A quick and easy fix for pdf thumbnail problem with Acrobat and Reader X

Absolutely fabulous!! This worked like a dream!! I only had to do the first part of what you explained & VOILA, I had thumbnails back!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!  This had been driving me NUTS & I had searched all over the internet & nothing worked.

I am SOOOO glad I found your post!!!

Hi,

It's not working for me

Hi,

Another option :

You need to uninstall Reader X from the system and keep Acrobat.

It worked for me.

This symptom occur because a 64-bit process that runs on a computer that is running an x64-based version of Windows cannot load the 32-bit .dll files that are required by some program features.

You may try the following work around:

You must use the 32-bit version of Windows Explorer. The 32-bit version of Windows Explorer is located in the %windir%\Syswow64 folder on the computer that is running an x64-based version of Windows.

To use the 32-bit version of Windows Explorer, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type the following in the Open box, and then click OK:

Drive_Letter:\windows\syswow64\explorer.exe /separate

Note The placeholder Drive_Letter represents the drive where the x64-based version of Windows is installed.

For more information:

Some Windows Explorer extensions and some Control Panel items are not displayed on computers that are running an x64-based version of Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895561#appliesto

Now check if the issue is resolved.

You may want to try the following steps:

PDF thumbnail view via the Acrobat reader:

1. Run Acrobat Reader. In Reader, click File > Open and navigate to the folder(s) containing your PDF file(s). If necessary, move the slider to show all your PDF files.

2. Cancel out of Open and exit Reader.

3. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folders(s) containing your PDF file(s).

4. Click Views and move the slider until you see PDF thumbnails.

Thanks and Regards:

Sanjay Manju Suman

Adobe System Inc.

i found a fix file , i try it and it works

download

http://www.pretentiousname.com/adobe_pdf_x64_fix/#downl

Hey Sanjay,

I've got the following issue with my Adobe Reader X, under Windows 7 x86: after having cleaned my PC with "Disk Cleanup" option, I can no longer see my .pdf thumbanils (books covers) for my .pdf docs. I have tried the view option, I have tried reinstalling Adobe X, but the problem persists. I think, the disk cleanup might have deleted some registry entries. It is interesting that under my wife's account, one can see these .pdf thumbnails (book covers). please find attached a screen capture that helps you make an idea of how worse it is. Once again - I'm running Windows 7 x86 and not x64.

Thank you in advance for your support

Well if nothing works  you can try this:

Open Adobe Reader X

Click on File and Open.

It will bring the Open dialouge Box.

Browse to the location wehere you want to show PDF in thumbnail view (Let's say Desktop)

In open dialouge box Change the view to Thumbnail.

Need not to Even open any file.

Close the Open Dialouge Box and Close Reader X.

Go to Desktop you'll find all PDF in Thumbnail.

Hope it Will Work, Good Luck

Thanks

Sanjay Manju Suman

Adobe Systems Inc.

GEE as expensive as your stuff is why don't you guys make a 64 bit dll??? This has been going on for years. Says alot about how you cater to your paying customers needs.

BS. Adobe is just too lazy to fix it. Here's the fix:

Fixes for 64-bit Adobe Reader preview handler and thumbnail

The "fix for 64-bit" program works like charm. Thanks for the link, much appreciated

Thank you very much. This solution has solved my problem. I'm using a 32-bit Windows 7.

For those with this thumbnail problem that are running Windows 7 in 64bit format this is the fix to solve the problem. I will be sorting out my PC when I get home.

Thanks for all the other suggestions on how to fix the thumbnail problem. Unforunately, none of them worked for me on my laptop except for Bad213Boy's solution. It's really sad to find so much joy in watching your pdf's change to thumbnails as you look through the files in Explorer.

I would recommend Adobe makes a significant donation to Bad213Boy for all the effort that he has put in to solve a problem with their software!

Thank you for the link to the fix that really works

Pete M

On a PC without admin rights, doing Reader > File > Open on your folder(s) seems about all that works.

Sadly these thumbnails expire quickly with normal use, as if to taunt your lowly non-admin status.

Fixes for 64-bit Adobe Reader preview handler and thumbnail

thanks

Bad213Boy

this works!

Works like a charm on Windows 8 too! I tried several things before but this was the first one that actually worked. Thanks a lot!

