Enable thumbnail preview of PDFs in Windows Explorer

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The PDF Shell component in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader allows you to see the thumbnails of PDF documents in Windows explorer, on both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows. By default, this feature is OFF. You can enable it using a specific setting available in the preferences.

For Acrobat XI and Reader XI, the thumbnails of PDFs are automatically shown in Windows Explorer on Windows 32-bit systems. However, the same is not supported on Windows 64-bit systems.

Steps

Open Acrobat or Acrobat Reader. On the Edit menu, choose Preferences.

In the Preferences dialog box, choose General in the Categories list, and then select the Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer check box.

If you don’t see the Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer checkbox, update your Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC to the latest version. To automatically update from the product, choose Help > Check for updates and then follow the steps in the Updater window to download and install the latest updates.

Picture Thumbnail Previews not showing in File Explorer on Windows 10

This post will help you if your Thumbnail Previews are not showing in Windows File Explorer and show you how you can enable or disable Thumbnails in Windows 10/8/7 Explorer.

Whenever you open Explorer and view images, you see the miniature of the image in its icon’s place. These are called Thumbnails. But if you see only its default icon, then this post will help you fix the issue.

Picture Thumbnail Previews not showing

First, open Disk Cleanup Utility and use it to delete Thumbnails. This will clear your Thumbnail cache. Next, open Control Panel and click open Folder Options. Here, under the View tab, ensure that Always show icons, never thumbnails is unchecked.

Click Apply and Exit.

Alternatively, you could do the following. Open Control Panel, select All Control Panel Items and then click on System. Now, on the left side, you will see Advanced system settings. Click on it.

Next, under the Advanced tab, click on Performance Settings. Under the Visual Effects tab, you will see Show thumbnails instead of icons. Make sure that this option is checked. Click on Apply and Exit.

You may be required to restart explorer.

Once you have done this, you will be able to see Thumbnail Previews for images, videos, and other file types in File Explorer in Windows 10/8.1.

On a related note, did you know that Explorer Thumbnails offer four border options, viz. No border, Straight border, Photo border, and Shadow border. See how you can change Thumbnail Preview Border in Windows.

Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews in Windows 10 File Explorer

In Windows 10, the File Explorer shows us tiny previews for videos and images that are stored on our system’s hard disk. Most of us are accustomed to browsing through our collection by looking at the thumbnail previews.

This is because these thumbnails give us a quick walk through the contents of the file explorer, and we do not need to open every single file that may have confusing file names. Thumbnail previews make the navigation process notably fast, but it comes with its own set of troubles that may encourage you to disable this feature on your Windows 10 system.

Building on this, understand how to enable and disable thumbnails previews in Windows 10.

Disable Thumbnail Previews in Explorer

Thumbnail previews can be a very useful feature as they let you view Windows files without opening them. The content of the File Explorer can be set to extra-large icons, large icons, medium icons, and details/tiles view, it is great for those who like to be organized. But as I said it brings its own set troubles. The creation of thumbnails for quick navigation/previewing of files slows down the other file operations, affects system performance, and causes UI clutter. In such a case, disabling the feature is a good idea.

If your images or other files are displaying a generic Windows icon like mountain and lake scene for images or media player icon for video files, probably the Thumbnail Previews feature is disabled. On the other hand, if you can view a small snapshot of the content of the file the feature is enabled.

Here are different processes to enable and disable the thumbnail display feature:

1. Via File Explorer Options
2. Using Control Panel
3. Using the Registry Editor
4. Via Performance options
5. Using the Group Policy Editor.

These processes are described in more detail below.

1] Enable or disable thumbnail previews via File Explorer Options

To disable follow these steps:

1. Go the ‘File Explorer’ and click on the ‘File’
2. In the ‘File Menu’ options, click on ‘Change folder and Search options’
3. The above action will open the ‘Folder Options’ dialog box, here hit the ‘View’ tab.
4. Now check the ‘Always show icons, never thumbnails’ option appearing under ‘Advanced Settings’.
5. Click ‘Ok’ and ‘Apply’ settings.

To enable, follow the same aforementioned process until step ‘3’, and then uncheck the ‘Always show icons, never thumbnails’ option.

