Fix Acrobat PDF Thumbnails in Windows 7 / Windows 8 x64

25 October 2012 | Computers | 155 comments

NOTE: If you like PDF thumbnails, DO NOT install Acrobat Reader DC! See note at the end…

Okay, this one is VEEEERY annoying.

You have the 64-bit flavor of Windows 7 or Windows 8. You install Adobe Acrobat Reader.

You expect that on your desktop and in Explorer, you will see a thumbnail preview image of the first page of each PDF document.

Instead, you get nothing. NOSSING!

So, you search Google, and you find a bunch of tricks, fixes, and paid software that doesn’t work.

Well, after trying a million things, here’s what worked for me in both 64-bit Windows 7 and Windows 8…

There are actually 2 issues here to pay attention to:

Indexing the contents of PDF files so that they are searchable by Windows Search
Displaying the first-page thumbnail preview on all PDF files

For #1, there is always the classic option of installing the Adobe PDF iFilter 11.0.01 for 64-bit Platforms. In Windows 7 x64, this was necessary in order to be able to search the contents of PDF files. In Windows 8, however, I found that installing it made absolutely no difference for either the indexing or the thumbnail problem.

Instead, the indexing problems seems to have magically resolved itself by upgrading to the recently released Acrobat Reader XI. After installing the latest Acrobat Reader, it seems the contents of all my PDF files are now indexed, and therefore searchable. About time!

As for the thumbnail previews, they still didn’t work after upgrading to Reader XI. I saw this:

It seems that the problem is that Adobe simply doesn’t care about PDF thumbnails on 64-bit machines. Even installing Acrobat X Pro didn’t give me proper PDF thumbnails. I don’t have Acrobat Pro XI, so I can’t tell you anything about that one.

In any case, you will find many solutions to this thumbnail problem, but this is the one that works: Adobe Reader x64 Fixes v3

If that link doesn’t work, try this one: Adobe Reader x64 Fixes v3

You can also check out the web page where I found this PDF thumbnail fix.

This little program is very simple to install: you just run it, and let it do its thing. It actually fixes both Preview Pane viewing of PDFs, and thumbnail generation. It just makes it so that 64-bit Windows can use the 32-bit thumbnail generation included in Acrobat Reader. It’s simple, and it works. Now, I see this:

WOOHOO!

Note that on the web page linked above, this fix is rather old. It was originally designed for Vista x64. I have tried it on Windows 7 x64 and Windows 8 x64, and it works like a charm on both.

Of course, this raises a rather burning question: What the hell is wrong with Adobe that even after all these years, and with all these 64-bit Windows installs out there, they still haven’t fixed the thumbnail problem?!

I guess they are just too busy releasing incremental improvements to their Creative Suite software, and charging an arm and a leg for each “major” new release. SIGH! Oh well…

One final note: While Windows 8 does have a built-in PDF viewer, it is very basic. In addition, Microsoft’s very own built-in PDF viewer apparently is not capable of generating PDF thumbnails. Nice one, M$.

So, install the latest Acrobat Reader XI, install the fix above, and rock and roll!

UPDATE: I just installed Acrobat Reader DC. No new PDFs have thumbnail previews. Then I found this on Adobe’s help site:

We had to remove the thumbnail preview functionality from Acrobat and Reader DC for technical reasons. We know there are users who value it but certain design considerations forced us to make this change.

In short, if you want PDF thumbnail previews, do NOT upgrade to Reader DC, because it removes thumbnails entirely… 🙁

155 Comments

Newer Comments →

Sky on 29 October 2012 at 19:47

hi scottie,
i was also so annoyed by the missing pdf thumbnails…however for me the problem got fixed due to the following : i am using Win 8 Ent 64bit and Acrobat X Pro. Now when adobe released Acrobat XI, i wanted to try it so i deactivated by X and uninstalled it and installed XI. Afterwards, i uninstalled XI and reinstalled X. During reinstallation it asked if i wanted to replace some dlls which were new versions and i clicked no. No my acrobt X is installed and my pdf thumbnails work so nicely. I dont know exactly what happened but i am happy….
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- Scottie on 29 October 2012 at 19:54
  
  Yup, that sounds about right for Adobe products! 😉
  Reply
DavidS on 31 October 2012 at 02:50

Hi Scot…

Its Work perfectly…
Thanks a lot…

Best regards

David’S
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mohamed on 1 November 2012 at 18:23

It works perfectly
I was very disappointed
Thank you so much
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Jarod Carruthers on 3 November 2012 at 19:42

Thank you very much for this. I was having this issue with Windows 8, and applying the PDF thumbnail fix has taken care of it nicely.
It is a small thing but very annoying, so your help is very much appreciated.
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Wes on 16 November 2012 at 22:48

Doesn’t work for me 🙁

Running Windows 7 64 bit with Adobe Reader XI
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serge on 4 December 2012 at 01:41

hello,
this worked perfectly. didn’t even have to get the adobe X reader. worked fine with my adobe 9 full version. thanks again!
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Dominic on 15 December 2012 at 04:46

“Beam me up Scottie!” “You’re a Star!”

