Make Photoshop the default image editor in Windows 10

Turn on filename extensions

First, in Windows 10, use File Explorer to navigate to a folder that contains one or more photos. Here, I opened a folder present on my desktop. Inside the folder are four image files. By default, Windows 10 hides file extensions at the end of file names, so for now, all I see under the thumbnails are the file names themselves. Other than the fact that one of the thumbnails says "PSD" across it, which tells us it's a Photoshop PSD file (more on that in a moment), there's nothing to indicate what type of file we're looking for with the other three images:

To turn on file extensions, click on the menu عرض At the top of the File Explorer window:

then select File name extensions In the list by clicking inside its checkbox:

With the three-letter extension now appearing at the end of each file name, we can easily see that starting from the left, my first image is a PNG file (with a .png extension). The second file is a JPEG file (with the extension .jpg). The third is a Photoshop PSD file (.psd, which we already know), and finally, we have a TIFF file with its .tif extension:

Before we continue, if you are wondering why a Photoshop PSD file is different from other files, it is because Windows 10, on its own, cannot display a normal preview of an image contained within a PSD file. Do Can Preview images inside PSD files if you are using Adobe Bridge to navigate to your photos instead of file explorer. However, if you'd rather stick with File Explorer, just know that you won't be able to see what's inside PSD files until you actually open them in Photoshop.

Make Photoshop the default image editor in Windows 10

default photo viewer

Let's try to open a photo in Windows 10 and see what happens. I will press Double click My JPEG (“fashion.jpg”) to open:

Even though I have the latest version of Photoshop, the world's most powerful photo editor, installed on my computer, Windows completely ignores it and opens a JPEG file instead in its Photos app

This wasn't what I wanted, so I'll close the Photos app by clicking on an icon Close (X) in the upper right corner:

Make Photoshop your default image viewer and editor

So how do we tell Windows 10 to open this image in Photoshop instead of the Photos app? And most importantly, how do we tell him to use Photoshop for not just this one photo this time but For all JPEG image we open in the future? In fact, it is very easy to do. Firstly , Right click JPEG image you want to open:

Choose opened by using from the list that appears, then select Choose another app :

Windows 10 will open a dialog asking which app you want to use to open this type of file. The current default app is listed at the top. In my case, it's the images:

In a moment we will change the default application to Photoshop. But before we do that, define Always use this app to open jpg files. at the bottom of the dialog box. This way, when we set the default application to Photoshop, Windows will know that it should always use Photoshop from this moment on when we open the JPEG file from File Explorer:

Then choose Photoshop from the list. If you have multiple versions of Photoshop installed on your computer, make sure you select the latest version. In my case, it's Photoshop CC 2015.5. Click OK to accept the change:

If you don't see Photoshop in the initial list, scroll down to the bottom of the list and choose Photoshop More applications :

Windows will open an expanded menu with additional apps to choose from. If you see Photoshop in the list, go ahead and select it, then click OK:

If Photoshop still does not appear in the list, and you know for a fact that it is installed on your computer, scroll down to the bottom of the list and choose Find another application on this computer :

Next, you will need to browse to the location on your computer's hard drive where Photoshop is installed. You will usually find it on your C: drive. In my case , You will find it within Program Files > Adobe > Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.5 . Double-click a file Photoshop.exe To select it:

Whether you choose Photoshop from the list or navigate to it on your hard drive, the JPEG image will instantly open in Photoshop. And since we enabled the “Always use this app to open .jpg files” option, Photoshop is now the default app for opening all JPEG files in the future:

PNG files

So far, so good. We've set Photoshop as the default application for opening JPEG files. But we still need to set Photoshop as the default app to open other file types as well, so let's run through the steps quickly. will Right-click On a PNG file (“butterfly.png”):

I will choose opened by using from the list, then I will choose Choose another app :

And here we see that Images, not Photoshop, is currently the default application for opening PNG files:

To switch the default application to Photoshop, not just for this one image but for all future PNGs, I'll specify first Always use this app to open .png files below the dialog box. Then I'll choose my latest version of Photoshop from the list and click OK:

The PNG file opens in Photoshop, and so will every PNG file from File Explorer in the future (butterfly design from Adobe Stock ):

tiff files

Next, I'll set Photoshop as the default app for opening TIFF files by returning to the File Explorer window and right-click On my TIFF image ("portrait.tif"):

Just like I did with the JPEGs and PNGs, I'd choose opened by using from the list, then Choose another app :

This time, at least on my system, we're seeing something different. Instead of the Photos app being the default app for opening TIFF files, Windows 10 has given the job to Windows Photo Viewer:

to change it to Photoshop, I will always use this app to open .tif files at the bottom of the dialog box. Then I'll choose Photoshop from the list and click OK:

Opens a TIFF file in Photoshop, just as with JPEG and PNG files, Windows 10 will now use Photoshop to open all TIFF files from File Explorer in the future (selfie from Adobe Stock ):

PSD files

Finally, while Windows usually sets Photoshop as the default application for opening PSD files (since PSD is Photoshop's native file format), it never hurts to check it out. Also, if you have multiple versions of Photoshop installed on your computer, it's helpful to make sure that Windows is using the latest version.

I'll go back one last time to the File Explorer window and click right-click On my PSD file ("Performer.psd"):

I will choose opened by using , Then Choose another app :

And here we see that sure enough, Windows has already set the latest version of Photoshop as the default application for opening PSD files. If your system is displaying something other than Photoshop, or an older version of Photoshop, just choose Always use this app to open .psd files from the bottom of the dialog box, then select the latest version of Photoshop from the list and click OK:

Since there's nothing I need to change, I'll hit OK to close the dialog, at which point the PSD file opens in my latest version of Photoshop, as well as all future PSD files (image lead from Adobe Stock :