Documents not opening from Finder

JB
Posted By
Jeff_Battema
Jul 6, 2004
Views
421
Replies
22
Status
Closed
Yesterday I re-installed my system (10.3.3–then I downloaded and re-installed the 10.3.4 update). Since the install my Photoshop documents won’t open from the Finder. I double-click and the file looks like it’s about to open, and Photoshop comes to the front, but nothing happens beyond that. The same thing happens if I choose "Open" or "Open With…" from the contextual menu, or if I drag the icon to the Photoshop alias in the Dock. The only way I can open files is from within Photoshop, one at a time from the File menu or from the File Browser.

I’ve spent the morning getting my preferences and settings back to the way I want them, copying many of them from the "Previous System" folder (which was created when I re-installed the system). I’ve looked for any files and folders in three Libraries (HD/Library, HD/System/Library, HD/Users/me/Library) that look like they’d have anything to do with Photoshop. Have my custom actions and brushes and all that back the way I like them. But can’t open from the Finder.

I use CS suite–Imageready and Illustrator seem to work fine.

Thanks in advance for the help…

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G
graffiti
Jul 6, 2004
SS
Shipwright_Sacha
Jul 7, 2004
I am also using 10.3.4, and have recently tried to install Photoshop CS and Acrobat Pro, and I am having similar problems. The things is, I can’t open the application at all. It looks like it is about to open, but then nothing.

Any ideas?
R
Ram
Jul 7, 2004
Did you try either (or both) of the solutions given in the above FAQ?
G
graffiti
Jul 7, 2004
Sounds like Shipwright did the Photoshop/Acrobat install AFTER the OS install Ramón. Could just be a simple issue of "Repair Disk Permissions".
DR
D_Ross
Jul 10, 2004
had this problem and then after having my entire disk erased by applecare during service, i had to reinstall everything. this still happens, and i installed 10.3.4 from a blank disk, and only installed CS AFTER it was all up and running the latest…

and permissions are always updated/repaired before i install a new app every time.

one of the most annoying bugs adobe has (i haven’t seen any proof it’s an apple bug due to the myriad scenarios under which this takes place).
B
Buko
Jul 10, 2004
one of the most annoying bugs adobe has

Its an Apple bug. when you Archive and install Panther it does not keep the files required to link the document to the app.

Adobe has nothing to do with this.
R
Ram
Jul 10, 2004
Graffiti,

Shipwright has still not indicated whether he tried the second solution given in the FAQ yet.

Some versions of Photoshop (can’t remember whether ME or CE) fail to install that file Ann mentioned. In that case users have found that they need to install the English version of Photoshop first, then ME or CE.
DR
D_Ross
Jul 12, 2004
buko,

how can it be an apple bug when adobe CS is installed fresh (not archive and install, not easy install, but ERASE and install), and runs 10.3.4, all BEFORE CS is installed?

in other words, there was no file from photoshop ever there during any update, as CS was installed from a clean machine (a blank hard drive reformatted, corrected permissions, disk warrirored to the nth degree), after 10.3.4 was up and running.
R
Ram
Jul 12, 2004
as CS was installed from a clean machine

?

Not from the Adobe installation CD?
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Jul 12, 2004
— which left out that vital file!
B
Buko
Jul 12, 2004
I guess you just answered your own question there, D.

since reinstalling PS from the CD adds the files you need.

It can’t be Adobe’s fault, can it??
DR
D_Ross
Jul 12, 2004
perhaps i’m not being clear (wouldn’t be the first time).

1. new hard drive, nothing on it except standard install of jaguar
2. install panther
3. update completely to 10.3.4
4. install _for the very first time on this hard drive ever_ adobe CS premium upgrade, using serial number (no previous version of PS existed on machine). no other software from any third party vendor (ms, adobe, etc) is on the machine at all.
5. photoshop bug or whatever you want to call it appears (double click file won’t open in ps)
6. reinstall photoshop from CS upgrade cd
7. problem gone

this was not a case of re-installing, that is my point. this is a FRESH install, there was never a shred of adobe _anything_ on the hard disk until AFTER panther was installed, and the problem existed. so if the file never existed for apple to supposedly to delete, then how is it only an apple problem?

guess i don’t see how anyone could assess blame to either side (even though adobe wins the award in the number of bugs vs. apple). thankfully it’s not a showstopping issue.
B
Buko
Jul 13, 2004
Since I never saw the problem when I installed PS the first time I say PEBKAC.
MD
Mark_Douma
Jul 16, 2004
"Its an Apple bug. when you Archive and install Panther it does not keep the files required to link the document to the app.

Adobe has nothing to do with this."

Buko, you obviously have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about.

"…it does not keep the files required to link the document to the app."

That’s funny. You wanna know what file holds the information about document-to-application binding?

Adobe Photoshop CS.app/Contents/Info.plist

Yes Buko, it’s the Info.plist file of the Adobe Photoshop application bundle itself, which we’d all agree must have "survived" the OS X Archive and Install of Panther, since it must be there for Photoshop CS to even run in the first place!

Buko, if OS X somehow lost the information that linked the document to the application, then why in the world would Photoshop be brought to the foreground when you attempt to open the file? Obviously, OS X knows quite well which application should open the document. The only trouble is, without the 6 KB worth of CFM code in the /Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types <file:///Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types> file, it appears that Photoshop won’t be able to receive the reference to the document that it should open.

I’m sorry, but that FAQ is far too pathetic for you guys to be harping on these users like some of you are doing. (Though, Ann, don’t take this personally, as I’m simply trying to come at it from the user’s point of view, and from there, evaluate how helpful the advice is. I’ve always found you to be helpful and I’ve never gotten the same impression from you that I have from some of the others (mainly Buko).)

