Those Explorer PSD thumbs again

[d_c...@adobeforums.com]

Why is that in Vista Explorer some PSD icons show as thumbnail images (good) and others as the generic PS icon (bad) in CS4 - all within the same folder? I have PS7 installed which up to CS4 allowed all PSD files to be seen as thumbnail images.

I am not trying to open up the whole issue again - I am just curious why some thumbnails work and others don't.

[Silkr...@adobeforums.com]

My guess is the reason you see any thumbnails at at is due to PS7. So with that logic, it would also seam natural that there will be issues reading CS4 files to create the thumbnails.
I am only guessing, as I don't have PS7, CS4 or Vista. Just plain old CS3.

[d_c...@adobeforums.com]

Very few of my existing psd files were made in CS4 - but some are visible as picture thumbs and others are not.

[Myle...@adobeforums.com]

Perhaps some function in the PS code that lets Vista create cached thumbnails or, similarly, Bridge creates them and Vista uses them... Not sure. Still mostly using XP, as Vista is only on my MacBook Pro and I rarely fire up Windows on it (for understandable reasons).

Mylenium

[dave_...@adobeforums.com]

created with or without backwards compatability? (i think i recall that bwc adds a composite thumbnail)

[d_c...@adobeforums.com]

With.

[dave_...@adobeforums.com]

:) sorry i was terse. i was speculating that some had it off and some had it on when saved. sorry. i don't know for sure, but it sounds pretty strange to me.

[d_c...@adobeforums.com]

It is odd. I have 2 folders of PSD files. One has 603 the other 502. After removing Photoshop 7 from my system, when I looked at the 603 folder with Explorer but outside CS4, I had 41 files with icons only and the rest all had picture thumbnails. Icon files were mainly in blocks of 10 or so. One file with an icon was marooned in a sea of thumbnails - maybe a hundred either side of it. In the 502 folder, 21 were icon only, and again one was surrounded by hundreds of thumbnails.

Then I rebooted and checked the tally from inside CS4. This time, the 603 folder had 110 icon files - lots more, with one file again isolated among many thumbnails. The 502 folder had just 35 icon files.

So I did this agai after another reboot. Outside of CS4 Explorer showed 41 icon files in the 603 folder and 34 in the 502 folder. So I looked again from inside CS4: 90 icon files in the 603 folder and 36 icon files in the 502 folder.

I don't know what to make of this. There are pretty consistent - though not identical - results for icon and thumbnail files inside and outside CS4. But they are not identical so something must account for the changes between counts.

As to why some icon files are refusniks - beats me. If I knew why the thumbnails are thumbnails I'd try to do it to all the icon files too so that I could stop using Bridge.

[John Joslin]

Like you, I disliked Bridge because it was slow and clunky up to CS3. CS4 is a totally different proposition and it now replaces Explorer for me and offers a lot more image related functions.

Edit: I still think the thumbnail issue could be fixed!

[Silkr...@adobeforums.com]

I agree with John. In the back of my mind, I think the reason the thumbnails don't work, is because Adobe wanted bridge. I haven't see files with thumbnails for other extensions become unaccessible in a long time. I recall it happening before one of the service packs but don't recall which one. I am thinking it was before service pack 1 on the XP.

[dave_...@adobeforums.com]

see that's hte problem when corporations start treating their customers as if they don't matter, with stuff like activations and all. people start to assign the "evil" tag to everything you want to do... ;)

[boblevine]

That's a seriously flawed theory. Exactly what does Adobe have to gain
by anyone using Bridge? It's included with every app they sell and
carries no additional cost. It's not even available to purchase as a
stand alone.

Bob

[dave_...@adobeforums.com]

Exactly what does Adobe have to gain by anyone using Bridge?

<conspiracy theory>WORLD DOMINATION!!! MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!</conspiracy theory>

ok. tin foil had back on...

XD

[Free...@adobeforums.com]

<http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1qWRreWukUullnBJELINGsqI3CXrf>

Back off, infidels...

[Chri...@adobeforums.com]

Silk has it exactly backwards: Bridge and the older File Browser came about because Microsoft couldn't make their APIs stable enough to use. The OS doesn't work, so something else had to be written to provide the functionality. Now Bridge does more than the OS in some areas (and less in others). And only recently has Microsoft claimed to fix the broken APIs (but we still can't find that documented).

[David_E_...@adobeforums.com]

Where is that microsoft person who popped in a few months back saying everything was peachieeee concerning the API?

[Silkr...@adobeforums.com]

See now, I never said my theory was right, just odd. David brought up a good point, where is he. Ah the plot thickens.
Now Robert is my theory that flawed. After all there is now lightroom. How do we know lightroom and bridge did not start out as a single app. Some saw it as an asset to photoshop and others saw it as a way to make more money. Then came the split. Is it just a coincidence that raw and lightroom are sharing the same code? Who knows...

BTW, I am just having fun. I don't have any clue as to the inner workings of Adobe or Microsoft. May they both be profitable as the years go by.

[d_c...@adobeforums.com]

...It's also weird to me that I can see psd thumbnails fine in the third party Faststone Image Viewer but not in Windows Explorer. If it's possible in a third party program why not in MS? Surely this should be easy for the experts to sort out?

David

[Michael_...@adobeforums.com]

Hmm ... I see thumbnails fine for PSD files in Windows Explorer, *provided* the files are saved with "include thumbnail" checked! (for both PS CS1 & CS4, on Vista Home Premium & "view icons" selected in Explorer)

[David_E_...@adobeforums.com]

There is no option in save "include thumbnail" in PS CS4. However there is Thumbnail on window with a check box that is checked but greyed out and cannot be un-checked. In windows ultimate 64 bit explorer I have Large icons selected. All I see is a blue PSD thumbnail. There is no small picture like my tiff or jpg pictures.

[boblevine]

Bad comparison...they work in Bridge, too.

Bob

[dave_...@adobeforums.com]

*provided* the files are saved with "include thumbnail"

erm, yes. that's what i meant! :)