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

[Rick Meikle]

I have not upgraded to Mountain Lion yet--I usually wait for the first update to a new cat before installing it--but the icon problem has not returned since running Cocktail on Pilot per my earlier post. That specifically includes column view, which I use nearly 100% of the time. If Cocktail didn't do it for you, I suggest rebuilding your disk directory using Disk Utility (or Disk Warrior, if you have it), then running Cocktail on Pilot, then restarting your Mac. If that doesn't get it done, you'll need to look for some other solution.

[digxdsn]

Thanks all!  I've tried Cocktail without any luck and the the drive I store all my PS files is a 40TB XSan but all 6 of our MacPros running 10.7.4 and CS6 have the same problem (one of our artists never upgraded to 10.7.4 and he has no problem seeing prieviews wirh CS6)....frustrating. I don't want to go back to CS 5.5.

[Rick Meikle]

FWIW my "fix" using Cocktail (default Pilot mode) was on the startup drive. (Same with Disk Warrior.) And mine is a standalone Mac Pro 2010 (not part of a local network). There are two other 1TB drives identical to the startup drive in the Mac Pro. One is for Time Machine, the other is a Super Duper clone (from which I run DW). I use the Finder and Open/Save in column view extensively every day, and the icon problem has not returned (over a month now). I also use Default Folder for most navigation in Open/Save, which is probably not relevant but does interact a great deal with Open/Save.

[Guest]

Well… I've just upgraded to CS6 and have this problem.

27" iMac, i7, 2010 model, running 10.6.8.

The icons are missing in list, thumbnail, coverflow... ironically they work fine in column view if this preview arrow is down... the 'listing' is still iconless??

I ran cocktail and rebooted but they are still not working all is fine in CS4 still.

gs

[Guest]

OK, here is what has worked for me...

Delete the .DS_Store file.

You can use terminal or if you are lazy like me, download 'Find Any File.app' then do a search on your mac for .DS

When you find said file on your desktop [probably] right click and delete.

I then reboot with apple, alt, p, r [reset params]

All is now good.

Hope this helps someone else.

gs

[clinton_dyches]

Boy, I really started something when I posted my little problem...

I used the deletion of the .DS_Store files and, since I got the final release of PSCS6, haven't had any further problems. I started this discussion when I was using the beta release.

It seems as if the problem persists for some, though. Even with the ML update. I'll post back if I have the problem again, but it hasn't resurfaced for me for months now.

Good luck to all...

Clinton

[tim3308]

Icon view as well, which I run 98% o fthe time. It will be back, I run all that stuff - DW, cocktail - it is no cure. It will be back, just as it showed up in ML.

[Was DYP]

This PS icon bug still manifests itself in ML. I can deleting the .DS_store files and the icons will show up in the finder but not open and save dialog boxes in column view.

[Guest]

Chris, this is absurd.  I have retouchers creating work  for me from differing locations.  ONLY Photoshop 6.0 files arrive without icons/thumbnails.  All others using older versions of Photoshop have no issue.  This is only true for 6.0.  It does not matter what OS is being used, same issue.  If Apples "thumbnailing might fail like that" why would it ONLY fail with Photoshop 6 if there is no issue with Photoshop 6.  That you are suggesting people go into and delete the .DS_Store to fix this is silly.  As I stated Photoshop 5.5 and older have no issues whatsoever.  As a matter of fact no other applications we use here have any problems with this or with creating thumbnails or icons or previews.

[Chris Cox]

If you do a search on the net, you'll find that it isn't just failing with Photoshop CS6 (oh, and a few posts back someone mentions similar icon/thumbnail failings for other applications).

And it isn't failing for everyone (really, it's not failing for most people).

Also, please see the previous discussions -- this really does appear to be an Apple bug. We don't know the details of their bug yet, but logically it can only be a bug in Apple's code.

