TechNote (Archived)

Large images display an exclamation mark or hourglass thumbnail in the Organizer (Photoshop Elements on Windows)

Issue

Large resolution images only display a generic thumbnail with an hourglass or exclamation mark on a gray background in the Organizer in Adobe Photoshop Elements. In Photoshop Elements 5.0, the thumbnail is also labeled "File size is too large."

Details

You are able to edit these images in the Editor.

The images exceed 12 megapixels.

Solution: Create a lower-resolution copy of the image in the Editor, and then save it in a Version Set with the original.

1. In the Organizer, select the image, click the Edit button, and choose Go To Standard Edit (Photoshop Elements 3.0 and 4.0) or Go To Full Edit (Photoshop Elements 5.0).

2. In the Editor, choose Image > Resize > Image Size.

3. Select the Resample Image option in the Image Size dialog box, and lower the resolution to 72 dpi to reduce the image; click OK.

4. Choose File > Save As, and save your file (for example. as a JPEG). Because the low-resolution image is only a placeholder for the original image, the quality of this image doesn't matter.

5. In the Save Options section of the Save As dialog box, select Include In The Organizer and Save In Version Set With Original.

Note:The thumbnail of the low-resolution image will replace the generic hourglass thumbnail of the original image in the Organizer because they are stored together as a Version Set; note the Version Set icon in the upper right corner of the thumbnail. If you wish to make changes to the original image, right-click the image thumbnail and choose Version Set > Reveal Items In Version Set (Photoshop Elements 3.0 and 4.0) or Version Set > Expand Items In Version Set (Photoshop Elements 5.0) to access the original high-resolution file.

Background information

Image thumbnails appear as generic icons with an hourglass in the in the Organizer if the combination of the file's size and the amount of installed RAM fall within certain ranges. For files that exceed 12 megapixels, 24 megapixels, and 36 megapixels, generic thumbnails will appear if your RAM installed is 256 MB to 512 MB, 512 MB to 1 GB, or over 1 GB, respectively.