Photoshop CS no longer provides thumbnail icons of .psd in Windows?!!

M
Posted By
Martin
Nov 5, 2003
Views
1638
Replies
71
Status
Closed
I have found this on a website online about Photoshop CS:

"Photoshop CS no longer provides thumbnail icons of .psd files through operating system folder windows. Please use the File Browser to view your .psd thumbnail files."

Is this true?
If it is, I think this restriction is plain BS. We should be allowed to continue browsing through windows without having to go through Photoshop Browser and see the PSD icons thumbnails.

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups ๐Ÿ”ฅ

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

TM
Thomas_Madsen
Nov 5, 2003
wrote:

"Photoshop CS no longer provides thumbnail icons of .psd files through operating system folder windows. Please use the File Browser to view your .psd thumbnail files."

Is this true?

It is true here (Photoshop CS and WinXP Pro). I must admit that I haven’t noticed it until now, although I’ve had Photoshop CS installed since Monday.


Regards
Madsen.
H
Ho
Nov 5, 2003
You can use view thumbnails in the w2k folder options to see your psd files, and I assume this works in XP. However, I think this loss of functionality sucks. I want to see my images BEFORE I open Photoshop. Does the PS browser run as a stand alone or does it only run from within PS?
M
MarkATS
Nov 5, 2003
Does the PS browser run as a stand alone or does it only run from within PS?

Only within Photoshop
RP
Russell_Proulx
Nov 5, 2003
Yikes!! That’s a step backwards…. ๐Ÿ™

Having PS icons become a mini image makes managing files easier for those who work in ‘Large Icon’ mode. It’s been ‘normal’ for Mac users for a long time and what Windoes PCs have been doing more and more to make those PCs look ‘just like a Mac’ so converts can feel more at home <g>

Is this some ‘whacky pact’ inked with Steve Jobs? Where’s the logic in this dumb move!….??

I wonder if they’ve done the same for Illustrator files? Will we need to buy a 3d party $add-on to get back what was previously taken for granted?

Sigh…,

Russell
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Nov 5, 2003
wrote:

You can use view thumbnails in the w2k folder options to see your psd files, and I assume this works in XP.

It doesn’t work the same way as it did before. With PS 7 (and PS 6) you would see a thumbnail of a PSD file even if a folder in WinXP was set to ‘Icons’ in the view setting. With Photoshop CS you just see an icon.

If you set the folder view to ‘Thumbnails’, most of the PSD files do change to a thumbnail, but some of them don’t. I don’t know why.

However, I think this loss of functionality sucks. I want to see my images BEFORE I open Photoshop.

If I want to see the images before I open Photoshop, I use an image browser (my favourite at the moment is ThumbsPlus).

Does the PS browser run as a stand alone or does it only run from within PS?

Only from within PS, as far as I know.


Regards
Madsen.
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Nov 5, 2003
wrote:

I wonder if they’ve done the same for Illustrator files?

I can still see a preview of an Illustrator CS file even if the folder view is set to ‘Icons’.

This is *.ai icons associated with Illustrator CS:
<http://home18.inet.tele.dk/madsen/illustrator/cs_icons.png>.

This is *.psd icons associated with Photoshop CS:
<http://home18.inet.tele.dk/madsen/photoshop/cs_icons.png>.

This is *.psd icons associated with Photoshop 7:
<http://home18.inet.tele.dk/madsen/photoshop/ps7_icons.png>.

This is *.psd thumbnails associated with Photoshop CS:
<http://home18.inet.tele.dk/madsen/photoshop/cs_thumbs.png>.

As you can see, some of them doesn’t show a thumbnail even if it is *.psd files and the folder view is set to ‘Thumbnails’.


Regards
Madsen.
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 6, 2003
Is this some ‘whacky pact’ inked with Steve Jobs? Where’s the logic in this dumb move!….??

I wonder if it has to do with all the conflicts that had occurred w/psicon.dll in ps7 under xp/2k? could be at the heart of the "file is locked" problem that’s been plaguing some 7 users too. so they decided to pull it.

Just guessing.
DM
Derrick_Moore
Nov 6, 2003
That was my guess, also, Dave. I wondered if they were going to fix the psicon.dll shell extension in this release. I believe it’s got progressively worse since around 5.5
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 6, 2003
Well I guess it’s "fixed". ๐Ÿ™‚
LH
Lawrence_Hudetz
Nov 6, 2003
Dumb way to fix it. The file locked was /is linked to the PS icon, not the thumbnail.
SB
Scott_Byer
Nov 6, 2003
So, as long as you save your Photoshop files with "Maximize Compatibility" on, then the previews will show in thumbnail mode (XP itself can read the composite).

