thumbnails of Adobe Illustrator CS2 have disappeared

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Level 1

0 points

thumbnails of Adobe Illustrator CS2 have disappeared

I noticed that all of the Adobe Illustrator CS2 thumbnails have turned into just generic icons. This is pretty useless if you have files to browse through and you want to see the thumbnails in Spotlight or Finder. I can see thumbnails in Adobe Bridge, but I prefer using Spotlight.

Photoshop files have their icons, as do all .jpg .tiff and others. Also old AI files that I haven't opened in AI CS2 have their thumbnails as well. But as soon as I open them in AI CS2, the thumbnails are gone forever!!

How can I have the thumbnails back?

What is going on? Is this is another example of "Made for Mac" that is NOT?

Adobe people seem to think that it's an OSX issue, so please OSX wizards don't tell me now that it's an Adobe issue.

Thanks a lot for any help,

Artur

Power Mac 2.3, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on May 15, 2006 1:00 PM

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Answer 1

Vipir

Level 3

745 points

May 15, 2006 1:10 PM in response to artek

Hello artek,

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

I believe this is an Adobe Illustrator forum question.

I will say this is most likely a preference within Illustrator when saving tthe files.
What type of format are you saving the file in?
When saving there's a choice of what type (or if) you want to save a preview.

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Answer 2

artek Author

Level 1

0 points

May 15, 2006 1:29 PM in response to Vipir

I posted this question on an Adobe forum (Adobe.com), the answers pointed to OSX.
The files are saved in AI format (.ai). There is no choice to have or not to have thumbnail.

Is there an Adobe forum on Apple.com?

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Answer 3

Kevin Horn

Level 4

1,836 points

May 15, 2006 1:42 PM in response to artek

No Illustrator I have ever used, and this goes back to Illustrator 88, has put anything but a generic program icon on any file.

If you have old Illustrator files with icons on them then most likely you were using a third party software to do it and they will be lost as soon as you save it.

This is not something Illustrator has ever done. Try using Thumbnail Pro:

http://www.mikethole.com/thumbnail/

Only $10 and works pretty well.

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Answer 4

artek Author

Level 1

0 points

May 15, 2006 2:28 PM in response to Kevin Horn

Thanks for the hint, but the previous version of CS had no problems with creating thumbnails. I don't think that they were made with a third party software since as the files was being saved, there was actually a question: create thumbnails or not...
I'll try Thumbnail Pro.

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Answer 5

Kevin Horn

Level 4

1,836 points

May 15, 2006 2:44 PM in response to artek

I'm currently using the previous version of CS and I can't make a thumbnail for any Illustrator file. And as I said, I've used it since version 88 (back in 1989) and have never made a thumbnail with any version of Illustrator in any of the Mac OSs I've used over the years. I receive 5-6 Illustrator files, or more, every week from lots of different people and have never seen one with a thumbnail on it.

So I have no idea how you got them before.

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Answer 6

artek Author

Level 1

0 points

May 15, 2006 3:10 PM in response to Kevin Horn

Well, they are there -- if you want I can send you a snapshot of my spotlight window -- with thumbnails for Adobe CS files but not for CS2 files.
I don't know how you got by without them since 1989...

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Answer 7

Kevin Horn

Level 4

1,836 points

May 15, 2006 3:19 PM in response to artek

I believe you have them I'm just wondering how. Did you add in any plugins? If so you can probably transfer it over to CS2, and give me the name of it too.

I use Thumbnail Pro all the time, pretty easy.

Best use, you've got a folder full of pics you've taken on you digital camera, all with strange names and you don't know what any of them are. You can select them all and create thumbnails all at one time so you know what each pic is. Works with pretty much all formats.

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Answer 8

artek Author

Level 1

0 points

May 15, 2006 3:29 PM in response to Kevin Horn

Well, I can't find the previous version folder in Applications , but in the CS2 folder plugins and extensions there doesn't seem to be anything that could be a thumbnail plug in.
I'll look on my other computer which is still running the old version. Hmmm, this is puzzling because on Adobe forums other people have also complained about how they miss the thumbnails, so that means that I am not the only one...

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Answer 9

Kevin Horn

Level 4

1,836 points

May 15, 2006 3:38 PM in response to artek

I was doing some web searching too and the only people saying that are using the Windows version.

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Answer 10

artek Author

Level 1

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May 15, 2006 3:49 PM in response to Kevin Horn

So what about the preview window under get info?
Do you ever see a preview thumbnail?
I just went to my computer which still runs CS (not CS2) and there is a beautiful preview of a CS file, which I never see with CS2...

Well since I am the only one who had thumbnails to begin with, maybe this is why I never got a concrete answer on the Adobe forum?

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Answer 11

Kevin Horn

Level 4

1,836 points

May 15, 2006 4:19 PM in response to artek

Thumbnails are possible in the preview window in column view. Is that what you meant?

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Answer 12

artek Author

Level 1

0 points

May 15, 2006 4:24 PM in response to Kevin Horn

Yes, in column view my CS .ai files get a preview, while CS2 .ai files come out as generic thumbnails...

A

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