Enable Thumbnails For PSD Files

by Haris on May 17, 2008
in Design, Tips and Tricks, Windows

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Recently, I really got frustrated when I needed a quick preview of a PSD file, and the folder where it was saved was full of PSD files. I needed the file urgently. Then, I ended up opening each file manually to see what it was. Later, after I got through my work. I Googled some ways to overcome this problem in the future.

Adobe Bridge is good, and can be used to view what’s in the PSD file, but it eats half of my RAM, so I usually ignore it. After Googling for about an hour, I was finally able to have thumbnails instead of those blue feathers.

How To Enable Thumbnails For PSD Files

If you think this is going to be a long procedure, then you are wrong. It won’t even take 5 minutes to set up your PSD files to show the preview thumbnails. Simple follow the steps below.

First, make a quick backup of your system using System Restore. And backup your registry too!

1. Download psicon.dll from here (it’s a zip file)

2. Unzip it anywhere in your PC (You should have 3 files. psicon.dll, psicon.dll.reg and read me.txt)

3. Copy the psicon.dll to the following path:

C:Program FilesCommon FilesAdobeShell

Remember, you might need to create the Shell folder, in Adobe directory.

4. After copying, execute the psicon.dll.reg file.

5. Click OK, for the info window that pops up to tell us that the registry key has been copied.

Done. See, no more than 5 minutes! ;)

Go to any folder containing PSD files, and choose Thumbnails from the View menu. You should now be able to view the thumbnails for PSD files, just as you see thumbnails of images.

I hope you enjoyed this trick and it has been helpful to you. I’d love to see you again on my blog.

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  • http://www.blogsdna.com Blogs DNA

    Woohooo…!!!! Awesome Trick…

  • http://armorlab.com Justin

    Nice idea. I had that problem a while back until I found out what Adobe Bridge was for. Yeah, you have to open a program, but it provides thumbnails of all your Adobe files.

  • http://samanathon.com Saman Sadeghi

    That was a great tip; it was quick, simple and easy to follow – thanks!

  • http://www.whoismadhur.com Madhur Kapoor

    I can see the preview in my computer without this.

  • http://www.sizzledcore.com Haris

    @Madhur:
    What Photoshop are you using? I have tried this trick in Photoshop CS and CS2 only.

  • http://www.killertechtips.com/2008/05/25/killer-links-3/ Killer Links #3

    [...] How To Enable Thumbnails For PSD Files – Sizzled Core [...]

  • http://www.pallab.net/2008/06/17/enable-explorer-thumbnails-for-custom-file-types/ Enable Explorer Thumbnails for Custom File Types

    [...] – Neowin, Sizzledcore and A Red Herrings [...]

  • Heather

    THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!! IT MAKES LIFE SOOO MUCH EASIER! :)

  • http://www.stefaneriksson.se Stfn

    I had this automatic with 7.0, but then I re-installed it and it disappeared – thanks for the file!

  • http://photocamel.com/forum/computers-software/65518-preview-psd-thumbnails-explorer.html#post593210 preview PSD thumbnails in Explorer – PhotoCamel – Your Friendly Photo Community

    [...] in Explorer yes! finally got this to work. thought i’d pass this along for cs+ users. How To Enable Thumbnails For PSD Files clare __________________ __________________ Members don’t see this ad. Register your [...]

  • Chad

    Didn’t work for me. Running CS2 on Vista. Anyone else get it to work on Vista?

  • Chad

    ^^ Update ^^
    Thumbnails appeared after reboot. Works great! Thanks!

  • Rukmal

    Its working
    Tks

  • Kisha

    Worked Great! Thanks!

  • Rakesh Bhardwaj

    Well it work even if you don’t have photoshop installed.
    You can find the same solution for Illustrator also from the link below
    http://advancetechnology.today.....-solution/

  • http://www.flahzasystems.com Altaf

    Wow, thats wonderful, now i need similar trick for .ai and .eps file, as its hard to open them in bridge

  • http://www.digitaldaydreams.org.uk Maggie Jackson

    THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. My thumbnail images all disappeared after I installed an old version of Photoshop and were just displaying the programme icon. I have spent hours trying to all sorts of supposed solution but yours is the only one that has worked – and so quick and easy too. Most grateful.

  • John Geyer

    In 20 articles everyone says run the reg file but no one tells how to run the reg file. If I click on it even microsoft has no program to run the reg file.

  • shyam

    Thanks annaa…..

  • http://www.NorthAtlantaWebDesign.com WolfZombie

    Thanks. I’ve been thinking about something like this for a while. Very simple to do!

  • Breanna

    Thank you so much!

  • Taylant

    Perfect

  • http://blog.kevinseegeronline.com/?p=114 World of Mr. Famous » Blog Archive » How To Enable Thumbnails For PSD Files

    [...] follow > How To Enable Thumbnails For PSD Files. [...]

  • Gerardo

    Haris,

    I was try to do exactly what you explain, but dont work.
    This dll work with PS CS4?

    Thanks! ( sorry my poor english )

    Cheers

  • caja

    I did exactly what you said but I still can't see the preview :/

  • http://www.francisperron.com Francis Perron

    thanks for the tricks, I share it.
    Yes it work with CS4 on win xp.

  • http://jworksstudios.com/wordpress/?p=72 JWorks Studios » How to get your PSDs to show as thumbnails in your folders and not the standard icon

    [...] for PSDs in just a few minutes.I searched for a way to view PSDs as thumbnails and I found a site with a tutorial on how to do [...]

  • dixit

    i have photoshop cs3 and this thing worked with me too thanks dude

  • dibyendu bhowmick

    How To Enable Thumbnails For PSD Files, this tips for which I was waiting for long days. Thank to help me and pray to god for your growing popularity (this blog)

  • Sotrac2

    Thanks so much.. I'd kiss you if you are a beautiful girl.
    Thanks again.

  • http://www.sizzledcore.com Haris Nadeem

    LOL! I'm a boy! :P And you're welcome! :)

  • http://www.sednainfo.com seo fine

    thanks buddy nice one .. its works..

  • Winyumaung

    thanks… it work any version?

  • Debbieodom

    Worked like a charm – thank you!!!!!

  • Moby022

    My pc doesn't know what program to open the .dll file. What do I tell it?

  • http://twitter.com/DrCord Cord Slatton

    Wow! That was really easy and soooo helpful! Thanks!

  • Woods Davin1

    That helped!!

    Thanks a lot :)

  • Dev

    Do not use psicon.dll. It has a known bug and causes heap corruption. It means that program will start to randomly crash if they use this dll.

  • http://www.sizzledcore.com Haris Nadeem

    Aprove

  • Networkgm

    It works, thanx!

  • SilverRey

    Thank you! Works great. I was getting frustrated w/o thumbnails!!!!
    (CS5 on XP)

  • http://www.mayzie.net/uncategorized/cg-thumbnails-in-windows mayzie – Thumbnail Support for CG Formats in Windows x64

    [...] far as I know it is possible to enable some of these thumbnails in Windows 32bit via some hacks, but as of this post I [...]

  • Fawzar

    its working.. thnks

  • Wolf

    Doesn't seem to work for CS5/Win7…bummer

  • http://sinac.ws/ sinac

    thx it’s worked.
    PS CS5
    win XP

  • Fatal Pipe

    Works great,but I had to create Shell folder on PSCS4/W7Ultimatex86.
    Thanks a lot!!

  • saif Nauman

    wow gr8 work really appreciate it……………………………………

  • Christina R.

    At first it didn’t work, but then I read the ReadMe and it said I had to “Run” the Reg. file, and now POOF! Thumbnails are back! :D thanks so much! It was bugging me!

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