Yes, it’s because we yanked psicon.dll. It was simply causing too many problems – the shell extension APIs themselves are just problematic, and as hard as we tried, we couldn’t get rid of the problems. And the problems often required a reboot to straghten out, which wasn’t acceptable.

So, it’s a step backwards. Sorry about that.

-Scott
DM
Derrick_Moore
Nov 6, 2003
Thanks, Scott. Good riddance to the thing



Rick Moore
Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek Architects
(512) 476 7133
(512) 478 2624 FAX
www.bgkarchitects.com
JR
Jen_Rose
Nov 6, 2003
wrote in message
That was my guess, also, Dave. I wondered if they were going to fix the psicon.dll shell extension in this release. I believe it’s got
progressively
worse since around 5.5

Is that the nasty little thing that crashes windows any time photos are nested in too many folders?

Jenrose
DM
Derrick_Moore
Nov 6, 2003
Is that the nasty little thing that crashes windows any time photos are nested in too many folders?

That never happened to me but others reported it. It’s the thumbnail generator that caused extreme delays in Explorer windows



Rick Moore
Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek Architects
(512) 476 7133
(512) 478 2624 FAX
www.bgkarchitects.com
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 6, 2003
scott, does the old psicon.dll still function if people wish to use it?
H
Ho
Nov 6, 2003
Good question, since I *never* use "maximize compatibility"…

So, as long as you save your Photoshop files with "Maximize Compatibility" on, then the previews will show in thumbnail mode (XP itself can read the composite).

Hmmm. Just tried it in W2k as an experiment. All I got in Explorer was a black box. As a bonus, the file size went from 50Mb to 73Mb. Not exactly worth the overhead, even if it did work.
TM
Trevor_Morris
Nov 7, 2003
For the record, this topic is covered in the PS CS Installation Read Me file ๐Ÿ˜‰
M
Martin
Nov 7, 2003
Thanks for all the info.
I don’t have PS8 yet… so I can’t really have more info than what is currently given on the forum or what I can find online.

According to HO above, the "maximize compatibility" doesn’t seem to work for the thumbnails in W2k. Can someone test that feature in WinXP and let us know if it works?

Thank you.

Martin
SB
Scott_Byer
Nov 7, 2003
Yes, the old psicon.dll still works (with the problems, of course) – it’s completely self-contained. So as long as it’s there and the registry entry pointing the Explorer shell at it exists, it will still work.

-Scott

wrote in message
scott, does the old psicon.dll still function if people wish to use it?
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 7, 2003
thanks scott. noted.
H
Ho
Nov 7, 2003
Yes, the old psicon.dll still works (with the problems, of course) – it’s completely self-contained. So as long as it’s there and the registry entry pointing the Explorer shell at it exists, it will still work.

Great. Now can someone tell me how to hack my registry to make PS8 display thumbnailed icons in W2k?

Thanks
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 8, 2003
you don’t want to download a video driver but you want to mess with your registry?!!! ๐Ÿ™‚

I’ll look into it, might be easier for someone without cs installed though. I’m not sure if it overwrites the reg settings. Gimmie a day or 2. In the meantime if anyone feels like looking into it look for psicon.dll under shellex.

Awright, couldn’t help myself. Here’s a quickie – this looks likely. Make sure you have all these keys in the proper places. format for the following is "keyname = value (type)"

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4 D}\(Default) = Photoshop Icon Handler (REG_SZ)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4 D}\InProcServer32\(Default) = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell\PSICON.DLL (REG_SZ)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4 D}\InProcServer32\ThreadingModel = Apartment (REG_SZ)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4 D}\MiscStatus\(Default) = (value not set) (REG_SZ)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4 D}\MiscStatus\IconBits = 1 (REG_SZ)

Then you need the shellex hive. I’d try copying it from here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.Image.7\shellex

to here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.Image.8\shellex

There is no shellex hive under ….Image.8 so it should be just a straight copy.

STANDARD DISCLAIMER TIME WHEN PLAYING WITH YOUR REGISTRY:

YOU MAY (LIKELY WILL) HOSE YOUR SYSTEM BY MAKING THESE CHANGES UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING, AND EVEN THEN!!!

