PDF Previewer Error in Explorer

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
October 14, 2025
1 reply
434 views

Old laptop running Windows 11 and no issues whatsover with PDF previewer in Explorer. Two new laptops, same brand, running Windows 11, and both have the same issue. In Adobe settings, the option to "Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer" is grayed out and cannot be selected. I've read a lot of discussions, but none exactly like this.

PLEASE HELP! I used this feature all day everyday.

Amal.

Community Manager

Hi there

Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out.

The option "Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer" may be greyed out if your computer is managed by your IT team. They might have installed a custom version of Acrobat and disabled this setting so you can’t change it.

If that’s not the case, please make sure Acrobat is up to date. To check for updates, open Acrobat > Help > Check for Updates.

~Amal

J

joyce_8956Author

Participant

Thank you for your response. My computer is not managed by any IT team, and Adobe was installed by Geek Squad. I have also uninstalled and reinstalled previously. Acrobat is up to date. On the laptop I purchased a month ago, this same problem occurred and Adobe support tech installed Power Toys. That app caused more issues than it fixed, and Geek Squad could not get that laptop functioning properly. I returned it and purchased a new one, and yet the same issue. On the original laptop that I was replacing, I had zero issues with Adobe preview.

Any other suggestions for a solution?

S_S

Community Manager

Thank you, Meenakshi, for your response. The issue has not been resolved. I followed the steps to collect the logs, and received error messages during that process. Screen shots are attached, as well as screen shots of the issue in File Explorer. Log ID: efff135a-690e-4498-95bb-e58df3bd28eb

Adobe update is current. Version 25.001.20844

Windows 11 Home Version 25H2 OS Build 26200.7171

Snapdragon ® X 12-core X1E80100 @3.40 Hz

64-bit operating system, ARM-based processor

Thanks,

Joyce

Hi @joyce_8956,

Thank you for wiritng in!

PDF thumbnail preview for Windows Explorer is unavailable with Acrobat running on ARM processor based Windows Machines.

You can refer to the help article for more information: https://adobe.ly/4p3shVX

Hope this clarifies your question.

Regards,
Souvik.

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