PDF Preview Handler doesn't work

[_Andorio_Magellano_]

Hi, I got this error in the e-mail window:

This file cannot be previewed because of an error with the following previewer:
PDF Preview Handler for Vista
To open this file in its own program, double-click it.

No more error details are provided.
Windows Vista x64 + Outlook 2007.
I tried reinstalling 8.1 update, no success.
Any clue?

[Guest]

Any idea how to preview password protected pdfs? Working fine for all others.

[MACHINO2010]

Dear Adobe,

PDF Preview option not working in MyComputer or Windows Explorer.

Only option is a PDF symbol or unavailable

Adobe Acrobat 9 on Win 7 64 bit

Please advise fix ASAP

[AbhigyanModi]

Are you on the latest version 9.4 or 9.4.1 as of today?

[matinum2]

9.4.1 is the version I installed this mornin'

[sandiegore8]

Leo, you da man.  Thanks.

[AquaMan987]

Hey everyone!  I'm still not getting it to work properly, even after installing Leo's fix.  I'm running Win 7 and access all my files off of a network drive (maybe that's the problem?).

Because I've installed the fix, it is showing thumbnails, but the thumbnails I'm seeing are often for the next, most recent file in the folder.  Sometimes the thumbnails are accurate and sometimes not - there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

I've tried everything I can think of.  Repaired installations on everything, installed and uninstalled it all, even manually reset the registry so the fix could fix it all over again.

Thoughts, anyone???

[t-ict]

Guys,

We are having difficulties with the adobe X prefiev handler on terminal services (remote desktop session host)

When an administrator opens outlook and want to see the preview in Outlook 2010, it goes perfectly. Also the Windows Explorer preview pane does work.

But on a account with normal user rights (non-local admin) the preview handler in outlook as well as Windows Explorer doe not work.

does anybody else experience this problem?

Hope the misery of this problem will end soon, because it never worked properly.....

greetz

[RichaFrost]

I got my thumbnails visual by using 32-bit explorerer on a 64-bit machine (Vista). But all of a sudden this doesn't work anymore. Could this be caused by an update of Microsoft or Adobe? ('pretentious' didn't work for me but maybe that's because I didn't cleared my thumbnail cache)

[Guest]

I just received tech support.  I had been scanning a ton of forms in and then viewing before saving.  I've seen this error with PDF viewer before and would just restart computer, or simply shut down my email, Outlook, and then the problem seemed to resolve itself.  My tech support guy simply did a cleanse of my Outlook temp files, downloaded Outlook Temp Cleanser and it is working fine.

Thank you Jeremy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[La5Rocks]

I'd been working fine for a while, but then a few months ago again lost the preview functionality. I'm running 64-bit Windows 7 with Office 2010, and Adobe Reader X. I checked the registry, and that's OK, tried repairing Reader & Office, all to no avail. Finally, I uninstalled and reinstalled Reader and now all is well again! Go figure; I haven't had to go the "reload" route in a while I suppose an update/fix install doesn't go through the whole process necessary to configure the previewer.

[DtoneyJr]

Good Morning Andorio,

I was having the same problem as what is mentioned in these posts, and I also could not see a preview in windows explorer ( Windows 7, 64-bit).

I tried the registry fix as described elswhere on the internet, but the entry in the registry matched what the entry for the fix.

I have Adobe Pro and Reader both installed on my system, so I opened up Adobe reader and here are the steps that I took.

Click on Edit on the tool bar, go down to Preferences..., click on General, now you should see a box titled " Select Default PDF Handler".

Click on this box, and I chose the Reader 11 handler.

The software will implement this change and then requests you to reboot your system.

I rebooted and presto I can now see the thumbnail of the file as well the preview of the PDF file.

I hope that this helps.

Have a Great One!

[tnsprin]

The later versions of adobe reader (you responded to a post from 2012), included the fix.  before them the solution in post 33 had to be done manually

[Jezanna]

Actually, this problem just this week for me - after downloading the latest version.  So watch out all.

