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Photoshop CS6 icons sometimes do not appear on Macintosh

Community Beginner ,
May 21, 2012 May 21, 2012

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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

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

May 25, 2012 May 25, 2012

The thumbnails in the open dialog are provided by the OS (as is most of the open/save dialog).  So there is still a problem with the OS creating or displaying thumbnails.

It's not a matter of blaming Apple without reason, just that Apple has an awful lot of bugs in the OS that don't get fixed very quickly.

Here we know that the OS is responsible for the thumbnails, that clearing the OS cache of thumbnail and metadata fixes it for some people, and that even after that the OS can't always draw the t

...

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LEGEND ,
Sep 10, 2012 Sep 10, 2012

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Conroy, perhaps not generating the icons the documented way may have been the fix to the corrupted icon problems from earlier versions of Photoshop. 

I think it's amazing that something as simple as tying thumbnails to files is so difficult.  Someone from outside the Mac realm could be forgiven for wondering whether a Mac - traditionally the graphics professional's choice - is a particularly good platform for running Photoshop any more!  But I know that with the focus of the forum being on problems that it cannot possibly be as bad as it sounds.

-Noel

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LEGEND ,
Sep 10, 2012 Sep 10, 2012

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Good deal!  I kind of thought that the icon generation must not be failing for you, but I wasn't sure.

You and I seem to be kind of birds of a feather, in that I have few problems with Windows.

It's good to have your level of expertise here.

-Noel

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New Here ,
Sep 10, 2012 Sep 10, 2012

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I've been on this thread since the very beginning and have posted a few times. The only way I have found to work around this problem is a small application called "Path Finder". When I use this handy little app instead of my MacPros finder  - All the preview icons show up correctly - includding CS6 files, maybe an Apple issue when an app can show the previews but the finder can't?

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LEGEND ,
Sep 10, 2012 Sep 10, 2012

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Another possible workaround...  I have heard privately from one of my actions customers that they have used a tool called Onyx, and apparently its scripts have immediately made the icons start working and remain working for several days for him.  I have no idea what Onyx is or does, but perhaps this information can be useful/helpful in directing folks where to look for the problem.

-Noel

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New Here ,
Sep 10, 2012 Sep 10, 2012

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Yeah but all Onyx does id delete the DS files and it's temporary because the finder creates a new one imediatly after the old one is deleted.

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New Here ,
Sep 13, 2012 Sep 13, 2012

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been away for a while.......can anyone update the status of a resolution of this issue?

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New Here ,
Sep 14, 2012 Sep 14, 2012

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Donā€™t bother with Onyx or any other maintenance program, you are wasting your time. Most of you are still barking up the wrong tree. The icons are properly written by Photoshop, you just canā€™t see them. As I said before, all you have to do is restart your computer or log out and in (sometimes twice) and the icons are there and will be there including new photoshop file icons. Eventually they will disappear again due to a restart or some other reason and they are gone again, then you will have to log out and in again and all is back to normal until it happens again. Chris Cox is right, only Apple can fix this.

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 14, 2012 Sep 14, 2012

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I await answers as well...but WAY further back in this discussion a wise person had me purchase COCKTAIL and it works.  I run it maybe twice a week and it does the things I use to perform in disc utility. Running this, I have no problems with the icons at all. If I do not run it I do have problems. I realize this does not fix the issue, but it definitely makes life normal again.  For a non-computer person on the left brain side of it all, but a user of all of CS6 8 hours a day in photoshop, it drove me crazy with the icon problem to the point I was using my old CS5.  With Cocktail I have been fine... so its a good bandaid.  Will await what they finally decide and I too hope they fix it all.

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New Here ,
Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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Yes, Cocktail worked for me temporarily....but I still believe we deserve a response from Adobe to the issue of what is the present status of a solution to this problem.....are we not at least owed that?

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Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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We don't yet have an ETA from Apple on a fix to this - we're still waiting to hear from them about what the actual problem was, and when a fix might be released.  And being Apple, we won't be able to tell you much until after the fix is actually released.

