days until I get the chance to do that.
Although, it's probably quicker or same to r/click - open in editor - file - print?
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Yes that will do just as well and in addition when right clicking on a thumbnail the Print menu item should be there as well.
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I'm pretty sure it wasn't there on the right click as that was the first option I checked............ I'm starting to doubt myself now.
Thanks for the detaled explanations and continued support, appreciated.