Macromedia - Dreamweaver TechNotes: Error: "Unable to launch external editor" when using Photoshop 7 as an external editor

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Error: "Unable to launch external editor" when using Photoshop 7 as an external editor

Issue
After setting Adobe Photoshop 7 as the external editor for images within Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, attempts to edit image files from within Dreamweaver may result in the following error:

"Unable to launch external editor: Please be sure that the application exists and that there is enough memory to run it."

Reason
This will commonly happen when users are running Dreamweaver MX and Photoshop 7 on Macintosh OS 9.x systems. Photoshop 7 is installed as an "application package" on the Macintosh. An application package is a special folder containing executable code and the resources to support that code. Double-clicking on an application package launches the application inside the package instead of opening the folder. Dreamweaver does not recognize the package as an application.

Solution
To launch Photoshop 7 from Dreamweaver, do the following:

1	Control-click on the Adobe Photoshop 7.0 icon inside the Adobe Photoshop 7 folder. Choose "Show Package Contents" from the contextual menu. The Photoshop application package will now open as a normal folder.
2	Browse to the Photoshop 7.0 application that is inside the application package. On Macintosh OS 9.x, the default location for the application is Adobe Photoshop 7: Adobe Photoshop 7.0: Contents: MacOSClassic: Adobe Photoshop 7.0.
3	Control-click the application and choose Make Alias.
4	Copy the alias to the Adobe Photoshop 7 folder in the Applications (Mac OS 9) folder or the Applications folder if you are on Macintosh OS X.
5	Control-click the original Photoshop 7.0 icon again and choose "Hide Package Contents" so the Photoshop application package will close.
6	Back in Dreamweaver, choose Edit Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box. Choose the File Types/Editors category.
7	For each file type defined to use Photoshop as the editor, browse to point to the Photoshop alias copied to the Applications (Mac OS 9): Adobe Photoshop 7 folder.

ID:	18731
Product:	Dreamweaver
Versions:	All
OS:	Mac OS 9
Browser:	All
Server:	None
Database:	None
Former ID:

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Last updated:	July 21, 2003
Created:	July 21, 2003




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