Back up your registry before messing with it unless you are a registry god! (Or a fool. There’s no accounting for the luck of the foolish! <g>)

Blah, blah, blah, don’t sue me.

As Donald Knuth said:

"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it."

– Donald Knuth
DM
Derrick_Moore
Nov 8, 2003
Dave, I wonder what happens to to the CLSID
{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D} when Photoshop 7 gets uninstalled? I assume it would go away and someone would have to recreate the entries. Of course, I don’t recommend using this thing at all – Adobe ditched it for a reason, a google groups search for psicon.dll will show this problem has been around for years
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 8, 2003
Dave, I wonder what happens to to the CLSID

Assuming you haven’t uninstalled it first.

You can save the dll and still uninstall 7. Then you’d have to reregister it. And make sure you maintain all the reg entries. That I mentioned. Not a task for the faint of heart.

As for the problems themselves, I never had them. Many didn’t. Lots did. If you didn’t or if you can live with them for the functionality, and you think you can handle maintaining the registry for it, go for it. It’s self contained. Nice as pie! ๐Ÿ™‚
H
Ho
Nov 8, 2003
you don’t want to download a video driver but you want to mess with your registry?!!!

Sure. Ghost makes me invincible and bullet proof…
H
Ho
Nov 8, 2003
Ok, that worked… thumbnails restored. However, it appears they borked something else in PS8, because sometimes it generates a thumb when it saves, sometimes it does not.

I first did a 96dpi test file, saved it, and it had a thumbnail icon. I next opened a 100Mb poster file I have been working on (one which I noticed did not appear with a thumb icon after the reg hack, only a black box) and resaved it. Still only a black box. I then opened it in PS6 and resaved and, voila, a thumbnail icon. So if any of the good folks at Adobe are looking over our shoulders here…

AHEM,
How about, when you get around to publishing the .01 patch, you GIVE THE USERS THE OPTION of having thumbnail icons or not, and make it work consistently. Please?

Thank you.
DM
Derrick_Moore
Nov 8, 2003
It should also be noted that I don’t think the problem was with PSD files, just JPGs and TIFs.

As for the problems themselves, I never had them. Many didn’t. Lots did.
H
Ho
Nov 8, 2003
It should also be noted that I don’t think the problem was with PSD files, just JPGs and TIFs.

I wasn’t aware the PS generated an icon for anything *but* PSD files.

Anyway the thumbnail–no thumbnail situation is hard to pin down. I can take an image that WILL generate a thumb, play with it until it WON’T (add layers, increase resolution and size, paste other images in, etc.) and then go back in the history pallet and make it generate the thumb once more. Weird.
DM
Derrick_Moore
Nov 8, 2003
It will generate them if the psicon.dll is registered to the file type – you can easily check this by looking at the Properties of a file, it will have a tab called "Photoshop Image". If you don’t have this on TIFs and JPGs you might never have had the problems it causes – extreme delays in generating thumbnails and a condition where Explorer still has a handle on the file after Photoshop has opened it – causing the "can’t save this file because it is already open" error message some people have reported. I can only vouch for my systems, though, about not having these problems with PSD files. But I do have a sporadic display of thumbnails in PSD, sometimes they just stop showing but will return if I save the file. If we’re lucky maybe Marc Pawliger will drop by for some Adobe feedback…

I wasn’t aware the PS generated an icon for anything *but* PSD files.
GG
Glark_Glark
Nov 8, 2003
Boooo for not fixing the psicon.dll problem properly and taking the easy route out. Always nice to pay for an upgrade to find certain features move backwards and put a serious cramp on your style.
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 9, 2003
Boooo for not fixing the psicon.dll problem properly and taking the easy route out.

Yea but I’m sure that the people who couldn’t save aren’t saying boo. I hear ya though. Personally I don’t give a hoot. (and I don’t pollute!<g>) I never really cared about it one way or the other. Windows thumbnails are better when looking for an image (bigger). Otherwise, I never really cared if it showed the image as an icon or just a generic PS icon. Most of my image folders are set to thumbnail view anyway.
H
Ho
Nov 9, 2003
That’s great Dave, so are mine. What will you do with the black boxes that appear where the thumbnails are supposed to be? If you don’t have any yet, you will.