[tnsprin]

May be same symptom, but the original problem has been solved for 2 or 3 years.  Suggest a new thread.  Works fine for most of us with lastest Adobe reader XI and latest Internet explorer 11.  The latest adobe reader even includes a 64-bit plug-in so works in IE running 64 bit (enhanced security) instead of having to launch outside of it.

p.s.  do not make any to registry changes mentioned early in this thread that were suggested when the problem originally existed.

[MSDOS401]

Hey I am running Adobe Reader XI on Windows 7 x64 and still have the issue with no thumbnails showing. When is this problem going to be fixed?

[MSDOS401]

Hey I am running Adobe Reader XI on Windows 7 x64 and still have the issue with no thumbnails showing. When is this problem going to be fixed?

[MissDeniseMcC]

I had this problem with Win 8.1 after installing Adobe Acrobat DC.  Problem is apparently Adobe Acrobat DC does not have a previewer and thumbnail viewer.   I tried the fixer from PretentiousName but that didn't work for me because, I think, DC can't be fixed like previous versions, as it does not offer a previewer.

The simple fix that worked for me was to uninstall Adobe Acrobat DC and then downlaod Adobe Acrobat Reader XI from:

https://get.adobe.com/reader/

DO NOT DOWNLOAD ACROBAT READER DC!!!! You want to get Reader XI to restore the preview functionality.

Instead of accepting Adobe Reader DC, click on: Do you have a different language or operating system?

This will take you to a page where you can choose your operating system and choose to download Adobe Reader 11 instead of DC.  Adobe Reader XI (or 11) DOES have the preview function, so once this was installed, I could see previews in Outlook and Explorer again.

Hope this works for you too!

[Guest]

Wow, so this is still a problem - since 2007.

</slowclap>

[tnsprin]

No it was fixed.

And Acrobat reader DC does contain the plugin (acroPDF64.DLL).  Works fine for me.   Not sure it will work in windows 10 (SPARTAN/EDGE) since it uses its built-in PDF viewer

[Guest]

Win7x64

Acrobat Pro XI

Thumbnail preview doesn't work.

No, it wasn't fixed!

[tnsprin]

Macbinary,

This specific problem WAS and IS fixed for most users.  Not sure what problem you are seeing.

Note did you try the solution that someone mentioned and going into the general preferences and selecting "set as default PDF handler"?

When you look at IE addons do you see the reader listed with a 32 and 64 bit version?

[Guest]

The problem is no PDFs are resolving to thumbnails as stated. The registry fix sorted the issue for two fresh windows/AcrobatXI installs.

The preferences are already set as default PDF handler, it's the only option in the drop down lists so no issue there.

How does IE effect a the file explorer? As far as I know it has little to do with file browsing.

[tnsprin]

Okay some confusion there.  The preview handler was fixed (that was the one that required a registry change on x64 bit machines).  The generation of a unique thumbnail is not automatic.  And it doesn't appear to be in Adobe Reader DC (at least I can't get them working there) but was in Adobe reader xi.

[Guest]

Yes, confused, you are. IE has nothing to do with the file explorer. If you're saying the thumbnail issue is fixed for 32bit and not 64bit then the issue is not resolved. The only way to get thumbnails working in a file explorer (even clover etc) is to use the registry fix.

Please explain to me, step by step, the method to install AcrobatXI Pro on an x64 system without using the registry fix and still having the thumbnail previews work. Secondly, why should there be a workaround for a feature that used to work fresh out the box?

[Guest]

This is from Adobe staff from this April "Sorry for the trouble. We had to remove the thumbnail preview functionality from Acrobat and Reader DC for technical reasons. We know there are users who value it but certain design considerations forced us to make this change."

No matter how much you shout that 'it's been fixed' - it simply hasn't. Now unless you've got something to add to the conversation beyond your ego then please move along kid.