Very simple. Thank you!

Now all thumbnails are showing up!

Just notice this ... if you start getting access denied on Network shares: FYI: 1 possible solution and cause to Access Denied on opening PDF on network shares with Reader XI

I had the same issue after installing 64bit operating system. Very quick, very simple fix. Thank You very much. The preview is now working on the PDF files.

Dziękuję bardzo za ten post. To było bardzo pomocne i rozwiązać mój problem. I zostały poszukiwania ubiegłym tygodniu na rozwiązanie tego problemu miniatur ze standardem Adobe Acrobat X. Można by pomyśleć, mogli (Adobe) zapewnić jakiś rodzaj wsparcia dla tego.

Kuliński

This worked for me... Thank You!

Are there any updates yet for the latest CC 2015 on x64 ?

PDF and document thumbnails in windows are an absolute must for the workflow.

Please Adobe make your software professional.

This does work, however you need to select all sizes of thumbnails in the "Open" dialogue window.  Then close the window.  Only then can you preview pdfs in all thumbnail sizes in Explorer.  I discovered when I only selected one thumbnail size, I still couldn't preview some pdfs in Explorer since they had been set to view in a different thumbnail size.  I hope this makes sense to you all.

Hi.

Would you please share what you did to solve this?

I am running Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64 bit and for the life of me I can not get thumbnails to work for PDFs.

I am using Adobe Reader DC, and it just doesn't work though I've tried everything on this thread.

Thanks!

Acrobat Reader DC doesn't display thumbnails.

Well that's quite unacceptable.

Why is that so?

I guess I'll have to look for an other PDF reader that will actually do that.

Unless you guys plan on fixing this problem.

Read this:

Lost my preview Thumbnails with Reader DC update

First check to make sure your pdfs are set to open with Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

1. Control Panel 

2. Default Programs

3. Associate a file 

4. Check if PDFs are set to open with Adobe.  If not, change it. 

5. Close Control panel.

6.  Download and install latest Adobe Reader DC for Windows 8.1, 64 bit

7.  Then, run Adobe Reader

8. Click on File

9. Open

(Select folder with PDFs)

Choose VIEW, then click on XLarge Icons, then click on Large Icons, then click on Medium Icons.  Small icons don't preview thumbnails.

Repeat with other folders containing PDFs

Exit Adobe

Note:  You don't have to actually open a PDF file in Adobe for this to work.  You can just be in a folder with PDFs and watch the thumbnails appear by changing how the icons in the folders are viewed with the VIEW button.

Hope this helps.

Siena

Worked.

Thanks!

It works...only at step 1  .thank you !!

This doesn't work for me - I'm working on a Mac so not sure if that's the difference?

When I get to step 9. and click on the folder and VIEW there is no option available to click on Xlarge Icons, Large Icons, or any icons at all...

could you walk me through that part?

Thanks in anticipation..

Julie

The instructions are for Windows.

can anyone help me with a Mac workaround?

While this is not the optimum way to do things, I did find a sort-of fix.

If you are like me and have tons of folders with similar names or numbered files, so that the lack of thumbnails means you have to go into each folder and open each .pdf to see if you have the right one, etc...

I open the .pdf, go to File, Export, Image, .jpg.  Then save that .jpg in the same folder as the .pdf.  Then at least I can see a thumbnail preview of the .jpg in the folder, which is better than nothing.

Yes, its tedious and INCREDIBLY time consuming, but if you are going into all the folders all the time, it will be better in the long run.

Genius! Worked flawlessly! Thank you!

Quick alternative - in your file explorer just go into view > preview pane.

Shows a large preview to the side much bigger than a thumbnail.

I have been talking with Adobe for DAYS and they basically told me that they have made an update and do not support thumbnails anymore. I've tried downloading older Acrobat's but it didn't solve the thumbnail and brought more on its own.

Save yourself the time wasting! Sometimes it seems the simplest fix is the best one!

Hey man

Just use A-PDF Thumbnailer (Create web image thumbnailers and galleries from multiple PDFs. [A-PDF.com]), it's easy to use and you can make great thumbnails. I used it for my website, for which it was great.

I found a fix that worked for me.

open Adobe Reader and from the edit menu go to preferences.

Select the General tab and under the Basic tools check "enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer"

This solved my problem.