You’ve received a Photoshop file that you need to look at, but you don’t have Photoshop? Here are free ways you can view PSD files on Mac.
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 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
If you have a Google account, 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.
Art Master
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.
1) Download Art Master from the Mac App Store and open it.
2) You may not see a window on the screen, but the top menu bar will have Art Master menu options. Click File > Open.
3) Select the Photoshop file in Finder and click Open to view it in Art Master. The app also has some controls to manage the image.
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.
On a related note: 3 useful tips to edit photos in Preview on Mac