First of all, why doesn’t the FAQ even bother to explain what the real cause of the problem is? If it hasn’t already been done, shouldn’t the first step in finding the solution to a problem be to make sure we have a clear understanding of problem and the cause of the problem in the first place?

"The easiest solution is to reinstall Photoshop CS after you have installed Mac OS10.3."

No, Scott, that’s actually the farthest thing from being the easiest solution, which would be quite obvious, of course, if you had bothered to correctly identify and explain the real nature of the problem in the first place.

So what’s the cause of the problem? As Ann pointed out, you’re missing that tiny 12 KB "Adobe Unit Types" AppleScript scripting addition, which must be installed in a <DOMAIN>/Library/ScriptingAdditions/ folder. A single file. Not a couple of files, several files; no, a single file. The domain in which Photoshop installs this scripting addition into happens to be the /Library/ScriptingAdditions/ <file:///Library/ScriptingAdditions/> folder (Local Domain).

Normally, when you double-click on a document file, the Finder consults the Launch Services framework and its database to determine what application should open the file. Once determined, it sends that application an ‘oapp’ (“open application”) Apple event if it’s not already running, or an ‘rapp’ (“reopen application”) Apple event to activate the application if it is already running. It then sends it an ‘odoc’ (“open document”) Apple event instructing it to open the specified document. Without that AppleScript scripting addition in place, Photoshop CS won’t ever receive the open document Apple event.

So, how to solve the problem? Find a copy of that "Adobe Unit Types" scripting addition and put it into a <DOMAIN>/Library/ScriptingAdditions/ folder. You might as well use the one Adobe did, namely the /Library/ScriptingAdditions/ <file:///Library/ScriptingAdditions/> folder. Then restart your machine, and you should be back in business.

So, where to find a copy of that file? Well, during the Archive and Install of Panther, the file was moved into the /Previous Systems/Previous System 1/ folder.

Regarding the FAQ: It might help to provide a bit of guidance as to where the user is supposed to "Find "Adobe Unit Types"" in their Previous Systems folder, which could contain around 100,000 files or more. Additionally, if you’ve ever taken a look at the following file, you’d know that ordinarily the /Library/ folder isn’t searched, so the Find command in Finder may not even turn the file up: /System/Library/Find/SkipFolders <file:///System/Library/Find/SkipFolders> (Safari should actually render that file in a window rather than locating it in the Finder, as it’s just plain text.)

Look in the /Previous Systems/Previous System 1/Library/ScriptingAdditions/ <file:///Previous Systems/Previous System 1/Library/ScriptingAdditions/> (click the link to locate that item in the Finder, provided it exists) for the "Adobe Unit Types" scripting addition file, and copy it into the /Library/ScriptingAdditions/ <file:///Library/ScriptingAdditions/> folder. Then restart your machine.

If you no longer have the previous system still around, and couldn’t possibly think of anywhere else you might find that file, you could always reinstall Photoshop CS from the install CD to "get" that file back in the right spot.

Hope this helps….
B
Buko
Jul 16, 2004
Feeling all high and mighty today are we Mark??

If the Panther installer is not putting the files back where it should on an Archive and install, then its Apple’s fault not Adobe’s.

and for most people reinstalling is much easier.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Jul 16, 2004
<< Open your Previous System folder. Find "Adobe Unit Types". Copy it into: <Panther volume>/Library/ScriptingAdditions/ >>

Which is exactly what Mark is telling the user to do.
But he takes a whole page of techno-babble — and my recipe takes three lines.

If people find it too much effort to read through the FAQs, I can’t imagine they will read through Mark’s White Paper on the subject.
DR
D_Ross
Jul 17, 2004
everybody is missing the one point here, at least in my situation, that indicates this is an adobe problem:

PANTHER WAS NOT INSTALLED VIA ARCHIVE AND INSTALL. it’s a _completely_ reformatted hard drive with _no_ previous CS on it what-so-ever.

sorry for the caps, but the FAQ does not take this into consideration, it just assumes, as everyone else seems to be doing, that there was some semblance of photoshop or CS on this harddrive during an update.

not so. and still no answer to my question how, in this case, this could be apples and not adobe’s bug.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Jul 17, 2004
Does it matter whose fault it is?
None of us work for either Apple or Adobe so there is little point in complaining about this issue in this User-to-User forum.

Just fix the problem on your machine — you have been told how to — if you want Photoshop to work for you.
SD
Stephanie_Dravk
Aug 9, 2004
I gotta agree with D Ross. It’s not just an Archive/Reinstall issue.

This problem cropped up on a Mac that has never had an Archive/Reinstall. Running 10.3.3 happily until we gave it to a user who needed to run Classic Mode all the time. Within a week she was complaining that her Photoshop would no longer double-click to open files, nor open them when dropped on the icon in the dock.

I reinstalled Photoshop from the Creative Suite to fix it. She was given another Mac to use just recently and sure enough, she’s got her problem again on a completely different Mac. How does the same user generate the same problem on two different Macs? Everyone just wants me to fix it but I’d like to know what’s causing it.
R
Ram
Aug 9, 2004
Stephanie,

Are you sure that user is running the Classic emulation under OS X, or is she booting into straight, native 9.2.2 on that machine?

If the latter is the case, it’s imperative to Repair Permissions right after she boots back into OS X, every single time.

Also, could she be updating to 10.3.4 behind your back? Maybe she runs Software Update. Well, just a thought.
SD
Stephanie_Dravk
Aug 9, 2004
Yes, running classic under OS X – she hates to boot into OS 9. Yes, repaired permissions.
No, not running 10.3.4

Is it possible she’s deleting the script on her own? Is it Classic?
R
Ram
Aug 9, 2004
If you have the needed patience, read the whole thread again, especially post #14 and following.

Some of us have NEVER seen the problems, but others do.

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