Worked like a dream… Fixed in seconds!!!!
It’s always the way, you buy a new laptop with a new o/s and sure enough there are always things you need to download and fix to get the damn thing working right… This was one of them.

Thanks again…
P.S. For those who have Windows 8 but also want a ‘Start’ button (aka Windows 7) go to this link, have a read and download it… Works like a dream and has many setting options.
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Natalia on 3 January 2013 at 10:59

Woooho works!! Thankssss!!!
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Caryz on 8 January 2013 at 15:13

Thanks, worked for me for thumbnail in Win8 x64. Still using Adobe Reader XI for preview.
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Stephen on 9 January 2013 at 14:38

It worked on my Windows 8 system with adobe 9 standard – Thank you!
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Luc on 13 January 2013 at 16:26

Hi Scottie,
Thanks for this fix, but it didn’t worked for Me:
Windows 8 Pro.
Unable to delete pdf files because they are open in another program.
I guess that preview is considered as open.
Cheers
Luc
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PaulB on 14 January 2013 at 11:49

After trying a number of solutions, this worked perfect (Windows 8 pro 64 bit). Worked in seconds. Cheers dude! 🙂
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joez on 14 January 2013 at 16:31

This was the first solution I tried, and it worked perfect. Thank you, jjz
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Alok on 18 January 2013 at 06:44

I had a problem with file preview pane for pdf files. “Adobe Reader x64 Fixes v3” worked. Thanks man!
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mitnth on 27 January 2013 at 10:49

Thnxx buddy.
It really works.:)
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mrbi11 on 5 February 2013 at 02:03

Beware updating Reader. I installed the fixes mentioned here with reader 9, they worked great. Installed reader 10, which claimed to uninstall 9, at least it no longer showed up as something in “programs and features” to uninstall, but in fact reader 9 was still in program 86 files and about a HUNDRED places in the registry, as in folder names c:/bla bla/Reader 9/bla bla
So, if you are having trouble, search your registry for old versions of Reader.

I have no idea what those registry things ought to be, but guessed that changing them to “Reader 11” should not hurt. In fact the preview is working again.

No thumbnails.
Oh well.

THANKS ADOBE! (sarcasm)
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Tim on 7 February 2013 at 10:14

Great solution, worked like a charm for me on Windows 8 Pro x64. I installed Acrobat Pro XI on my machine yesterday and this morning, while sorting out loads of PDF images I got annoyed by the missing thumbnails. So just to confirm: Acrobat Pro XI does not fix this problem, Scottie’s solution did!
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John on 8 February 2013 at 08:16

In my laptop running ‘win8-pro x64’, I think I’ve done everything as mentioned (ie install Acrobat Reader XI and then the fix) and thankfully now I can see almost all the cover thumbnails on pdf files in file explorer. However, I can’t see any cover thumbnail in the magazines I have (sized more than 40mb each), whereas they can be seen in preview pane.

Have I done something wrong or it’s the fix’s limitation? I would be glad to hear about any help or suggest about it.
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John on 8 February 2013 at 09:56

John :
In my laptop running ‘win8-pro x64′, I think I’ve done everything as mentioned (ie install Acrobat Reader XI and then the fix) and thankfully now I can see almost all the cover thumbnails on pdf files in file explorer. However, I can’t see any cover thumbnail in the magazines I have (sized more than 40mb each), whereas they can be seen in preview pane.
Have I done something wrong or it’s the fix’s limitation? I would be glad to hear about any help or suggestion about it.

