Can't Edit GIF file in Photoshop?

[rnbluvva]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if you can help me with a strange problem I am having.

I have someone who needs me to extract a cake from an image for use in a photo manipulation for their web site.

They have a website that is one of these DIY template sites. They told me where to go in thier gallery to get the image, and I downloaded the image of the cake.

It's a GIF file (which sucks already...) but even worse is that I saved this file to my hard drive, opened it to try to edit it, but it's locked and I can't do a thing to it. I tried to save it as a PSD and a TIF, but the same thing happens. It's locked.

I tried to go into the image properties to see if "Read Only" was checked, but it's not.

How can I edit this photo?

Thanks for any help you can give!

I'm hoping she can find the original image from her camera to send me, but if she can't I'm not sure what to do!

[rnbluvva]

Ok, so weird... I figured a work around. I opened the image in Fireworks and saved it as a JPEG (with a new filename) and that worked. I tried this in Photoshop first and it didn't work.

Quirky!

[Lorraine]

rnbluvva,

The problem is that the .gif file is in "Indexed Color" mode. Change the Image/Mode to RGB Color and you should be able to edit it.

Lorraine

[philbach]

Well Photoshop's sister application, ImageReady will open the gif file and you can run with there.

[Lasa]

I think Lorraine is right.
I copied the image you posted GIF, then opened a new file from clipboard, set color mode to RGB.
Now when you past it it will be RGB.
If you already have it saved on you computer then simply open it and change the mode from index to RGB.

Lasa

[rnbluvva]

Originally Posted by Lorraine

rnbluvva,

The problem is that the .gif file is in "Indexed Color" mode. Change the Image/Mode to RGB Color and you should be able to edit it.

Lorraine

Ah! Thanks Lorraine and everyone else for your reply. That was indeed the solution

[Derick3]

Originally Posted by Lorraine

rnbluvva,

The problem is that the .gif file is in "Indexed Color" mode. Change the Image/Mode to RGB Color and you should be able to edit it.

Lorraine

I have a similar problem but I can't even get PS 5.5 to recognize GIF. When I try to open one, I get: "Could not open the document because PhotoShop cannot recognize the file extension." PS 5.5 still works for me on Win7 64 bit and has for the past year. What gives?
Derick3

[John Wheeler]

Have you ever tried opening a gif with this installation of Photoshop before?

There could be a variety of issues. To help debug the problem I would try these steps

- Use Save As set for GIF format for an image and then try and read it back in. If you cannot read it back in that you have an issue in Photohop

- Try and read GIF files from other sources and see if you can read them

- If the either of the above steps works yet you still have a problem with this particular file, you may have either a malformed GIF file (e.g. created incorrectly or someone just changed the extension on a file of another format)

- Or, the GIF file was saved in a mode that is not supported by Photoshop (as per the previous discussion in the thread)

Hope that helps.

[Tony W]

I am at a loss to think a reason (assuming that the file is not actually corrupt) after following Johns suggestion you could try the following:

Open your browser and click and drag the image to drop into the browser window. With luck your image will appear and you should be able to right click and Save As to try again. If it will not appear your file is likely corrupt.

[Derick3]

In reply:
Have you ever tried opening a gif with this installation of Photoshop before?
I have been using the same version of PS to do the same thing for nearly 10 years.

There could be a variety of issues. To help debug the problem I would try these steps

- Use Save As set for GIF format for an image and then try and read it back in. If you cannot read it back in that you have an issue in Photohop
I can't open a GIF with PS. When I try, the list of formats does not include GIF, PNG or several I was accustomed to seeing.

- Try and read GIF files from other sources and see if you can read them
I can use utility paint programs to create a GIF file but PS will not recognize the file extension. The format list will not display ANY GIF file.

- If the neither above steps works, you may have either a malformed GIF file (e.g. created incorrectly or someone just changed the extension on a file of another format)
These are the same GIF files I have worked with in the past. They were previously created and modified in PS.

- Or, the GIF file was saved in a mode that is not supported by Photoshop still (as per the previous discussion in the thread)
Nothing has changed in the way I have worked with these files. Just suddenly, PS will not accept ANY GIF file. I am completely baffled!

[John Wheeler]

Hi Derick

Sounds like this is a Photoshop issue then.

I would suggest the two next steps to try

- I assume you have restarted Photoshop yet if not, give that a try
- Reboot your system if you have not
- Reset Preferences, this often clears up issues
- Reinstall Photoshop. There are some files that will not get reset without doing this.

When some system file gets corrupted it can be quite difficult to track down the root cause yet the above steps often is the quickest to get you back up and running. Let us know how it goes.

[Derick3]

In response:
Sounds like this is a Photoshop issue then.
I would suggest the two next steps to try
- I assume you have restarted Photoshop yet if not, give that a try
That didn't work.
- Reboot your system if you have not
That didn't work.
- Reset Preferences, this often clears up issues
That didn't work.
- Reinstall Photoshop. There are some files that will not get reset without doing this.
That did work
When some system file gets corrupted it can be quite difficult to track down the root cause yet the above steps often is the quickest to get you back up and running. Let us know how it goes.
Hard to understand why suddenly it became corrupted. I am meticulous about tuning up my machine frequently. Anyway, MANY THANKS for seeing me through this.
Derick3

[TopiToo]

Hello

I saved the file down per "rnbluvva" link
opened fine in PS on a pc?

link below of an RGB file.

[John Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Derick3

That did work
Hard to understand why suddenly it became corrupted. I am meticulous about tuning up my machine frequently. Anyway, MANY THANKS for seeing me through this.
Derick3

I am glad it worked for you Derick and trust me, I bet it wasn't you that caused the corruption. Software is quite capable of doing that all on its own

Good thing it worked too. My only additional suggestions would have been:

For Macs, reinstall the OS
For PCs, reinstall the OS followed by jumping up and down on one foot while repeating the mantra "WHA---TA---GOO---SIAM". Repeat Mantra until you finally go out and buy a Mac. Just kidding, I run of both OSes and neither is immune from problems