Thanks for the reg hack, by the way.
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 9, 2003
Eek. I hope not. We’ll see, I suppose. You mean you get black boxes for psd’s and other file types associated with PS when viewing in thumbnail mode?
H
Ho
Nov 9, 2003
PSD files are the only ones for me. I have tifs and jpegs associatied with another app, so I don’t know if they are affected or not. Chris Cox says the problem is on my end (OS), so I’m curious if anyone else sees it.
M
mm1
Nov 9, 2003
I have also had issues with thumbnails not showing up. After a search I ran across these instructions (shown at the end of my post).

I applied the registry fixes for jpeg, tiff, PSD and gif files. I can now view all of them as thumbnails.

BUT, I can only view files made or saved in Pshop7 or earlier versions. ALL files that are saved in Pshop8 will NOT show up as a thumbnail – except PSD files.

With PSD files, if they were saved in Pshop7 or earlier, the thumbnail is nice and large. After saving them in Pshop8 the thumbnails show up but are real tiny.

I also checked the registry entries that Dave posted and everything is there…

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get new files from Pshop8 to show up as thumbnails? Or is this the way 8 is designed? I hope not. In the past I have not had any of the thumbnail "problems" mentioned.

* ************* Restoring thumbnails in W2k:

First thing to do is *BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY

Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.

Locate and click the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg registry key.

Right-click the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg registry key, point to New, and then click Key.

Name the new key ShellEx.

Right-click the ShellEx registry key that you created, point to New, and then click Key.

Name the new key {BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}.

Click the {BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1} registry key that you created, right-click the Default value in the right pane, click Modify, and then type the following value data in the Value data box:

{7376D660-C583-11d0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}

* *************
CB
CJ_Burianek
Nov 11, 2003
In case anyone did Donald’s fix and still didn’t have "large icon" thumbnails for JPG, GIF, TIFF Etc in W2K…

if you copy the shellex hive from HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.Image.7\shellex (Shown below) that he instructed to copy to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.Image.8

* *************************

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.Image.7\shellex (Default) = (value not set) (REG_SZ)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.Image.7\shellex\IconHandler (Default) = ({0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}) (REG_SZ)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.Image.7\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers (Default) = (value not set) (REG_SZ)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.Image.7\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers\PSDPage (Default) = ({0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}) (REG_SZ)

* **************************************** Also copy to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.BMPFile
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.GIFFile
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.JPEGFile
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.PNGFile
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.TIFFFile

for the other thumbnails…

CJ Burianek
A
anibalin
Nov 12, 2003
what about winxp? its the same reg. hack?

really miss to see my .psd thumbs on my desktop. Its a nice feature now lost. I never ever had any problem with .psd thumbs…except in version 7.0…then came 7.01 which fixed that.

Maybe…8.01…?

respect.
aniba!
CB
CJ_Burianek
Nov 12, 2003
Yes same reg. hack with winxp – just did it with my laptop… CJ
M
mm1
Nov 15, 2003
I tried all of the registry changes, but I can still not view recently made Tif thumbnails in W2K. Any images made in P7 or prior show up just fine, but anything made or saved in P8 does not display. PSD and JPG files display ok, it is just the Tif files.

I did try the "also copy shellex hive to…" that CJ suggested, but when I add the suggested registry info to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.TIFFFile", all of the Tif files will then have a "PSD" Icon (and still do not display). Any other ideas, or I am doing something wrong here?

All of my "Tif" file extensions are ".tif", and I notice that Pshop uses "Tiff" in the registry, I assume that would not matter. In fact at one point in my esperimenting changing the extention from "tif" to "tiff" would result in the icon changing to a PSD! I believe that happens when I have the shellex hive added to the Photoshop.Tifffile entry in the registry.
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 16, 2003
I don’t believe all this mucking in the registry is wise, but in the interest of giving everyone enough rope to hang themselves by ( ๐Ÿ™‚ ):

copy:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Photoshop.Image.7\shellex\IconHandler

to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TIFImage.Document\Shellex
H
Ho
Nov 16, 2003
You know, someone who’s done this reg hack successfully could export their registry keys for the less adventurous to merge into their own registries, and make it available for download or emailing…

Just a thought.
A
Asboe
Nov 16, 2003
I found the thumbnails too big in Windows XP, so I used "Tweak UI for Windows XP" to resize them.


