When Windows stops showing the PDF thumbnails, the file’s name becomes the only differentiating factor. If PDF thumbnails aren’t appearing on your PC, here are a few fixes worth trying.
1. Restart the Windows Explorer Process
PDF thumbnails often stop appearing when Windows Explorer runs into temporary bugs or glitches. You can rule out such problems by restarting the Windows Explorer process from the Task Manager.
1. Open the Task Manager app.
2. Switch to Processes.
3. Find & right-click on Windows Explorer and select Restart.
This will instantly restart the Windows Explorer process. Your computer screen will go black for a few seconds and will become normal again.
2. Restart your Windows PC
Restarting the device is the best way to get rid of such bugs & glitches. So, before trying the next methods, restart your Windows computer once.
If the problem appears even after the restart, then the problem might be something else, and you need to follow the next methods.
3. Make sure thumbnails are enabled
If PDF thumbnails are disabled, no matter what you try, Windows will never display the PDF thumbnails. However, there’s a feature on Windows that lets you enable or disable the Thumbnails.
1. Open the File Explorer on your Windows device.
2. On the top bar, click three dots.
3. Select Options.
4. This will open the Folder Options. Switch to View.
5. In Advanced Settings, uncheck the Always show icons, never thumbnails option and click Ok.
4. Reset the Thumbnail cache
If the thumbnail cache files are corrupted, the PDF thumbnails won’t appear. Hence, you can reset the Thumbnail cache on your Windows device to fix the issue.
1. Click the Windows Start button and select Settings.
2. Switch to System.
3. Click on Storage.
4. Click Temporary files.
5. Check only the Thumbnails and click Remove files.
5. Enable PDF Thumbnails by editing the Registry
You can make some changes to the Windows Registry to enable PDF thumbnails.
1. Open the Registry Editor app from the Windows Search.
2. Navigate to this path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID\
3. Find {DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}. If the folder is unavailable, right-click on CLSID and select New > Key. Then, name the new key {DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}.
4. Select the {DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193} key, and double-click on the ‘AppID’ on the right pane. If AppID is unavailable, right-click on {DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193} and select New > String Value. Name the new String Value as AppID.
5. Double-click on the ‘AppID’ and then enter {534A1E02-D58F-44f0-B58B-36CBED287C7C} in the Value Data field. Once done, click Ok.
6. Enable PDF Thumbnails on Windows using PowerToys
PowerToys is an open-source application for Windows that brings you many new features, and some of its features can boost your productivity, like PDF thumbnails. For example, it has a feature that enables PDF thumbnails in the file explorer.
1. Download & install PowerToys on your Windows PC.
2. Open it and switch to the File Explorer add-ons tab.
3. Enable the toggle for Portable Document Format on the right side.
After making the changes, restart your Windows computer. This will override all existing thumbnail settings and will enable the PDF thumbnails.
7. View PDF Thumbnails on Windows using Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a tool that allows you to view, create, edit, and print portable document formats (PDFs). If you use Adobe Acrobat on your Windows PC to manage your PDF files, you can enable a feature to enable PDF thumbnails.
- Right-click on the PDF file and select Open With > Adobe Acrobat.
- When the file opens, click on Edit > Preferences.
- On the Preferences, switch to the General tab.
- Check the Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer option on the right side.
- Click OK.
Restart your Windows computer and navigate to the folder storing PDF files. The PDF thumbnails will appear now.
Also Read: How to Merge PDF Files in Windows 11
PDF thumbnails are useful since they allow us to distinguish files without opening them. You can follow the methods we have shared to fix PDF thumbnails not showing up. If you need more help resolving PDF Thumbnails not showing on Windows, let us know in the comments.
