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

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.

0 comments

45 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. 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.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. 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.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  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.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. 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!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. 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.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments