# Having Trouble Opening .tif Files



## WhitneyPatel (May 18, 2011)

Hello,

A few weeks ago I was at my parents house and used their scanner to scan pictures from yearbooks. Using the scanner's program, I saved them as .tif's, put them in a folder, compressed the folder and sent to myself. They have a PC. I don't recall the type of scanner.

I use a mac. I am trying to open the files in Photoshop but keep getting this error message: Could not complete your request because Photoshop does not recognize this type of file.

I've read several question threads, some of which recommend http://www.irfanview.com/. When I download this and then try to open it, it opens in TextEdit rather than executing an application.

I need help. These images are from my mother's yearbooks as a teacher and she is retiring. Her party is this weekend and the yearbooks are 3 hours away so I don't have time to get them and rescan them.

Thank you...


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Welcome to the TSG forum.
Have you tried changing the extension to jpg or maybe bmp ??


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Irfanview isn't natively supported on a Mac. You'd have to download the ZIP version, not the installer version.

Are you sure the files have the .TIF extension?


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## WhitneyPatel (May 18, 2011)

I'll look to see if I spot the ZIP version. And yes, I'm sure they are .tif's. I work as an art director so I'm very familiar with Photoshop, etc. I have CS5 working on an iMac if that helps anyone with a solution.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

You said you compressed them and sent them to yourself. Did you create a ZIP file? How large was it? TIFs can get pretty big. Did it uncompress properly? This process introduces some pitfalls. The compression may have gone awry and corrupted the files. Sending through e-mail could have also caused a problem. 

Do you have access to the originals? How did you save them as TIF files? Did you verify they could be opened on the computer used to scan them? Can you copy them to a flash drive and try opening them?


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

I can open your tif files in Irfanview .. But they won't open in CS5 ...
I have to have Irfanview convert them to jpgs .. Then I can open them in CS5.
I'll return one via Email (shortly) .. Does it open in your Photoshop ??
If this works .. I'll batch process all of them for you


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## WhitneyPatel (May 18, 2011)

Hello,

Yes, I scanned them using my parent's computer. It's a Dell running Windows XP Home Edition 5.1.2600. The scanner was an HP Photosmart C5280 all-in-one. After scanning the photos, I saved them as tif's into a single folder. I think compressed that folder. I believe I right-clicked (it was several weeks ago) then selected compress. 

Then, I used my YouSendIt account to email myself the files. Total, it was 49 images, each slightly less than 1mb. Total they were 45.4mb. 

I no longer have access to the originals since my parents computer is several hours away. They seemed to open fine on my parents computer. I've now tried to open them on my home iMac as well as my work Mac. Still no luck.

~w


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Uploading the jpgs right now .. This'll take a few minutes @~~ 75MB .. my upload speed is limited
should have used a jpg on the C5280 .. the 200dpi looks good


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## WhitneyPatel (May 18, 2011)

Thank you so much, Noyb!  This is for my mother's retirement party this weekend.... thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 

~w


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Hope you know how to handle the Half Tone Printing process ..
You might have to Blurr them ... The link to the converted pics was emailed


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## WhitneyPatel (May 18, 2011)

Yep! A little touch of gaussian blur should do the trick. I got them all. Thank so much!

~w


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

I was curious why your tif image wouldn't open in CS5 ..
So I ran a tif scan in my C5280 .. It worked OK in CS5.
But, I don't have HP's software installed .. I normally use Irfanview to run my scanner.
This time, I used XP's Fax n Scan.
Kinda looks like you might have been bit by HP's software .. (That doesn't surprise me)
If you could get Irfanview working on that MAC .. You might like it.


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