[Rick Meikle]

This has become such a rambling topic that I don't recall (might have missed) a post about other apps with the same problem. Can anyone specifically identify such apps? (And can we rule out that the users in such cases don't have some other problem?) Finally, even if "most" users do not see the Photoshop CS6 icon problem, how many of them have simply not noticed it, don't care, or aren't saying anything? If there is a percentage of users, possibly a very large percentage, who don't have the problem, that would suggest there is conflict in the system configuration of the users who do have the problem. Except that Kurt ruled it out with his exhaustive testing of virgin system installations. A question that occurs to me is: How is it that no one at Adobe is encountering the problem? (And is that really true?)

[Rick Meikle]

I just did a quick search on Google for "Apple missing icons," "Apple missing icons open save," "Mac missing icons," and a couple other variations. Maybe I need to try other keywords, but I only found the Photoshop CS6 problem (a single result) and some issues with iPad and Final Cut Pro which appear unrelated, plus other "oddball" icon problems at the system level (Dock, Preferences, iTunes, AirPlay, etc.) that also appear unrelated. In fact, the most striking thing about the searches was the absence of issues, especially during 2012, and how what is there has nothing to do with the problem being discussed in this topic (except for the Photoshop CS6 results, of course). Anyone else finding evidence of other apps having the same problem? While we're at it, why don't Illustrator and InDesign (among other CS apps) have the same problem?

[Kurt Lang]

Just to note from the other thread I linked to, CS6 is where I'm having the least issues. Icons are always created. They are always crisp and remain that way. The only difference between the two after testing is that CS5 and CS5.5 continue to generate the occasional "permissions denied" error when you press Command+S to save your progressive work.

Finally, even if "most" users do not see the Photoshop CS6 icon problem, how many of them have simply not noticed it, don't care, or aren't saying anything? If there is a percentage of users, possibly a very large percentage, who don't have the problem, that would suggest there is conflict in the system configuration of the users who do have the problem.

I see the same thing over at Apple's discussion forums all the time. Users will point out how many other people are having "the same problem". Well, what do you expect? Most people who frequent the forums are the ones having an issue of some sort. It's like walking into a hospital and determining that since so many people there are sick, everyone else also must be.

(And if I recall correctly, you are also a color display/color management guru non pareil, which means tons of cred.)

I have indeed been at color and retouching for a very long time (about 7 years before there even was such a thing as Photoshop 1.0), but I didn't know I had creds. Do you happen to know how I can spend them.

[Rick Meikle]

I believe (hope) that creds get you taken seriously by developers! On that level, creds are priceless. My creds are taking a beating, though. I mistakenly associated your long post about the "file has changed" problem with the missing icon problem. ("I then installed one of the CS items mentioned above and any of its updates. Immediately afterwards, icons would not be created for all files; a QuickTime function." Plus a couple other references to creating or not creating icons.) It may all be related, which I presume is why you brought it to this topic. I too experience the irritating "file has changed" message from time to time, but as a standalone user I just ignore and dismiss it. I visited that topic to learn about it but don't recall posting to it. That illustrates my point about how many users with a given problem may not make it known to the developer. At no time was I trying to say that all or most users have or don't have the missing icon problem. Only that it is affecting a sizable number of users, of which it is reasonable to assume that only a portion, probably a small portion, are participating in the forum. At the same time, if the problem only comes up in column view, for example, users who don't use column view won't discover the problem. There are lots of ways to argue for and against populations with or without the problem, but that is beside the point when there are enough users with it. I'm still curious to know whether any other application has verifiably demonstrated the same icon creation problem that affects many users of Photoshop CS6. To my way of thinking, this is a key step in pinpointing the problem.

[Noel Carboni]

Plus it seems like because the thread has moved on to a new page, we've all but forgotten that one (apparently very knowledgeable) user (Kurt) claims to have fixed the problem by reinstalling OSX AFTER Photoshop.

I hate to add fuel to the fire, but Adobe ought to have worked around this bug by now.  This thread goes back to April  for Pete's sake.

-Noel

[Guest]

I believe the only "wishful" thinking going on here is that Adobe will  address this.  