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New Here ,
Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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so may we assume then that Apple has accepted responsibility for the problem?

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Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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We can't comment for Apple, and Apple will only comment publicly once a patch is released.

But as I've shown many times, this can only be an OS bug:  Photoshop writes the same thumbnails on everyone's system - but thumbnails only fails to show sometimes, on some systems, sometimes only failing on some directories, and then show again when the OS thumbnail caches are cleared.   The application is not involved after writing the file, only the OS is involved in creating their thumbnail cache and diplaying from that thumbnail cache.

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New Here ,
Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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Chris, I understand your argument, and I do follow it, to a point. I think everyone here is willing to admit that there may be a bug in Apple's code. BUT, having spent many years beta testing software for various developers, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that a developer gains the respect of its customers by overcoming the weaknesses of the operating systems on which its applications, extensions, or plug-ins run, not by waiting for OS updates to fix them. Show me one single discussion anywhere on the web where another application besides Photoshop CS6 is having the SAME issue of the icons it creates not being visible in the directories of Mac OS computers, and the onus can once and for all be lifted from Adobe in this thread. OS bug or no, icons written by Photoshop CS5 on these same systems do appear. Blame doesn't matter here. Resolution does. If Apple doesn't come through with a fix, regardless of what or where the bug is in their unreleased source code, Adobe could work around the problem and make its own customers happy by looking into the differences between CS5 and CS6 for an answer. As stated above, my own problem with this icon thing hasn't plagued me since I upraded from Lion to Mountain Lion. This may be more evidence that the OS may be the underlying issue, but NOT that the problem couldn't be swiftly and satisfactorily dealt with by Adobe.

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New Here ,
Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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hear hear...

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Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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Photoshop always writes the same thumbnails - yet the OS sometimes fails to process or display them after the file has been written, in a way that seems random but somhow specific to certain users or certain folders, and that failure is fixed by removing the OS cache of thumbnail data.  Short of rewritting the OS thumbnail code, there is no way for Photoshop to fix or work around that bug in the OS.

We have looked into the issue, and can't even reproduce the problem on any of our systems -- so can't do much to characterize it beyond what customers have reported.

Apple has to fix their bugs.  That's all there is to it.

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Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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And we already do go to great lengths to work around known OS bugs -- but sometimes, like this, it's something that just cannot be worked around.

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New Here ,
Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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Chris, I do not understand how it could be true that Photoshop always writes the same thumbnails. When I was having this problem, my workaround was to open files in Photoshop CS5, and save them again. The icons would then appear, every time. It defies logic to say that there is no difference between the CS versions in the way they write thumbnails. I can't get past that. I don't mean to be argumentative, but merely to point out that concurrent installations of Photoshop CS6 and CS5 will have, and not have, respectively, the issue on the very same system. This has been stated earlier in the thread. I always keep my old installations of Photoshop around for the purpose of dealing with bugs, and because in my profession I provide support for others who may not be using the newest software versions, and having the old ones around makes it possible to assist them more effectively. Can you explain to me how Photoshop CS5 could successfully write a visible icon to the same directory where CS6 cannot, if they do it exactly the same way? Are you personally directly involved in the writing of PS code, such that you can vouch for the fact that nothing was changed between CS5 and CS6? It's not that I'm saying this isn't Apple's fault. I just hope that this will encourage someone there to dig a little deeper...

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Sep 15, 2012 Sep 15, 2012

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It does not defy logic, I'm just more familiar with all the details.

Again, the stuff that happens after the file is written: that's all the OS.

There is no logical way that this could not be an OS bug.

Since we do not know the details of Apple's bug, we do not know why different applications and versions of the applications are treated differently. We do know that Apple did not like the way CS5 wrote thumbnails/icons and requested the change made in CS6.

Yes, I'm a senior engineer on Photoshop - but things did change *at Apple's direct request*.