Regards, Asboe
M
mm1
Nov 16, 2003
(i.e. recreate the IconHandler subfolder & it’s values under >tifimage.document\shellex\)

I tried that, but no change…
JW
John_Woram
Nov 16, 2003
Kids, don’t try this at home, but, . . .

In the Registry’s .psd key, the ShellEx/{BB2E… subkey probably points to "{OB6D…" which is the Adobe Photoshop Icon Handler (psicon.dll). I changed the ShellEx/{BB2E… key to point instead to this CLSID:

{7376D660-C583-11D0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}

which is TridentImageExtractor (…/system32/browseui.dll in XP, …/system/browseui.dll in Win98 and WinMe)

I haven’t had the thumbnail problem, so I don’t know if this "cure" will work. But as a test, I deleted the ShellEx key completely, and of course my .psd thumbnails disappeared. Then I made the change described above, and they came back again. Needless to say, your mileage may vary and all that. But if all else fails, this might be worth a shot.
CB
CJ_Burianek
Nov 16, 2003
Hi

Not sure on the Tif/Tiff question. some of my Tifs are showing up as having thumbnail icons and some have the Photoshop Icon.. not sure as to why because it isn’t always consistant..
However, did you check to make sure that the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.tif and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.tiff registry keys have the following under ShellEx.

Key {BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1} with Default Value Data: {7376D660-C583-11d0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}

CJ
M
mm1
Nov 16, 2003
"However, did you check to make sure that the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.tif and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.tiff registry keys have the following under ShellEx.

Key {BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1} with Default Value Data: {7376D660-C583-11d0-A3A5-00C04FD706EC}"
——————–
CJ:
Yes, my entries match those exactly…

Here is what I have for the other settings:

* **Photoshop.Image.8\shellex (value not set)

Photoshop.Image.8\shellex\IconHandler {0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}

Photoshop.Image.8\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\PSDPage (value not set) Points to: {0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}

* **Photoshop.TIFFFile.8

I do not have the shellex hive (as descibed in post #36) here. If I add it, then the Tif icons show up as PSD icons and P8 files still do not diplay as thumbnails…)

———-
I have never had a problem with PSD or JPG files, Only Tif files and ONLY ones that have been made or saved in P8. ALL older tiff files show up just fine.

In addition, now when I display "large icons" in a folder, I get the tiny thumbnails where before I only got them when I selected "Thumnail Preview", which is the way I want it. I don’t want any previews in "large icon" mode. Note that even in the "large icons" mode I do NOT see any P8 tiff files.

This has been really frustrating, I’m ready to delete P8 and go back to P7 where I did not have these problems. I have thousands of images and really rely on the folder display to review and sort files.

As someone else mentioned, another problem is that a lot of the files that do show up in thumbnail mode, the JPG files in particular, show up intermittently. Some will display, some not. But if I highlight any that do not show up and press F5 refresh, they will "appear". But perhaps next time I open the folder they will not, or others will, it’s hit and miss. This was not a problem before P8. I could open any folder and see all of my thumbnails without a hitch. And much faster loading too. Now it seems it takes forever to load the thumbnails.

Help!
DM
Derrick_Moore
Nov 16, 2003
mm1 – if what you want are the thumbnails in 2000’s "thumbnail preview" mode, that’s not what these reg hacks are affecting. The psicon.dll file was for seeing the thumbnails in "Large Icon" mode, which is what you do not want (it’s also what is slowing down your display). Before ditching CS, why don’t you try uninstalling both programs and then just installing CS.
M
mm1
Nov 16, 2003
Derrick:
Yes, I just want the Thumbnail previews and do NOT want the "large icons" preview mode…

You mention uninstalling "both" programs… you mean PhotoshopCS and what other program?

I assume I should do a total uninstall of P8, clean the registry of Photoshop references, and then reinstall P8? If so, will that "clear" and reset all of the refences to the thumbnails in Large Icon mode?

Am I understanding this also then that I will NOT be able to see any Thumbnail previews that are made in P8?
DM
Derrick_Moore
Nov 16, 2003
You mention uninstalling "both" programs… you mean PhotoshopCS and what
other program?

I thought you still had P7 installed, my mistake

I assume I should do a total uninstall of P8, clean the registry of
Photoshop references, and then reinstall P8? If so, will that "clear" and reset all of the refences to the thumbnails in Large Icon mode?

It should. You might be able to do it just with Folder Options and without uninstalling Photoshop, but since I don’t have CS yet and I haven’t used Win2000 in years I’m just speculating.

