File is not compatible with this version of Photoshop

[hagaraby]

Hey All,

So I've read some threads about this issue, some old and some new, but I actually could not find a good solution.

This is how the story goes:

I've made a big mistake and updated my Mac system to the High Sierra.

After the update my Mac could not find the start up disk - and to keep the long story short - I had to reinstall the MacOS Sierra (the old version).

I actually lost all of my working files (ya ya.. backup everything. i know) and had to do a recovery.

During this process it seems that a lot of my Photoshop file have been damaged in some way.

So this is what happened when I'm trying to open them in Photoshop:

I'm getting a notification (pop up) saying:

"There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead?"

Once clicking on that I'm getting this pop up say:

"Could not complete your request because the file is not compatible with this version of photoshop."

so I've actually try open those files on a different computers, with a different versions of Photoshop - but still getting the same.

I think that the file is corrupted, but I wonder if there is any way to fix it?

I'm totally willing to pay for a good software who will fix it, but could not find anything.

I'm working on Macbook pro, running MacOS Sierra version 10.12

any help will be welcome!

Thanks in advance!

Hagara

[ahmed_waheib]

Try to open it with a higher version of photoshop and try to check if the file is locked or not.

[Guest · Accepted solution]

Hi

Not sure if any of these are any good

https://www.google.ie/search?source=hp&ei=wFoyWqrIHsudgAb00pX4BQ&q=fix+corrupt+psd+file+mac&oq=fix+c...

[hagaraby]

Thank you ged2016 and @hmed_waheib,

I'm actually using the most updated version of adobe, so I'm not sure if using higher version is even possible

I will check if the file is locked.

For the Yodot and Remo repair - I have read a bad reviews so I'm not sure if spending money on those software will be a good idea

[Guest]

I think you should be able to download a free trial

[hagaraby]

I've actually tried that.

But the free trail dose not allow you to see if the file fix has gone well.

you basically ends up the proccess with nothing

[Guest]

Well that's not a very good free trial, they could at least let you see the results and watermark it in some way

[ahmed_waheib]

Can you open the file with Lightroom and It will flatten some layers? Just try because unfortunately, I think your file got corrupted while it was saving or maybe because of your disk.

I'm not sure of how is it going there but try your best & If the image has maximize compatibility on, you might be able to open a flattened copy if you hold ALT/Option+Shift as you click to open the file.

[hagaraby]

Thank you!

I'll try with LightRoom as well

[Test Screen Name]

You say you are using the "latest version" of Photoshop but please tell us the exact version. Many problems happen because people believe they have the latest version but something went wrong.

[hagaraby]

Thank you MVP!

I'm using 19.0 reales

[jasmineferrell]

Hopefully this helps someone else looking for this problem running the Windows version (I don't know if there's a Mac version). I had the same issue, and have been scrambling to save my work. There wasn't a ton of layers in my file, but a LOT of intricate vector layers. I found this repair tool when searching (and it was free) http://www.psd.repair/. I'm typically hesitant to download anything like this, but was desperate so gave it a try and it worked for the most part. Was able to restore the file, but some of my text on path layers reverted to straight text, and a couple of masks were also killed, but overall, I got most of what I needed back. Saved me days of recreating the file, which was huge.

[Vadim30119172qjsq]

I installed an older version of Photoshop and the problem is gone

[Areeba30816285pyd7]

Hello, I'm experiencing the same problem in Photoshop 2023 (version 24.2). It contains all my animation work. Can you please let me know which version you downloaded to get it working?

[metahatem]

Last night, I had the same issue. The files open fine in my most recent version of Photoshop, but my client can't open them. I fixed it by turning the background into a layer, saving, and sending it again. When you do that, it will tell you to maximize compatibility, which I did, and it worked.