How to open, view and edit a PSD file online

Open, edit and save a PSD in seven steps

1. 1

   Open the PSD

   Go to lilcactus.app and choose File› then Open… (Ctrl+O or ⌘O), or drag the PSD onto the window. To follow along, open the sample from this page. Large files take a few seconds.

   

2. 2

   Check the layers

   The Layers panel lists the PSD’s layers, top layer first. In the sample:

   • Title (G badge) is a group. Click its arrow to close or open it.
   • Text (T thumbnail) is live text you can retype.
   • Band (S badge) is a shape layer at 60% opacity.
   • Vibrance is an adjustment layer: it changes the colors of the layers below it. The white thumbnail beside it is its mask.
   • Background is the photo.

   When Lil Cactus had to keep part of a PSD as pixels, it usually shows a message “PSD import has … notes” with a Details… button that lists the layers and the reasons. The sample has no notes.

   

3. 3

   Load the font before editing text

   A yellow banner under the options bar (the strip under the menus) may say “Original fonts unverified: Arial”, and the text layer gets an orange ! badge. Until Lil Cactus has the exact font file the PSD used, it shows the text as it was saved, and retyping could change its look.

   Click Load matching font… on the banner and choose the font file (.ttf, .otf or .woff). The banner and the badge disappear. In Chrome and Edge you can instead open the Font list on the Text tool’s options bar and click Add installed fonts to let Lil Cactus use the fonts on your computer.

   Tip Arial.ttf is in System › Library › Fonts › Supplemental on a Mac and in C:\Windows\Fonts on Windows. Fonts you load stay available for later PSDs in the same browser.

   

4. 4

   Edit the text

   Press T for the Text tool and click inside the words CANYON ROAD. Press Ctrl+A or ⌘A to select all of the text and type CANYON TRAIL. To finish, press Ctrl+Enter or ⌘↩ or click the green tick after Attach to Path on the options bar; Esc cancels the change and keeps the old words.

   

   

5. 5

   Change the adjustment layer

   Click the sliders icon at the right of the Vibrance row. The Vibrance dialog opens with the PSD’s settings, 40 and 0. Type 100 for Vibrance and 60 for Saturation, and click Apply: the sky and the rocks turn noticeably more colorful. The photo itself isn’t changed, so you can set the values back at any time.

   

   

6. 6

   Save it back as a PSD

   Choose File› then Save (Ctrl+S or ⌘S). In Chrome and Edge, a PSD you opened with File› then Open… or dragged onto the window is written straight back into its file. The sample from this page has no file on your computer, so Save first asks where to save and suggests canyon-poster.psd; after that, Save writes to the file you chose. Firefox and Safari can’t write files, so each Save downloads a new copy.

   The first time you save an opened or dragged file, Chrome or Edge asks whether Lil Cactus may save changes to it. If Save lists features the PSD cannot preserve, read those notes before confirming. A supported edit can save cleanly without a loss warning. To retain every editable Lil Cactus setting, save a project copy as well.

   

7. 7

   Keep a project, or export an image to share

   A PSD can’t hold every Lil Cactus feature. To keep everything editable, also save File› then Save As› then Lil Cactus Project… (Ctrl+Shift+S or ⇧⌘S). From then on, File› then Save updates the project; to update the PSD again, use File› then Save As› then Photoshop (.psd)…, after which Save goes back to writing the PSD.

   To send the poster to someone without an editor, choose File› then Export› then JPEG… or PNG… and click Export. The export is a new, flat picture; the PSD keeps its layers.

   

What opens editable

• Pixel layers, with visibility, opacity, fill opacity, locks, clipping and blend modes. If a combination cannot stay editable, the import notes explain the preserved appearance or why the file cannot be opened.
• Groups and artboards, including group masks.
• Layer masks and vector masks, with density, feather and link. A mask saved switched off stays off. Shift-click its thumbnail to switch it on, or use Enable mask in Properties.
• Text layers: wording, font, size and color stay editable, including Arc, Bulge, Flag, Wave, Rise and Shell warps.
• Shape layers with a color, gradient or pattern fill.
• Solid Color fill layers.
• Adjustment layers: Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, Black & White (including Tint), Photo Filter, supported Gradient Maps, Channel Mixer, Brightness/Contrast, Exposure, Vibrance, Selective Color, Invert, Threshold, Posterize, and Color Lookup when the PSD includes its lookup table.
• Layer styles: Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Stroke, Color Overlay, Gradient Overlay, Pattern Overlay, Bevel & Emboss and Satin.
• Smart Objects with embedded contents and a plain scale or rotation, with Gaussian Blur and Invert Smart Filters. Layer› then Smart Objects› then Edit Contents opens the contents as their own document.
• Layer comps, alpha channels, paths, guides, color samplers and the color profile.

What opens as pixels, or not at all

• Appearance kept as pixels: some text warps, complex Smart Object transforms and other unsupported editable features use their saved appearance. Read the import notes to see which parts cannot be retuned.
• Unsupported layer combinations: Lil Cactus preserves the affected appearance where the file provides enough information. Where it cannot do so safely, it refuses the file and leaves the original unchanged. A Noise Gradient Map inside a group or below other artwork can still require an RGB or rasterised copy from the original app.
• CMYK: a supported file with its CMYK profile opens as an RGB composite at the original 8-bit or 16-bit depth. This is not editable CMYK. Untagged or unsupported print data needs an RGB copy.
• Duotone and Multichannel: supported native ink records convert to an RGB appearance. Multichannel uses the documented Dot Gain 15% interpretation on white; another application's unstored color settings cannot be recovered. Files without usable color records need an RGB copy.
• 32-bit PSDs: support is restricted. If the file cannot be opened safely, make a supported RGB copy in the original app. Save an opened 32-bit document as a Lil Cactus project to retain its native data.

Fix common problems

I don’t have the font file

Lil Cactus keeps the original saved text appearance until you edit it. Retyping can use an available system font or the bundled Liberation Sans and may change spacing. Choose a matching font from the Font list before editing.

Some layers are pixels rather than editable text or adjustments

Open Details… on the import message. It identifies the preserved parts and any unsupported features. Keep a copy of the original PSD. A Lil Cactus project retains the imported state and later edits.

“PSD exceeds the supported 512 MB file limit”

The PSD reader currently refuses files above 512 MB. Save a smaller copy in the original app while keeping the original file.

Opening reports a size or storage error

Read the specific message. A smaller RGB copy can help when the browser cannot hold the file or its decoded layers. Keep the original, rather than deleting layers from it.

Save says the linked original changed outside this tab

The PSD was changed by another app after you opened it. Save your current work as a File› then Save As› then Lil Cactus Project… copy, or reopen the PSD and redo the change.

What to do next

• Get comfortable with the Layers panel: how to use layers.
• Change color without touching the photo: adjustment layers.
• Edit what’s inside a Smart Object: Smart Objects.
• Make the exported image the right size: resize an image.

Coming from another editor

GIMP

File › Open… opens a PSD as layers; File › Export As… with a .psd name saves one.

PSD files: questions and answers