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New Here ,
Sep 19, 2012 Sep 19, 2012

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Has anybody running Lion update version 10.7.5 or Mountain Lion update 10.8.2? Apple states is resolve an issue where icons in Launchpad may get rearranged after a restart but I'm wondering if it also fixes the photoshop icon problem?

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New Here ,
Sep 20, 2012 Sep 20, 2012

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After being frustrated by this disappearing thumbnail issue on Photoshop CS6 for several months now, and having spoken or communicated with both Adobe and Apple, I have arrived at the conclusion that Chris Cox is correct, this is a Mountain Lion issue that Apple has yet to resolve.

My conclusion is based on several things I've observed.

1.  When I installed the Mountain Lion version of Cocktail, it installed with no icon for the Cocktail application.  For me, that says its a Mountain Lion issue.

2.   I've known Chris Cox for many years, from the days when we both participated in Kai Krause's forums on KPT and Bryce products, and in my not so humble opinion, I say Chris knows of what he speaks.   Yes, I would love it if Adoble could come up with a workaround on this matter, but the buck really stops with Apple.   At this stage, I'm doing most of my work in CS6 sans thumbnails, then converting the files back to CS5 so that I have thumbnails, even though they are often fuzzy and pixelated.   At least it is better than just a file name without an icon.

Chris, thanks for hanging in with us and I'm sorry you've received the brunt of the anger and frustration many of us are feeling with this issue.  It's been my experience that Apple is much lesss responsive in listening to its customers than Adobe has been.

A big thanks to everyone here who is trying to solve this, but I trust that Chris is correct when he points to Apple.   Unfortunately, no matter who is responsble, we're still faced with the fact that frustration will continue until this gets fixed.   I may just abandon CS6 until Apple straightens out its operating system issues and go back to using CS5 for everything else

Dan Casselberry

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Enthusiast ,
Sep 20, 2012 Sep 20, 2012

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Converting the files back to CS5 so that I have thumbnails is not necessary. The icons are there just fine, it's just that once this starts the OS will not show them. Restarting or logging out and then back in will fix something that will allow the icons to again show. We will see what 10.8.2 brings.

By the way if you don't restart or log out and then back in when the PSCS6 icon don't show, aren't the icon saved from CS5 showing up very low res and blurry?

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New Here ,
Sep 20, 2012 Sep 20, 2012

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Yes, without a logout/login, the CS5 thumbnails are pixelated and blurry.    The logout/login procedure makes the CS6 icons appear, but only for a while.   After I work with a lot of images, they magically disappear again.  So, for the time being, the only temporary solution seems to be the periodic logout login procedure.   A temporary solution at best.

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New Here ,
Sep 20, 2012 Sep 20, 2012

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I mentioned long ago that the only workaround is to log out and in, and that it is an Apple problem. itā€™s annoying but not that big a deal. Now, since the 10.8.2 update I have not experienced any more issues with either Photoshop CS6 icons or any fuzzy icons. I logged in and out and restarted many times because this usually brought on the problem and so far so good. I hope this not only solved the problem for me but for all of you.

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New Here ,
Sep 20, 2012 Sep 20, 2012

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Moonrunner:

Logging in and out temporarily solved the problem for me, but only for a while.  Now with the 10.8.2 update, I'm running into problems with a cursor freeze upon attempting to log back in.  I use a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet, and sometimes just unplugging the tablet then plugging it back in will release the cursor, but not in this case.  Now I think 10.8.2 has brought me more grief.  I've tested all my drives, repaired them whether they needed to be or not, and repaired permissions, all to no avail.   While there may be problems with CS6, there's still some issues with Mountain Lion, as far as I can tell.

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New Here ,
Sep 22, 2012 Sep 22, 2012

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It seems I jumped the gun with the 10.8.2 update, the problem came back again. Logging out still fixes it for a while. I had no problem for a week until I restarted. I still say it has nothing to do with Photoshop because icons from my 4 and 5 year old photos disappear at the same time and CS 6 did not exist then and these files have not been touches for years. How in the world could anything but the OS have anything to do with that. After the log out all comes back to normal. I just hope Apple will fix this.

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