IF

Adobe truly believes this is only an Apple issue they need to resolve it with Apple.  It is still their responsibility to resolve it.  It is their product that is not functioning with the Apple OS.  It is their users who are using that system.  To simply blame the OS does the users who have purchased the product no good whatsoever.  If I create a product that does not function on a particular OS system I can't absolve myself of responsibility by blaming the system I have developed it for.   

[Chris Cox]

The maker of a car is in no way responsible for the condition of the road.

We have been talking to Apple about this.  But we don't have Apple's source code, so we can't fix their bugs for them.  We can document it, and ask them nicely to fix it, but we have to wait for them to fix it.

We already work around as many OS bugs as we can (and that's a lot), but we can't work around bugs we don't understand or can't reproduce, there are many bugs that simply cannot be worked around (thread scheduling, file system, OS memory leaks, etc.), and the OS vendors need to take responsibility for the bugs in their OS.

[Noel Carboni]

Chris Cox wrote:

we can't work around bugs we don't understand or can't reproduce

You could  offer a secret option that will cause Photoshop CS6 to save icons exactly the way Photoshop CS5 did as a workaround for users with the specific issue of CS6 not working and CS5 working...  Just saying.

-Noel

[Guest]

Chris it's a bad analogy. 

A better one is that developers for the web have for years created fixes so sites would work on Internet Explorer even though that was the only browser client that made it necessary to do so. 

The earlier versions of Photoshop did not and do not have this issue on the older or the newest OS systems.  Photoshop 6 does.  Why does that then become a problem with Apple?  And if it is why was it not addressed in a beta version?  The fact is Adobe Photoshop 6 does not, in many cases,  function as it should with  Mac OS X system.  It is a condition that is/was created by Photoshop 6 and only manifests itself in that version.   It is Adobe's issue to resolve.

If you want to stick with the car  analogy I would suggest this is more like Adobe created a set of rims that won't mount on the car because according to them the car manufacturer put the wheel bolts in the wrong place. 

[Chris Cox]

The anaolgy was quite appropos.  Photoshop works according to the guidelines set out by the OS vendor, and works correctly on the vast majority of systems.

Web developers have some idea of the bug they are working around, and easy ways to work around basic issues.

We do not know why Apple's thumbnailing code works most of the time, and fails sometimes in some folders on some machines.  That code exists as part of the OS, not as part of Photoshop or any Adobe codebase.  We cannot see their source code to find the bug or fix it.

This is a bug in Apple's thumbnailing code, plain and simple.  This is not something that Adobe can resolve.

[Guest]

It was not.  And, even so cars are engineered to endure and navigate the potholes and hills they may encounter.

Adobe is selling a product that does not work as advertised.  

I will ask once again, as others have.  Why is this a Photoshop 6 problem only, if the issue is with the OS?

And.  It doesn't really matter if it is or is not an OS problem.  It is still Adobe's responsibility to it's customers to make a product which functions appropriately.

You have unhappy customers, you don't have a work around and you didn't have a problem, until you released 6.

[Chris Cox]

It isn't a Photoshop CS6 only problem.

This is an Apple bug.  If you want it fixed sooner, please let Apple know that you want it fixed soon.

Adobe cannot fix Apple's bugs.

[Rick Meikle]

I, for one, truly appreciate your participation in this forum, Chris. You take a lot of heat from frustrated users who may not realize this is just a place where users talk to users. Over the years of my (very) sporadic participation, I've seen you go the extra mile, even though once in awhile I disagreed with your position on an issue. At this point in this topic, it seems to be boiling down to whether this is or isn't a Photoshop CS6 only problem. How do you know it isn't? I haven't seen any other app, including earlier versions of Photoshop, fingered. But you have vastly greater input than us users. Are you constrained from naming names? (Even one? Like another Adobe app?)

[Chris Cox]

Yeah, we're limited in what we can say.

I've probably already gone too far (and will hear from the fruit flavored company soon).

[Rick Meikle]

Thanks, Chris. Looks like those who have workarounds will have to stick with them until something gives in a place that this forum can't touch.