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Illustrator Thumbnail Preview Not Showing Images

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
March 14, 2019
11 replies
35727 views

I REALLY need someone's help. I bought a new MacBook pro a couple of weeks ago and have had nothing but issues with my Illustrator since. I was running the 2019 version when I switched laptops but have had to downgrade back down to the 2018 version because the 2019 version was so laggy. I'm still having lag issues but it's not as bad. But now I have a new problem. If I search files, whether its in Illustrator or just a finder folder, I used to be able to highlight a file and hit the space bar to see a preview of my artwork, so I could then scroll through the files and open the one I want. Now, I can't see anything other than the Ai logo box. HOW DO I FIX THIS? This is literally costing me so much time as I often need to refer to other jobs for a logo or text.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. [email removed]

How to

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer rhondak37849348

No icon preview for eps-files in Ventura (and Monterey): Here's what to do.

Copy the "Illustrator.qlgenerator" from “Macintosh HD/System/Library/QuickLook" to your desktop or any other folder you have read/write access to.
Open "Illustrator.qlgenerator" by right clicking it and select "Show package contents".
Open "Info.plist" in the "Contents" folder with a text editor.
Find the line "<string>com.adobe.illustrator.ai-image</string>"
Insert "<string>com.adobe.encapsulated-postscript</string>" below it with the same indentation and save the "Info.plist" file.
Drag the "Illustrator.qlgenerator" into "Macintosh HD/Library/QuickLook" folder. Don't freak out if the folder is empty.

NOTE: Pay attention to the above words in Bold. I kept trying to paste the copy back into “Macintosh HD/System/Library/QuickLook" and of course, you can't do that.

If you did everything right, you should now have .EPS previews back again. That's a workaround until apple fixes it in the System/Library, hopefully soon.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254424837

rhondak37849348Correct answer

Inspiring

No icon preview for eps-files in Ventura (and Monterey): Here's what to do.

Copy the "Illustrator.qlgenerator" from “Macintosh HD/System/Library/QuickLook" to your desktop or any other folder you have read/write access to.
Open "Illustrator.qlgenerator" by right clicking it and select "Show package contents".
Open "Info.plist" in the "Contents" folder with a text editor.
Find the line "<string>com.adobe.illustrator.ai-image</string>"
Insert "<string>com.adobe.encapsulated-postscript</string>" below it with the same indentation and save the "Info.plist" file.
Drag the "Illustrator.qlgenerator" into "Macintosh HD/Library/QuickLook" folder. Don't freak out if the folder is empty.

NOTE: Pay attention to the above words in Bold. I kept trying to paste the copy back into “Macintosh HD/System/Library/QuickLook" and of course, you can't do that.

If you did everything right, you should now have .EPS previews back again. That's a workaround until apple fixes it in the System/Library, hopefully soon.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254424837

B

BukhariTorro

Participating Frequently

I cant find "Illustrator.qlgenerator" in my mac.

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @BukhariTorro,

Thanks for reaching out. Would you mind trying to use Adobe Bridge to preview/manage your files (https://helpx.adobe.com/bridge/get-started.html) and checking if it helps?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

rhondak37849348

Inspiring

This fixed my issue.

"No icon preview for eps-files in Ventura"

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254424837

I'm on Monterey 12.6 but still worked.

100pk

Inspiring

I found this thread for the same reason: no prevoews on .ai files.

After updateing to Illustrator 2023 and InDesign 2023 I found that InDesign has thumbnails again at last. But Illustrator still not. After I found the solution in thius thread: deleting the Illustrator.ql.generator (With the also mentioned alterations I did before) from User > Library > Quicklook. A wish I have left is thumbnails on Illustrator.eps files!

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @100pk,

Thanks for reaching out. Would you mind using Adobe Bridge to preview and manage your files and check if it helps?

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,
Anubhav

Y

yffoto

Participant

I have the same problem after updating to 2023. I cannot use bridge with box.com files - where box lives on the mac is not accessible via bridge. What is a real fix for this? Seems an Adobe issue with the 2023 update ..

N

NewtonUY

Participating Frequently

After many months of trying different methods, I finally solved it by deleting old versions of Illustrator.

S

sniff1812

Participant

Simply place the file containing the Ai images into Adobe Bridge and you can view them in Bridge.

J

johnr74194624

Inspiring

Oh, wow. I finally just (compressed and) got rid of all the old files in my /Library/QuickLook folder and now suddenly the AI previews word, as does QuickLook (via pressing the spacebar) -- wonderful to have all this back -- hope this helps a few others of you!!

A

Admirable_Companion5D67

Participating Frequently

CocothumbX is an app that generates custom icons based on the contents.

Too bad is only for 32bit : (

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/17460/cocothumbx

C

CumminsLabel

Participant

I had several QuickLook generator files in my Library in the Quicklook folder. I threw them all away and then shut down and restarted my iMac. Gallery view now works as it should. Running Mac OS Catalina and the latest Illy.

A

Admirable_Companion5D67

Participating Frequently

Oh, that's great news.

Please take a look below at the quicklook files I currently have...Maybe you could shine a light on this.

(Without derailing this thread)... There was a time when I also tried to fix quicklook so I could preview Quicktime Animation formatted movies but I could never get that working either.

Thanks,

S

shaneb49661340

Participant

My problem was the DropboxQL.qlgenerator. Go to "Go" in finder bar. Press option button to give you the Library option. Go to Library/Quicklook folder and remove DropboxQL.qlgenerator. That fixed it for me. Thanks to those that directed me to this folder. Big time save for me!

M

mattclarkradio

Participant

Fixed for me, thank you!

P

pkazmercyk

Inspiring

Same issue here. Tried saving with PDF compatability (which is default) but .ai files still only show the AI logo.

Rishabh_Tiwari

Legend

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the trouble. I would request if you can share a few more details like:

The exact version of Illustrator and the Operating System.
Do you have more than one version of Illustrator installed?
Are you able to preview other files created on different applications?
Where are the files saved, locally or on any network or shared drive?

Regards

Rishabh

kyrstenbrooke

Participating Frequently

Hello,

Any news on this issue? We have the same problem here. 4 iMacs running Catalina with the latest CC version programs. None of them shows the thumbnail preview... Thanks!

Just upgraded to new Macbook pro with Catalina 10.15.3 + current Cloud Adobe Illustrator 24.0.3. Previews only showing as AI symbol preview. 😞 My previous Macbook pro (much older I believe was running Sierra or High Sierra) was showing the preview images of the same exact files - no problem. Files are stored on my computer. As a designer, it is a needed tool to see a preview. I see previews of other files.