Why Windows shows an icon instead of your artwork
File Explorer builds a thumbnail by asking a small piece of software, called a thumbnail handler, to read the file. Windows ships with handlers for JPEG, PNG and a few other formats. It has none for PSD or PSB.
Photoshop does not install one either, on Windows 10 or Windows 11, with or without Creative Cloud. So the icon you see is simply the icon of the program that opens the file.
First, check that thumbnails are switched on at all
If your photos show as icons too, the cause is a Windows setting rather than Photoshop. Check these three things.
- 1In File Explorer, open the three-dot menu, choose Options, and go to the View tab. Make sure "Always show icons, never thumbnails" is not ticked.
- 2Use the View menu to pick Medium icons or larger. Lists and Details never show thumbnails.
- 3If thumbnails look wrong or out of date, run Disk Cleanup, tick Thumbnails and press OK. Windows rebuilds them the next time you open the folder.
Then give Windows a way to read PSD files
With those settings right, JPEG and PNG files show thumbnails and PSD files still do not. The missing piece is a thumbnail handler for Photoshop files, and that has to be installed.
Design Previewer is one. Install it and PSD, PSB, PDD and PSDT files show their artwork in every folder. There is nothing to configure, and Photoshop does not have to be installed.
- 1Download Design Previewer and run the installer. It is free for 15 days with everything unlocked.
- 2Open a folder of PSD files in Medium icons or larger.
- 3Select a file and press Alt+P to see it large in the preview pane.
If one PSD still shows an icon
Photoshop stores a small preview inside each file, and that preview is what a thumbnail is made from. A file saved with previews switched off has nothing to show.
In Photoshop, open Preferences, then File Handling, and set Image Previews to Always Save. Save the file again and its thumbnail appears.
