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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Sumit 44,316 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
    2022-01-14T19:15:59+00:00

    Another well intentioned video that misses the point of the thread.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-01-14T19:26:37+00:00

    FIRST... If you think you have something worth saying, please say it once...don't post an ad six times!

    SECOND... This so-called method does not work in current releases of Windows 11; the feature has been eliminated or disabled, and no amount of clicking will change that.

    We need to remind MS often and cogently how important it is to many of us.

    .....ph

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-01-17T11:00:21+00:00

    Please bring this feature back. Don't take away features that Windows users have been accustomed to for 10+ years. If you think some people don't use this feature, at least have an option for users to enable/disable it. Since this feature had been available on Windows for many years, my mind has been accustomed to identifying the contents of a folder by simply looking at the small image preview on top of the folder icon. I've also been structuring my folders/files to better utilize this feature. Without this feature, now I have to click into each folder to find what I am looking for. Windows 11 have been pretty good otherwise. I used to get the blue-screen-of-death frequently in Windows 10, I could not figure out why, but after testing Windows 11 for a month I have not had the blue screen of death. Still, I am contemplating going back to Windows 10 due to the lack of this folder preview feature.

    Perhaps UX designers should actually be Windows users. Please don't just simply copy MacOS. We would have switched to Mac already if that is what we want.

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  4. 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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