Am I understanding this also then that I will NOT be able to see any
Thumbnail previews that are made in P8?

I don’t know why TIF files wouldn’t show in Thumbnail mode. Someone with more recent Win2000 experience might be better to help you
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 17, 2003
This is why I don’t like giving out registry advice.

mm, I suggest you do a system restore to BEFORE you started changing your registry, then do the uninstalls and reinstalls that Derrick suggests.
M
mm1
Nov 17, 2003
Dave:
No problems for me on the "registry editing", I have full system back-ups via CD/Ghost and can be back up and running with a full restore after any changes in less than 15 minutes. This has "saved" me many a time, hardly ever needed for registry changes, but in cases where installing new programs has totally fouled things up Ghost has been a lifesaver.

So does it makes sense that I am not able to view tiff files that are made in P8? Something in the P8 design? Even before all the registry changes I was not able to view P8 files. P7 and before, ok, but anything made or saved in P8 will not view as a thumbnail.

mm1
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 17, 2003
So does it makes sense that I am not able to view tiff files that are made in P8? Something in the P8 design?

I don’t know enough about either cs (yet) or psicon.dll to be able to answer that. All I know is what was mentioned in this thread, and some past mucking about with the reg while helping some folks w/ps 7’s "can’t save the file" error. It’s been stated here that the dll is self contained. So it should work. But…. I said right off (when I first offered the reg keys that seem to be affected) that it may not work and that the path through the registry of all the classids was very convoluted. Looks like we missed some. It would take some really deep study, tracking the classids all the way through the entire reg. to find out exactly what’s going on. Hours of work, at least, if not days. As it doesn’t affect me one way or the other, I’m inclined to leave that as an "exercise for the student." ๐Ÿ™‚

But as you mentioned above (I think) you said you only needed the Thumbnail view to work, not the Large Icon view. As the Thumbnail explorer view isn’t related at all to psicon.dll (AFAIK) I stand by my advice to "go back" to before you started messing with the registry and reinstall CS.

I’m not sure what the solution to your problem is, to be honest, I’m not really sure of the question. But if it’s Thumbnail view you’re after and not Large Icon view, I’d suggest laying it all out clearly in a new thread so as not to muddy these waters any more than they already are, and to give us a better chance at solving your specific problem without confusing it with the other topic discussed in this thread.

dave
M
mm1
Nov 17, 2003
But if it’s Thumbnail view you’re after and not Large Icon view…

Dave:
That is it exactly, I want to have, just the W2K "Thumbnail view" for all JPG, TIFF and PSD files.

For years this has all worked perfectly. But for some unknown reason newer Tif files that I have created, and only Tif files, will not show up under the Thumbnail view. 100% for sure with any P8 files, and possibly some made in the last month on P7 before I upgraded, that I still need to check.

So, altering the registry from what has been posted on this thread had nothing to do with making things any worse, I had the problem before I even thought of touching the registry.

Thanks for your help and advice, I’ll keep at it until I can find a solution.

MM1
JW
John_Woram
Nov 17, 2003
Hey Dave (Milbut) — can you comment on this? On a PC that was having no problem with any thumbnail views, I removed the ShellEx pointer to Adobe’s psicon.dll file, and the thumbnails disappeared. Then I wrote a new subkey that pointed to browseui.dll instead. The thumbnails returned. So I figured (duh!) that both pointers did the same job, and if one was broken, the other could be used as a replacement. Later on I checked a newly-formatted Win98 box that does not have any version of PS on it. Here, the browseui.dll file displayed thumbnails for JPG and GIFs, but not for PSDs. So about all I can suggest is, if a PS system has a problem displaying PSD thumbnails, try pointing the ShellEx key to browsui.dll instead. It ain’t elegant, but it works (here). Maybe it’ll work somewhere else too.
A
anibalin
Dec 3, 2003
any update on this mates?
DM
dave_milbut
Dec 3, 2003
john, sorry i missed your post. pretty busy at work, at least in spurts. no, i can’t comment. it’s top secret. ๐Ÿ™‚ kidding. i have no idea what browsui.dll does specifically (version info says it’s the "Shell Browser UI Library") and only the vaguest notion of some of the capabilities of the psicon.dll.

what kind of update would you like ani?
A
anibalin
Dec 8, 2003
well…not sure {:D
expectin’ a magic trick to get psd thumbnails on my desktop again.

