Windows 11: Thumbnail previews do not show on folders

Anonymous
2021-11-28T18:05:14+00:00

My folders are appearing as blank folder icons, where in Win 10 they showed thumbnail previews of the contents.

I've searched online for answers, and most appear to apply to earlier versions, and tell me to uncheck the 'icon only, no thumbnail' choice in View|Options, but that is already unchecked, so that is not the answer.

Does anyone have an actual working answer? Thanks if you do!

.....ph

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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Sumit 44,306 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2022-02-17T07:04:33+00:00

The Windows 11 2022 update brings Thumbnail previews to folders.

Windows 11 2022 update now available - Microsoft Community

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-01-19T08:39:03+00:00

    As a temporary resolution for all of you who want to have folder thumbnails look on the internet for "Windows Thumbnail Generator". I'm not sure if I am allowed to paste a link of the software, but I got it form majorgeeks, will post the link below. If any of you decide to download it, make sure to select the root folder of your desire and check the "recursive" (this will generate thumbnails for all the subfolders in that folder) and "clear icon cache" (this will reset windows explorer to refresh the thumbnails and when the software will finish you'll have thumbnails back. Also, for me it was very important to have a big preview, so I selected "Max Thumbnails: 1".

    This is a true disappointment, Microsoft you'd better do an update and bring back this feature that is a core function for everyone who deals with photos and videos.

    https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/windows\_thumbnail\_generator.html

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-01-29T17:18:51+00:00

    I agree with everybody else that is complaining about this. To not have thumbnail previews is completely ridiculous for those of us who have hundreds if not thousands of folders on our systems.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-01-27T08:29:45+00:00

    I sincerely hope this feature being lost is either an oversight, or due to a bug that couldn't be fixed in time for release, because this is easily the most obnoxious aspect of Windows 11 for me as it is, as others have mentioned, directly hindering my work. Seeing as I had no need (and honestly shouldn't need) to create more detailed folder names in Windows 10 since I could easily see the preview image, I simply numbered or dated folders. With no preview images on the folders, outside of very recent images, I now have to enter every folder until I find the one I'm looking for. This, when dealing with thousands of folders containing images, is an extremely strenuous and time consuming task.

    As was suggested, I did leave feedback in the feedback hub, but unfortunately, until this bafflingly omitted feature returns, I'm going to have to downgrade back to Windows 10 as this is too much of a hassle for me to be willing to deal with.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-01-08T14:10:40+00:00

    Agree, none of these helps at all

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