Never mind. After re-install and a restart, the fix is working.
Many thanks for the article.
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BABAN on 24 February 2013 at 02:03

What should i do? really u were the best doctor of a sudden accident. well-done bro thank u so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Mudasser on 1 March 2013 at 02:04

Perfect. It is exactly what I was looking for.
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chs on 20 March 2013 at 22:27

Thank-you!!! So glad to get this problem resolved.
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Pablo on 6 April 2013 at 16:37

I tried it in Windows 8 Pro x64 with Acrobat XI anda works like a Charm
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Jonathan Norris on 8 April 2013 at 02:37

worked instantly for reader xi on windows 7 – thank you.
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Brett McNally on 10 April 2013 at 12:58

Thank you Scottie, this worked perfect for me too!
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Dennis on 11 April 2013 at 16:48

Preview was working fine until a few weeks ago, then stopped working. [I assume some update did something]. I have spent hours trying to get it working again. Tried your solutions and still get the message: “This file can’t be previewed.” The thumbnail solution worked great. Thank you. Can you offer any help with the main “can’t be previewed” problem? I have Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro (version 9.5.4) and Adobe Acrobat Reader XI (version 11.0.2)installed. Would pay good money to get this fixed!!!
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- Scottie on 11 April 2013 at 19:10
  
  In Windows 8, I could never get the preview pane to work right for PDFs + Acrobat. In Windows 7, I’ve seen all kinds of problems with it, but never managed to make it play nicely once it gets screwed up.
  Reply
Richard on 18 April 2013 at 09:53

You made my day, brilliant!
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woo on 5 May 2013 at 18:18

didn’t work for me, on windows 8, any advice please
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awaidus on 18 May 2013 at 08:35

wonderful, issue resolved in X64 Windows 7 regarding preview of covering page of PDF on Icon. Thanx Scott. 🙂
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Saskamodie on 5 June 2013 at 16:57

Thanks for the fix, works great.
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Newport on 1 July 2013 at 03:17

Thanks a lot! You’re the greatest! Thanks for your help to the community!

BRILLIANT!
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Paulo Kanda on 25 July 2013 at 22:57

You are Mr Fantastic!!!

thank you from Brazil

obrigado
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Mel on 31 July 2013 at 20:26

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
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Sotong on 2 August 2013 at 02:49

It worked for me! THANKS!
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philip on 8 August 2013 at 21:41

thank you thank you thank you
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Ian on 9 August 2013 at 02:53

Your a bloody marvel …. Thanks
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bitdancer on 16 August 2013 at 15:22

works like a charm!!!
Thanks!!!
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Eve on 23 August 2013 at 22:03

Thank you for this.
It served me well the 1st time !!! 🙂
It was working fine for me until I decided to upgrade from Adobe Reader X to Reader XI.
Now only some random .pdf have thumbnails ! (?)
Like you, I’m using Acrobat X and I use it as my default program to read .pdf.
I have Windows 7. 64bit.
Same thing as last time…
I can’t tell why it used to work and now it won’t.
My next would be to reinstall Acrobat X.
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Kristoph Nolen on 9 September 2013 at 04:52

IT WORKS NOW!!
Thanks *SO* much … I’ve been putting up with this for over two years. And I periodically look for solutions, hoping that one would come up. And this time, I found a link to your page in a simple Google search, and the first link you have in the article fixed my problem within *seconds*!!
Thank you SO MUCH!!
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LJ on 14 September 2013 at 22:09

THANK YOU so much! It worked great for Win 7 -64 bit and also works for Win 8 – 64 bit using Adobe Reader XI.
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Piotr on 10 October 2013 at 08:05

Works perfectly for Win 8 64 bit.

Thanks !
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skender on 31 October 2013 at 17:55

It’s working! Thanks

merci pour tout, je suis français!
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Suen on 23 January 2014 at 05:24

I nearly screamed when i saw the MAGICCCCCCCCCCCC~~~~
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M. El Adraoui on 6 February 2014 at 12:49

There’s a simple solution to fix the problem, no need to download or install anything! I’ve just tried it minutes ago and it worked like a charm. It is documented here:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/5234943

The problem is originating from what appears to be a conflict when one uses both “Acrobat Pro” and “Reader”.

1. Go to the “Preferences” in “Reader”
2. > “General”
3. > The button at the bottom says “Select Default PDF Handler”, and select “Acrobat Pro”.
4. Apply then OK.
5. Allow the program to “reinstall” itself and voilà! You should see both the PDF thumnails and PDF previews in the Preview pane.
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M. El Adraoui on 6 February 2014 at 12:53

Forgot to mention:
I’ve tried it under Windows 7 – 32 bits, and versions of Acrobat Pro X 10.0.3) and Reader XI (11.0.6).
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masud on 13 February 2014 at 17:13

hey man
you are a genius. grateful to you for such fix.

thanks a million
masud
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Nathan on 21 February 2014 at 03:38

Thanks heaps!!!
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Kathe on 5 March 2014 at 09:29

Thank you very much. You made my day. 🙂
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Andrés on 20 March 2014 at 10:44

Thank you very much!!!!!
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JFB on 15 April 2014 at 03:55

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you !
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