But…well…it cant be done. Sh$ยท happens.

Respect.
aniba!
DM
dave_milbut
Dec 8, 2003
It would be really cool if one of the extremely cool, talented and remarkably good looking adobe people would put togethter an "unsupported" registry merge file that would cover all the bases definitively. (hint, hint!) ๐Ÿ™‚
A
anibalin
Dec 8, 2003
that would be super duper ๐Ÿ™‚ (hint! hint!!)
JW
John_Woram
Dec 8, 2003
Dave, it was a month since I looked at this, and I don’t remember all the details (but then, I can’t even remember what I had for dinner last night<g>). As I recall, the original message poster had a problem seeing a .psd thumbnail, and I suggested trying the Windows default Trident handler instead of Adobe’s. When I did that here, I saw a smaller thumbnail — same as in "Icons" view, but better than nothing.

Anyway, I made up a little test folder with .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .psd, and .tif versions of the same file. ALL show the same size thumbnail (running Win XP Pro and PS 7.0.1), so I can’t account for why others might have a problem seeing .psd thumbnails.

If the problem only occurs in CS, maybe the solution would be to grab the previous Adobe psicon.dll file, give it a different name and use it instead of the new one, but only as the icon handler.
DM
dave_milbut
Dec 8, 2003
no the problem (for some, not me) is there IS not psicon.dll in CS. They removed it because of the problems it caused some people. This thread has mostly been about getting that functionality back using the psicon.dll from version 7 with CS.
T
troyhark
Dec 8, 2003
The lack of thumbnails was driving me mad so I installed PS7 again and assigned it to display the thumbnails.
This meant I could see thumbs but the files still opened with CS. Then the wretched bug, caused by the thumbs, regarding saving/deleting cropped up again and it was even worse than no thumbs. So I binned PS7.
Now the really odd thing is that I still have thumbs for PS files. I’m pretty sure it happened a few days later – not immediately but no idea why, as I didn’t twig at first as I’m used to them being there and forgot they weren’t meant to be there.
If I knew how this occurred I’d pass it on, but computers..logic..?!?
JW
John_Woram
Dec 9, 2003
Dave, I should have re-read the entire thread before replying–I thought some folks also had trouble in PS7. Anyway, I’m "flying blind" here because I don’t have CS, but what about duplicating the CLSID {0B6D…} key structure — and also the .psd key’s ShellEx subkey — from PS7, and also copying the old psicon.dll file? If this file is not used at all in CS, then its presence shouldn’t cause any problems. I think this should work, because I don’t think that viewing a thumbnail in Explorer is dependent on Photoshop itself.

I’ll try to find a local CS sucke . . . er, I mean, volunteer and see if this works.
DM
dave_milbut
Dec 9, 2003
Anyway, I’m "flying blind" here because I don’t have CS, but what about duplicating the CLSID {0B6D…} key structure — and also the .psd key’s ShellEx subkey — from PS7,

described above… ๐Ÿ™‚
A
anibalin
Dec 9, 2003
what for those souls that only have cs installed…ยฌ,ยฌ
DM
dave_milbut
Dec 9, 2003
if you don’t have 7 you’re out of luck ani. (not sure if it was included with 6 or earlier).
R
rmirabelle
Dec 20, 2003
Fairly important functionality for me. I hope it won’t be overlooked. Now I have to use 2 different folder browsers to get my work done. Hate to see a feature removed, especially a good one. That’s bad practice, fellow business people.
DM
dave_milbut
Dec 20, 2003
it only affects the large icon view. you can still get thumbnails using explorer’s thumbnail view. or you can use the cs browser.
A
anibalin
Dec 20, 2003
yes, but you cant get the .psd thumbs on desktop. Thats what i miss.
DM
dave_milbut
Dec 20, 2003
don’t save to the desktop. ๐Ÿ™‚

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

patient: It hurts when I put my finger in my eye like this. <OUCH!>

doctor: Don’t do that.
M
mm1
Dec 20, 2003
There is still a problem with Tiff image thumbnails in P8. All images made in P7 or prior show up fine in the Windows thumbnail view. ANY Tiff images made in, or saved in P8 do NOT show up at all. This is driving me crazy, what is changed in P8 that would make this happen? This means that if I open up any of my old images and re-save them in 8 I loose the thumbnail view. PSD and JPG thumbs display fine. Help!

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