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I am running Windows 11 version 21H2 patched up to date and have noticed this problem recently, although I am not sure exactly when it started in relation to recent patches.
When I open a folder the preview pane shows "Select a file to preview".
Selecting a .jpg file shows the preview.
Selecting a .doc file shows "No preview available" - expected as I do not have Microsoft Office.
Selecting a .pdf file causes the preview pane to go blank.
My solution is to untick the Show Preview Pane option, close explorer, open explorer, tick the Show Preview Pane option.
Selecting a .pdf file now shows the preview. (This does not work without closing explorer and reopening it.)
Has anyone else experienced this, and more to the point, does anyone know of a fix?
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.
I have Power Toys version 0.74.1 (latest I think).
I doesn't seem to have a File Explorer option.
I am convinced that this problem we are all having is due to Microsoft updates in Windows 11.
Mine used to work fine until I had an update which caued the preview to vanish. Then after another update I now get a thumbnail in the top left of the preview pane, which is useless.
If anyone who works for Microsoft reads this, I would be very happy to hear his/her response.
It seems many people have this problem. With my Win 11 Pro, Explorer worked perfectly by previewing pdf files (a function that I really needed) but then I had a Windows update and the preview frustratingly no longer worked. Now I have had a further update and I do get a small represenation of the pdf page but it is not clear enough to read it (music in my case).
I have tried all the mentioned suggestions for a fix to no avail.
So I am certain that this is a Windows update problem. They stopped it working, now they have to get it working again.
The only Solution is ---- Sign In your Acrobate reader and you will get the preview for your Pdf file
I don't think I can help you much other than to say that it works fine on my system and I have Paint Shop Pro 7 as my default viewer for jpg files.
I don't think that this has anything to do with your problem as the preview of jpg files worked before I changed the default viewer.
My pdf problem seems to have mainly gone away. There is still one quirk in that the first pdf I preview after system boot does not allow me to scroll down the preview to see the whole file. If I switch to another pdf I can scroll down this pdf and when I switch back to the first one that scrolls OK as well.
Good luck.
Hi Stuart,
Some suggestions:
