PDF preview not working in Explorer

[Christina5EC7]

My PDF Viewer in Explorer stopped working a few weeks ago.  I have tried the following troubleshooting steps & they have not worked 1) Preview pane in Explorer turned on/off 2) Adobe reader "Enable PDF thumbnails previews" unchecked & re-checked.  3) uninstall/re-install  Adobe reader. 4) went to Adobe program file setting & selected run in "compatibility mode" forWindow 8.  5) prayed...

Nothing has worked - Anyone have any other suggestions?

[TheDragonBytes]

Same problem here.  Preview of pdf files doesn't work in either File Explorer or with a third party file manager I have been using.

[Catanda]

I too have the same problem and have tried all the above with no sucess, has anyone solved this?

[pmunbodh]

I also have the same problem. Started about a week ago.

[TheDragonBytes]

Perhaps I shouldn't have posted here, but my problem is with Acrobat Pro DC and not Reader.  However, the preview issues just started with the latest Adobe update that was installed about a two weeks ago.  Thumbnails display fine in File Explorer, but in the preview pane I get the following error message: "This file can't be previewed."  BTW, I have the thumbnail setting selected in Acrobat preferences.

[Chad22623541qp9v]

Same issue here. Did you end up getting it resolved? I believe I've tried every fix out there that I can find and still no luck.

[Catanda]

I ended up changing my workflow to accomodate the problem, Ive just checked and it now works again in both Windows 10 Pro and Windows 11 "by default" ie Ive not ticked the box in Adobe Windows Explorer simply now gives me the preview on its own.

I do have Adobe Pro and Reader installed on Windows 11, but only Reader installed on Windows 10 Pro if that info helps. Good luck.

[WeCo-Pack]

We have the same problem. They say this is not suported in Windows10 64bit.....Wenn is Adobe fixing this?

[Rene.Hun]

This site had a solution that worked for us.. 

Office 365 Apps for Enterprise with Adobe DC pro

Disabled:  Show preview handlers in preview pane

Reference Link:  https://www.guidingtech.com/fix-preview-pane-not-working-in-windows-10/#:~:text=1%201.%20Enable%20Pr...

[anknez]

We're facing the same issue right now. Has anyone found a solution yet?
Windows Enterprise 21H2
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2022.002.20191 64-Bit

[Vance26308425cvu8 · Accepted solution]

I'm using Acrobat Pro DC and this fixed it for me: 

Open Acrobat and select Help.

Click on 'Repair Installation' in dropdown menu.

[Will28335024aq79]

This worked for me. I couldnt view previews of any files except Excel files.

Run Repair Installation under 'Help'

Restart Adobe

Go to Preferences > General > Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer

Let the installer run then open up file explorer and voila 

[Sergeant36212124627o]

Just "Repair Installation" fixed it for me.

I was still unable to tick "Enable PDF thumbnail..." after running it (greyed out).

But after running the repair, PDFs preview fine in Explorer (Windows 11 on Mac Parallels desktop)

[ian_1151]

You saved my bacon. This worked perfectly. Thanks for pointing this out!

[Julian30864463noub]

Uninstalling Acrobat through system OS then reinstalling with CC worked for me.

Creative Cloud wouldn't let me uninstall Acrobat but it uninstalled all the other Adobe apps fine. So I quit CC and uninstalled Acrobat through windows, opened CC, reinstalled Acrobat and now I get my PDF previews in the Windows explorer preview pane. 

I hope this helps someone else!

[WesWooHoo · Accepted solution]

If you're in Windows 10 with this (I've been frustrated for months with this), if previews work INSIDE Acrobat but not in Explorer.
There was a Microsoft thread about this and the solution was to load Microsoft PowerToys.  There is an option under File Explorer Add-ons to enable PDF previews!  It actually worked for me.  Apologies to Adobe for all of my angry rants (on this issue).  Good Luck everyone

[Emily298016541bfm]

This worked for me (I've tried EVERYTHING ELSE, but THIS worked). Thank you!!!