2] Show Thumbnail previews via Control Panel

To enable follow these steps:

1. From the ‘Start Menu’ go to the ‘Control Panel’
2. Click on ‘System and Security’ and hit ‘System’.
3. Select ‘Advance System Settings’ appearing on the left-side panel.
4. In the ‘System Properties’ window, click ‘Settings’ under the ‘Performance’ heading.
5. Now in the ‘Performance Options’ dialog, click the ‘Visual Effects’ tab
6. Check the ‘Show thumbnails instead of icons’ under the ‘Custom:’ heading.
7. Press ‘OK’ and ‘Apply’ to save changes.

To disable thumbnail previews via Control Panel, uncheck the ‘Show thumbnails instead of icons’ under the ‘Custom:’ heading.

3] Using Registry Editor

1] Press the ‘Windows key + R’ to open the ‘Run’ dialog.

2] Type ‘regedit’ and press ‘Enter’.

3] Navigate to the below path:

4] On the right side of the Window, search for ‘IconsOnly’ and double-click on it.

5] Change values to Enable/Disable:

• ‘0’ to show thumbnails
• ‘1’ to hide thumbnails

6] Click ‘Ok’ to save changes.

4] Via Performance options

Follow these steps:

1. Press the ‘Windows Key + R’ to open the ‘Run’ dialog.
2. Type ‘SystemPropertiesPerformance.exe’ and press ‘Enter’.
3. Now, check or uncheck the ‘Show thumbnails instead of icons’ options to enable or disable thumbnail previews in Windows 10.

5] Using Group Policy Editor

You can use the Group Policy Editor to enable/disable this feature. Follow these steps:

1] Press ‘Win + R’ keys to open the ‘Run’ dialog.

2] Now, type ‘gpedit.msc’ and press ‘Enter’.

3] When the window opens the browser to the following path:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer

4] Now, on the right-hand side of the window, double click on ‘Turn off the display of thumbnails and only display icons’

5] Click on ‘Enabled’ or ‘Disabled’ to turn the feature on/off.

You should now be able to enable the thumbnail previews easily.

Thumbnails still not showing in File Explorer

The thumbnail preview on Windows normally uses thumbnail cache. Hence, if the thumbnail cache gets corrupted this issue may occur, and clearing the thumbnail cache becomes imperative. This post will show what to do if the Thumbnail Previews not showing in Windows File Explorer.

Do let us know if it was a smooth experience.

Enable Thumbnail Preview For PDF Files In Windows 10 File Explorer

Last Updated on March 10, 2020 by admin 10 Comments

If you used Windows 7 32-bit for a significant amount of time before upgrading to Windows 10, you would know that Windows Explorer in Windows 7 (only 32-bit) supported thumbnail preview for PDF files.

For some reason, Windows 10 doesn’t support thumbnail preview for PDF files in File Explorer (Windows Explorer). Windows 10 supports PDF viewing in its Edge browser and also allows users to save any text file as PDF file using Microsoft Print to PDF feature, but it doesn’t show preview and thumbnail preview for PDF files in File Explorer.

On your Windows 10 PC, if you would like to get preview and thumbnail preview for PDF files, you can do so with the help of third-party utilities.

The following are the two free utilities for Windows 10 to enable thumbnail preview support for PDF files in Windows 10 File Explorer.

NOTE: If you have issues with thumbnail preview, please refer to our how to clear and reset thumbnail cache in Windows 10 and fix to thumbnail previews not showing in Windows 10 guide.

Method 1 of 3

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to enable thumbnail preview for PDF files

Many users likely have been using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to open and read PDF files in Windows 10. But what many users are not aware of is that the fact that the Acrobat Reader DC can be used to enable preview and thumbnail preview for PDF files in Windows 10 File Explorer.

The Adobe Acrobat Reader DC generates superior quality thumbnails compared to other programs.

Enable thumbnail preview for PDF files using Acrobat Reader DC:

Step 1: Head over to this page, download and install Acrobat Reader DC on your Windows 10 PC.

Step 2: Once installed, set Acrobat DC as the default PDF reader. For directions, please refer to our step-by-step guide on how to change the default PDF reader in Windows 10 guide.

Step 3: launch Acrobat Reader DC, navigate to Edit > Preferences > General.

Step 4: Check the option labeled Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer. Click the OK button to save the change. That’s it!

Open a folder containing PDF files to see thumbnail preview for PDF files. Please make sure that the thumbnail preview is turned on in File Explorer settings.

If you have any issues with previews, please refer to our fix to thumbnail preview not working in Windows 10 File Explorer guide. To get a preview (not thumbnail preview), select a PDF file and then simultaneously press Alt+P.

Method 2 of 3

Use Nitro Reader (free) to generate previews for PDF files in Windows Explorer

Nitro Reader is another free tool that you can use to enable thumbnail preview for PDF files in Windows 10 File Explorer. After downloading and installing Nitro Reader on Windows 10, set it as the default PDF reader using the Settings app or Control Panel to see preview and thumbnail preview for PDF files in Windows 10 Explorer.

Download Nitro Reader from this official page.

Method 3 of 3

PDF Preview for Windows 10 to enable PDF thumbnail preview

PDF Preview for Windows 10 is a free add-in for File Explorer to generate and show thumbnail preview for PDF files.

In addition to thumbnail preview, PDF Preview for Windows 10 utility also enables preview for PDF files in File Explorer of Windows 10. That is, you can simply select a PDF file and then click Alt + P hotkey to preview the file.

If you are wondering about password-protected PDF files, this utility can’t generate a preview for protected PDF files.

Of course, PDF Preview for Windows 10 is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. However, PDF Preview for Windows 10 doesn’t support earlier versions of Windows, such as Windows 7 and Windows 8. For Windows 7 or Windows 8, you need to download PDF Preview for Windows 7/8 software from the same developer.

Overall, PDF Preview for Windows 10 is a must-have utility if you often deal with PDF files.

How to install and use PDF Preview in Windows 10:

Step 1: Visit this official page of PDF Preview for Windows 10 and download the latest version.

Step 2: Run the setup file to get it installed. The setup automatically tries to set itself as the default PDF reader. Note that the PDF Preview must be the default PDF reader to generate thumbnails.

That’s it! Thumbnail preview and Explorer preview should now work in Windows 10 File Explorer as well as on desktop.

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Comments

It’s several days now since I went to Adobe Acrobat and checked show thumbnails in preferences. The only changes I see are on the desktop where every Adobe Acrobat thumbnail is solid black with a tiny red Acrobat logo in the lower right corner.
I finally unchecked the box today and so far the thumbnails are still solid black. When I open File Explorer and look at the desktop that way, I still see the original thumbnail with Adobe Acrobat logo and color.
Is there any solution for this?

The BEST Option was Acrobat Reader DC. Had to make it default viewer for it to show thumbnails in File Manager. You need to REFRESH files and it will take a while for thumbnails to fill in so be prepared.
I couldn’t find a NITRO Reader version so perhaps its no longer available. The PDF Preview for Win10 was not as good as the Reader DC. I found it duplicitous and not as good. It seemed much slower too. You do have to set as default to make it work AND refresh browser just like Reader DC. Thank you for your page. Yes! It truly helped…

Adobe Reader doesn’t have Enable PDF thumbnail previews check box. Updated still no Check box.

Bhavan Desai says

Boss I have installed Nitro PDF Pro 8.0.9.8 in my Windows 10 64 Bit Operating System PC

However in my file explorer I am not been able to view file preview in right hand side preview pane (It is giving an error as “This file can’t be previewed because of an error in the Nitro Pro 8”
Try to fix this by googlling,, but FAIL..

Plz.. help be get out of this crap as soon as possible because daily i have to review 100s of PDF files and without preview pane not working i have to open each and every pdf file manually and taking up my much much of time.

Thanks all in advance

Great article, why does Windows make the obvious so obscure

hours of searching how to do this! I’m glad I found this—VERY helpful! Thank you!

Bless you! I already had Adobe Reader DC installed, just needed to check enable thumbnails box, but who knew it was there. YOU DID!

I edit all my wife’s photos and save in pdf so we can create large posters for her art work. You’ve saved me HOURS of confusing record-keeping and printing out photos. WOW, you ROCK! Thanks again for this huge amount of help.

Jenny Latto says

I have enabled thumbnail preview but then it slows my computer right down and the pdf hangs without opening and freezes everything else, maybe since the latest update? Any solutions – windows 10

Friedrich, please refer to the following guide to learn how to turn on or off thumbnails:
intowindows.com/thumbnail-previews-not-showing-in-windows-10-file-explorer/

how to turn on thumbnail preview in windows 10 File Explorer settings?