This file can't be previewed

Report · Oct 19, 2017

I have both Adobe Reader DC and Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional installed on my laptop with Windows 10. I most often use reader and yesterday noticed that Acrobat wasn't working. Since it's an old version I had to obtain a new serial number and reinstall it on my laptop, which I did. The problem is now the preview pane in Windows Explorer is not working. I have to actually open the pdf to view it and that is just not efficient.

I have tried changing the default program to reader as I read online, but that didn't make it work.

Can anyone help?

Report · Oct 19, 2017

Hi Tl,

As per the description above, you are not able to preview PDF files in the Windows Explorer Preview Pane, Is that correct?

Please try the troubleshooting steps from the following link which discuss the similar issue Link: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2102498

You may also try following steps:

Open Control Panel>search Folder Options>click Restore Defaults under each of General, View, and Search tabs.
Search for Internet Options under Control Panel>click Advanced tab>Reset (you might try resetting IE without selecting "Delete personal settings" first).
Launch Reader>click Edit>Preferences>General>click Select As Default PDF Handler>OK.
Restart the computer.

Hope this helps, and keep us posted with the results.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

Report · Oct 19, 2017

Unfortunately this did not work. Any other suggestions? It worked until I removed the old Adobe Acrobat and installed the new version.

Report · Sep 24, 2022

I encountered this same problem after I reloaded Windows 10.

I opened Acrobat Reader DC and it asked me if I wanted to make it the default reader instead of Acrobat 9. I tried that (I just had to follow a few prompts and choose to do it.) This fixed the problem immediately.