Expert: Scott Valentine - 10/29/2007

Question
Hi Scott,

Thank you for trying to help me. I have to confess that when you could not help me, I tried others, and none of them even tried.

I have come to the conclusion that the fault is mine. I did not explain my problem clearly enough. Here is another version; go to PhotoShop and click on 'Open'. A drop-down box appears. Click on 'Documents' or wherever you store your photos. Note the 'file name' box. Start to type a file name which you want to open, and on typing the first initial, every file name beginning with that initial comes up in a second drop-down box. My computer used to do this also, but now it does not. I have to type in the whole name, even if it is only one letter from some others. I hope this explains it better Scott. Please do this little exercise and get back to me, Thanks again for all of your help, Regards, Ken.

Answer
Thanks for the tip, Ken! I've not used that feature from within Photoshop, as most of my file names are the ones generated by the camera, so I end up browsing through the thumbnails in Bridge.

Anyway, I gave it a shot, and can not see why it would not work. I doubt it's Photoshop specifically, unless you've tried in other applications. The only things I can think of are trying to reinstall your operating system (unpleasant at best), reinstalling Photoshop if it's the only one with the problem, deleting the Photoshop preferences file, or trying to update your machine with current patches.

But honestly I am not sure why this is happening. It may be Photoshop, it may be your operating system, or another application altogether. Have you installed anything new that might be around the same time this problem cropped up? Are you using any other file browsers?

If none of this works, I suggest trying support forums for Adobe or your operating system (or computer manufacturer). They will need more detail and interaction than is reasonable for this kind venue. I'm sorry I can't provide any better solutions for you. But if you do come up with something, would you mind adding your solution to this answer in case others run into something similar?

Best of luck,

-Scott