So, you have a Photoshop file (PSD) that you need to look at on your Mac but you don’t have Adobe Photoshop. Think you’ve hit a brick wall? You haven’t.
Here are three free and easy ways to view PSD files on Mac without Photoshop.
Preview app on Mac
The most obvious way to open a PSD file on Mac is with the Preview app and it does work.
- If Preview is set as your default image viewer, just double-click on your PSD file and it’ll open in Preview.
- If Preview is not your default viewer, open it from your Applications. When prompted, browse for and select your file. Then click Open.
- If Preview is already open, select File > Open from the menu bar to browse for and open your PSD file.
Google Drive
Maybe you don’t want to use Preview for some reason. If you have a Google account like most people, you can open that PSD file in Google Drive.
Head to Google Drive and sign in if necessary.
1) Click New on the top left and select File Upload.
2) Browse for, select your file, and click Open.
3) Once the file completes uploading, double-click it and it will open in a preview window.
Free Mac apps
You can search the Mac App Store and try a bunch of free, or even paid apps, that open PSD files, but you don’t have to because here’s one that works just fine.
Art Master may not be the prettiest app, but it doesn’t have to be. Once you download it, click the button for Select File. Browse, select your file, and click Open. That’s it.
Your PSD file will open in a new app window. And, you can click the icon on the top right to open a sidebar to see additional file details.
Wrapping it up
There are some paid apps like Pixelmator and open source options like Gimp you can use, if you happen to already have one of them installed. But to be honest, if all you have to do is view PSD files on your Mac, the built-in Preview app makes the most sense unless you have a hatred for it. And if so, you do have other options.
Do you find yourself needing to do more with PSD files than simply view them on your Mac? If so, what app or software do you use?