Enable Thumbnail View For PSD Files In Windows Explorer

psd In the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop with the inclusion of Adobe Bridge the thumbnail view of PSD files within the windows explorer is no more present, This can be really difficult if you intent to see preview of the file you need to open the Adobe Bridge inorder to view the preview, which consumes a lot of RAM.

Another way is to restore the the thumbnail view for the PSD files within explorer.

Here’s how to restore thumbnails for PSD in explorer

The psd thumbnail view is not included by design in the lastest version of photoshop. To restore this feature follow these steps:
1. Download psicon.dll
2. Place the DLL in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell\
3. Thumbnail previews of PSD files are now back

The psicon.dll can be downloaded from here.

Update : Also Read Latest App : SageThumbs – To Preview Thumbnails Of Images ( Including PSD ) In Windows Explorer and Context Menu.

NOTE : Do Backup Your Data, registry and create a restore point just in case anything goes wrong.

If your using Windows 7, try this method.

  1. First, you need to download the necessary PSD Thumbnail Shell DLL file.
  2. UnZip and copy the file to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell\ (if it doesn’t exist yet, create it).
  3. Download and run this registry file. It will add the necessary changes to your registry to allow the Shell to access the new Adobe DLL.
  4. Restart your system to see the changes.

Download Required PSD Thumbnail Shell and DLL file  registry file from[Source : Cha2e.com]

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15 comments

  1. walter koessler Reply

    Hi,

    that would solve a big problem for me.
    But does it also work in Vista?
    Where is “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell\” in Vista –
    please forgive me this question, but I cannot find it…
    I´d really appreciate if you could help me

    and: is there a way to get image fox working under vista or is there
    a similar program available, because I really miss a preview in the
    open/save_as Dialog box in Photoshop

    Thank you very much in advance
    all the best
    Walter

    • Avinash Post authorReply

      @asheed – I’ve added to the post on how you can enable PSD Preview in Windows 7.Do let us know if it was helpful.

  2. Peter Reply

    Downloaded “psicon.dll”.
    Replaced present “psicon.dll” with downloaded version in the Shell folder.

    ( C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell\ )

    To no avail, thumbnails are still not visible!!!
    That means back to the sloooow way via Bridge!

  3. Don Gagen Reply

    If you are using Window 7 64 don’t waste your time with this. It will not work.

    Really wishing the Thumbview guys had something for Windows 7. It worked for almost every image format imaginable and it was free.

  4. Etc. Reply

    You MUST have the psicon.dll present on your system and in the proper location (C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell\)
    ——————
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs]
    “C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Adobe\\Shell\\psicon.dll”=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Photoshop.Image.9\shellex]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Photoshop.Image.9\shellex\IconHandler]
    @=”{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}”

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Photoshop.Image.9\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Photoshop.Image.9\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\PSDPa ge]
    @=”{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}”

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}]
    @=”Photoshop Icon Handler”

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}\InProcServer32]
    @=”C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Adobe\\Shell\\psicon.dll”
    “ThreadingModel”=”Apartment”

    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}\MiscStatus]
    “IconBits”=”1″

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}]
    @=”Photoshop Icon Handler”

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}\InProcSe rver32]
    @=”C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Adobe\\Shell\\psicon.dll”
    “ThreadingModel”=”Apartment”

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}\MiscStat us]
    “IconBits”=”1”
    ——————

    To UNDO, copy text beween dashed lines, save as Uninstall.reg, blah blah blah.

    ——————
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs]
    “C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Adobe\\Shell\\psicon.dll”=-

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Photoshop.Image.9\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\PSDP age]
    @=”{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}”

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Photoshop.Image.9\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers]

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Photoshop.Image.9\shellex\IconHandler]
    @=”{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}”

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Photoshop.Image.9\shellex]

    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}\MiscStatus]
    “IconBits”=”1″

    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}\InProcServer32]
    @=”C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Adobe\\Shell\\psicon.dll”
    “ThreadingModel”=”Apartment”

    [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}]
    @=”Photoshop Icon Handler”

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}\MiscSta tus]
    “IconBits”=”1″

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}\InProcS erver32]
    @=”C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Adobe\\Shell\\psicon.dll”
    “ThreadingModel”=”Apartment”

    [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}]
    @=”Photoshop Icon Handler”
    ——————

    https://forums.adobe.com/thread/374316

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