HEIC files not shown in PSU

[tumirnix]

Hello,
I have 2 computers (a Laptop and an PC) with Windows 10 and the installation of PhotoSupreme build 2023.2.0.5063. The database is identical, the images are also copied.
On the Laptop I can see HEIC images inside of PhotoSupreme but on the PC not (neither in the list preview nor in full screen).
On both computers the "HEIF Image Extensions" are installed (version 1.0.63001.0).
Now I wonder, where to find the deciding difference in the installation or configuration.
Does anybody have an idea?
Thanks in advance
Martin

[G8DHE]

Have you enabled the file extension in the PSU configuration or added it ?
Config¦File handling¦scroll down and add the extension to the list?

[Hert]

For HEIC file image reading, PSU depends on the HEIF Image Extensions being installed in Windows (not needed on macOS). This is only needed to decode the image, not to read metadata.

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9PMMS ... n-US&gl=US

[tumirnix]

Hello again,
thanks for your answers.
First I checked the "Preferences"/"File Handling". There was on both computers no ".HEIC" entry (neither on the Laptop, where it works, nor on the PC).
Adding the ".HEIC" entry (on the PC PSU) does not help.
I believe that there is something wrong with the HEIC support in the Windows installation (on the PC). Even in the Windows Explorer on the PC the HEIC files are not shown with the preview, but on the Laptop I can see also for the HEIC files a preview.

So I clicked on the link provided by Hert and clicked on the "Install" button. The "Microsoft store" is opened with "HEIF-Bilderweiterungen" (I have on both computers a German installation). Here I can only click on the "Open" button.
So far I have not found a way to trigger a re-installation or repair of the HEIF support.

I need another idea.
Thanks
Martin

[Hert]

For HEIC files, Psu calls the OS feature to read the file.
Can you see these files in Windows?

[tumirnix]

We are on the right way. As I have written above: Even the windows Explorer does not show the HEIC preview (on the PC, but on the Laptop it does).

HEIC files in Windows Explorer (shown with XnView icon)

20240111_HEIC_in_WinExp.png (17.27 KiB) Viewed 9336 times

The images are shown with the XnView icon, XnView can display HEIC files.

According to the Microsoft Store, the HEIF extensions are installed:

HIEF extension in Microsoft Store

20240111_HEIF-Ext_in_MSStore.png (48.2 KiB) Viewed 9336 times

There is no obvious option to uninstall.

So far I have not found a (working) description how to uninstall and install the HEIF-extension.

Thanks for your further hints
Martin

[tumirnix]

In the meantime I found a temporary solution:

• Uninstalling the Windows HEIF extension as described in https://www.free-codecs.com/guides/how_ ... nsions.htm: Call in the Admin-Command-Line

  Code: Select all

  C:\Windows\system32>winget uninstall --name="HEIF Image Extensions" --verbose
  Gefunden HEIF Image Extensions [9PMMSR1CGPWG]
  Paket-Deinstallation wird gestartet...
    ██████████████████████████████  100%
  Erfolgreich deinstalliert
  
  C:\Windows\system32>
  

• Installing CopyTransHEIC, see https://www.copytrans.de/copytransheic/, for Home Usage.

Then the Windows Explorer shows the preview and also PhotoSupreme is able to show the images and to create a thumbnail.

But after some minutes the "Microsoft HEIF image Extensions" were re-installed (I saw it in the Apps and Features) and neither the Windows Explorer nor Photo-Supreme was able to show the HEIC images anymore . Only the already created thumbnails were shown, in the full screen I see again the xnView icon.
I do not know how this was triggered.

Best regards
Martin

[tumirnix]

It's really a bit frustrating to deal with the HEIC files under Windows. Perhaps it's easier to convert all the HEIC files into JPG.
But also this seams to be more complicated than expected, because when I add the JPG in Photo Supreme as a version of the HEIC file, both files are handled differently compared to other versions. When I move the HEIC, the JPG is also moved, when I delete it, the JPG is deleted.
So I'm looking now for a procedure to create JPGs for ~500 HEIC files, which keeps the Metadata, which was already entered in PhotoSupreme.
Hopefully I find tomorrow a bit time for that.
Does anyone has a recommendation how to handle this bigger amount of HEIC images?
Thanks
Martin

[tumirnix]

Hello again,
for the case that someone else has a similar problem: Here is a procedure to convert HEIC into JPG and keeping the meta-data from PhotoSupreme.

• Install "CopyTrans HEIC for Windows"
• PhotoSupreme:
  • Create subfolder "heic"
  • Copy HEIC files into the subfolder "heic" (copies also the XMP)
  • Save Meta-Data into XMP
• Open "heic" folder in Windows-Explorer
  • Mark up to 100 HEIC files (there is a limit to 100 files in a batch convertion with the free version of "CopyTrans HEIC")
  • Right click and select in the context menu "In JPEG mit CopyTrans konvertieren" (German), this adds a JPG file beside the already existing HEIC and XMP files.
• When all HEIC are converted, open PhotoSupreme again
  • Right click on the "heic" folder: "Verify Folder" / "Scan for missing files"
  • Import the JPG files
  • Filter for File Type JPG, mark all files
  • Right Click "Run Script from Repository >" / "Metadata >" / "Import from sidecar XMP file"
    (This takes some time)
• Open the "heic" folder again in Windows-Explorer
  • Sort by file type
  • Move the HEIC and XMP files away (into another folder which is not under observation of PhotoSupreme)
• Go Back to PhotoSupreme
  • Right click on "heic" folder and select "Verify Folder"
  • Check the file type: There are only JPG files left
  • Move the remaining JPG files back into the original folder
  • Remove the empty "heic" folder

Please let me know, if you know a more efficient way.
Best regards
Martin

[Hert]

You make it difficult for yourself.
If you cannot get these thumbs, then most likely another tool is hijacking the HEIC file extension in Windows.
You can only get another thumb for a file extension in Windows Explorer if some other software is associated with that file extension. How you describe it, after installing the HEIF extensions you get the HEIC files displayed, up to the point where some other tool is hijacking the HEIC file extension again.