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Grafik Barton
Participant
June 6, 2025
Question

Windows Explorer does not display PDF previews.

  • June 6, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 15507 views

For about a month now, PDF previews in the preview pane of Windows 11 Explorer haven’t been working. PNG and JPG files display fine. Even previews of AI, IDML, and similar files show up. I heard it might be due to Acrobat settings, so I enabled the option to allow previews/thumbnails there. I also reinstalled Acrobat. I’ve asked AI, but I still have no idea what’s going on. I don’t have any other PDF viewer installed, just the full version of Acrobat. What should I do? Is anyone else experiencing the same issue? (My drives are half-empty, cache is cleared, I have a Ryzen 9, 64 GB RAM, 4060 GPU… so it’s definitely not a hardware issue.) 

Could the problem be on Adobe's side?

    4 replies

    quintz
    quintz
    Participant
    February 5, 2026

    For anyone landing here :

    Install Microsoft PowerToys and enable in the settings pdf preview in Explorer:

    https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/windows/powertoys/

    Y    ou’re welcome

    V
    van_6461
    Participant
    October 27, 2025

    Same issue, nothing of the solutions shared have worked. Do we have a permanent fix yet?

     

      C
      Chrismargspa
      Participant
      October 31, 2025

      Like everyone else, I have experienced the same problem and tried all the suggested solutions without success.  It would appear that either MS or Adobe have applied increased security measures.  However, I have discovered this work-around: 

      In Windows Explorer, right click on the PDF file and select Properties > General, down at the bottom: Security – by checking Unblock, clicking Apply > OK – it allows the file to display in the Preview Pane!!!   Unfortunately, at present, you have to do this for each individual file.   If the file or files don't display immediately, refresh/restart Windows Explorer. 
      The problem is that I have over a hundred PDF files – is there anyway to do a collective unblock???  

      T
      theresa_2000
      Participant
      November 4, 2025

      I have thousands of file a week to look at in my legal job. Especially when doing file auditis. We all need a workaround fast! 

        Amal.
        Community Manager
        Amal.Community Manager
        Community Manager
        June 9, 2025

        Hi there 

         

        Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out. We are sorry for the trouble you are experiencing.

         

        The PDF Shell component in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader allows you to see the thumbnails of PDF documents in Windows explorer, on both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows. By default, this feature is OFF. You can enable it using a specific setting available in the preferences.

         

         

        • Open Acrobat or Acrobat Reader. Select the hamburger menu   > Preferences.

        • In the Preferences dialog box, choose General in the Categories list, and then select the Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer check box.

           

        • Click OK.

           

        • Wait for a few seconds while Acrobat is configured to show thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer.

           

          Note:

          If you don't see the Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer checkbox, update your Acrobat or Acrobat Reader to the latest version. To automatically update from the product, choose Help > Check for updates and then follow the steps in the Updater window to download and install the latest updates.

           

          For more information please check the help page https://adobe.ly/4kV0eFr 

           

         

          S
          simon_5083
          Participant
          June 11, 2025

          I have spent hours and hours trying to resolve this problem using all the fixes out there on the web (Adobe, Windows, others). I have a Windows 11 OS on a Windows Surface ARM laptop 7th Edition.  I have the latest Adobe Acrobat free reader (have uninstalled and installed twice). The message that appears in Windows Explorer Preview pane is 'This file can't be previewed'.  Can you please recommend a solution?

            S_S
            Community Manager
            S_SCommunity Manager
            Community Manager
            July 11, 2025

            Hi @simon_5083,

             

            Hope you are doing well. Sorry for your experience with preview files on Windows Explorer using Acrobat.

             

            This is a known limitation with Acrobat on ARM devices, as Acrobat runs on Emulation mode for ARM devices.

            More info about it here: https://adobe.ly/3GG7JBE

             

            Hope this clarifies the question.


            Regards,
            Souvik.

            kglad
            Community Expert
            kgladCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            June 6, 2025

            in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

            p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.



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