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 Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell\

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.