Windows 11 File Explorer Preview Pane for PDF files not working consistently

Anonymous
2022-11-24T17:18:38+00:00

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?

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-11-28T14:38:34+00:00

    Make sure you have Power Toys app installed and updated. I promise that is what is wrong.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-11-17T10:10:02+00:00

    Ignore my previous post. I have had no Adobe failures today (yet) and the pdf preview was not showing.

    So I "poked explorer around a bit" to no avail, then restarted explorer and the pdf preview has sprung into life.

    Hey ho! The wonders of modern computers!

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-11-15T11:24:14+00:00

    I am beginning to wonder if this is an Adobe Acrobat problem.

    The reason I say this is that I have been getting some odd failure messages related to Acrobat. I couldn't find any useful information on it so ignored it.

    However, the preview was working OK earlier today, but the error message appeared and the preview of pdf files stopped working. I rebooted and all is OK again.

    Also a windows update was applied yesterday.

    Stay tuned for more exciting updates.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-11-14T07:38:38+00:00

    Martin,

    No, I cannot see Word and Excel files, but this is probably because I do not have Office installed.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-11-13T22:45:33+00:00

    No but I can see jpg files in some parts of file explorer.

    This is driving me insane. The latest Windows 11 hasn't made any difference.

    I am still convinced this is a Microsoft problem not Adobe.

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