Black thumbnail

Hi, 

I am new to Elements but has the same issue. I can offer two suggestions that I got from using the AI Beta Help Bot in Elements. First, is that the Thumb nail cache appears to not like massive files sizes, Each time you perform an edit, you create a layer that adds to your file size. Check the info, on your photo and you will see it is well above what your original file size was. I found two things helped reduce the file size. First I Flattened the layers...this merges all layers into one. Note: That unless you are advanced, this is a one way trip, There is no Undo button....so be certain you do not want to modify the layers. My second step was to reduce the file size by Opening the File in Elements>Select File>Save for Web. Then select JPEG as your format. Optimization gives you a nice small file size, or you can choose Progressive and use the slider button to view other sizes. Once I chose Progressive, I could not seem to go back to Optimization again.

If this is not what you like, you can use the AI Beta Bot and type in Black Thumb Nail and it will give you instructions on how to locate the Thumb Nail cashe file and rename it. Seems like this might be a bug fix. I did not attempt this because I take a lot of photos and I do not want huge files being saved on my laptop. BTW- I am running Elements 2025.

Since you are looking for an Adobe solution, I suggest you look at your thumbnails via Bridge. Once there, go to Preferences > Interface > Image Backdrop where, using the slider, you have the options of black, white and all the tones between those extremes.