Windows 10: Thumbnail Previews on File Explorer aren't showing

I've tried everything for fixing this. Clearing the cache of the thumbnails, unchecking the always show icons not thumbnails, and a lot of the things online. I still can't find a solution. One thing I might think it might be is that the thumbnails arent loading which I wouldn't know why they aren't because it started happening today. If anyone could help that would be amazing.

:)

 

PDF thumbnails not showing in Windows 10 file explorer

In Acrobat Reader DC, go to Preferences > General and then select Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer.

This should show thumbnails in File Explorer. For some reason, my selection got turned off (not by me). Check your settings again. I have done this same step for numerous computers now, and so far they all work.

The first time you do this, Adobe Reader DC actually has a pop-up saying something like installing a add-on or extension. If you don't see this, then I suggest a reinstall of the latest DC.

 

Preview and thumbnails are not showing up in Windows Explorer, Adobe Acrobat X Pro.

Hi Susanne,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



We understand your concern. The PDF Shell component in Adobe Reader allows you to see the thumbnails of PDF documents in Windows explorer. However, it seems Preview and Thumbnails of PDF files are disabled. Please follow steps mentioned below to enable
the same.

1. Launch Adobe Reader.
   
2. Click on Edit in the menu bar and choose
   Preferences.
   
3. Highlight General under Categories.
   
4. Check the box behind Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer.
   

You may also want to refer
Enable thumbnail of PDFs in Windows Explorer for more details.





Regards,

 

Image files are not always showing thumbnails. Some are but most aren'


I have a problem with the preview display on image files where some will show an image preview and others will show an icon.
This error does not happen systematically. When I open a folder with images in it some preview the image while others don’t. When I next reopen the same folder the same thing happens but with different files being affected.
Similarly, when I try to refresh the file contents, all of the file previews flicker with the image preview for an instant before reverting to an icon.
I have read many instances of this same issue happening to other people over the last few years but my problems have only been extant for the last few weeks.
Reading about how other sufferers have overcome their problem I have tried the same solutions.

1. I have tried opening a folder that has images in it and gone to options/change folder and search options/view/ and made sure that the check box for “Always show icons, never thumbnails” is unchecked. It was.
2. In the same view I then checked the “Always show icons, never thumbnails” box, click apply and then OK. I was rewarded with nine image previews instead of one but the rest (16) remained as icons. So I then repeated the procedure with the same result. Nine files as previews and sixteen as icons.
3. I then followed the same path and clicked the ‘Restore Defaults’ option and applied with exactly the same result.
4. I then tried all of the previous on a different folder with a similar result; twelve out of eighteen remained as icons and six showed previews.
5. I then tried to reset all folders with the same result.
6. I then tried another method of the same thing by reviewing the visual effects settings in Performance options. I achieved this by pressing the Win+R keys to open Run, typing SystemPropertiesPerformance.exe, and clicking on OK to open Performance Options. Here I made sure that the check box for “Show thumbnails instead of icons” was checked. After completing this step I went back through multiple image folders and as I opened each folder the previews on each file would flash an image preview before reverting to an icon. A small (variable) number of files would have a preview but the rest remained as icons.
7. I have also noticed that for some unknown reason the default program to view and open image files had changed to the “Photos” app. So I changed the default app to “Windows Photo Viewer” and “Photo Viewer” in turn; with no effect.
8. I then went to Control Panel and opened the Ease of Access Centre. Here I firstly checked the option “Turn off all unnecessary animations (when possible)” and clicked Apply; to no effect. So I went back in and unchecked that box, clicked apply and OK. Similarly to no effect. There may have been a moment longer of flickering of file previews when I checked some of the folders.
9. Next I went to Settings/Ease of Access/Other Options and turned off (and on again) the “Play animations in Windows” option. Again, to no effect.
10. Some blogs suggested that the problem may be drive overcrowding all my executables are on an SSD with 150GB used and 73 GB free. I have also cleaned it up with no result. All of the images are saved to a data drive that has 450 GB free. I think that drive overcrowding is not the problem.
11. I also have tried clearing the thumbnail cache by following instructions that I found on the Windows 10 Forums site;
    1. Using the disk cleanup option and selecting ‘Thumbnails”. I then rebooted to find no change.
    2. Rebuild the Icon Cache using a BAT file
    3. Rebuild the Icon Cache in the Command Prompt

All of the above had the same effect; zero. I have tried every suggested solution method that I could find about this and have had no luck so far so I am hoping that someone out there has heard of this weird anomaly before.

If anyone can help I would be VERY grateful.

Thx
Peter