Stop showing thumbnail previews in location windows

[Tom VD]

Is there a way to stop Illustrator loading thumbnail previews of files whenever I open a location window?

File thumbnails are loaded in every "Open", "Save as…" "Link" window that I open, but they are not really necessary.

It is especially time consuming when I have lots of files inside a folder, and all I really use is the filename. Would be great to just use the default file icon instead 🙂

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Tom VD,

Thanks for reaching out. I apologize for the inconvenience you're experiencing with Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator app doesn't have a built-in option to disable thumbnail previews in the location windows.

To assist you better, could you please provide a screenshot of the issue you're facing when thumbnail previews are loaded in the location windows?

Additionally, it might be helpful to know if you have any third-party applications installed on your Windows machine or extensions installed in Illustrator that can generate thumbnails.

With this information, I'll do my best to provide you with a more specific solution or workaround.

Best,

Anshul Saini

[Tom VD]

Hi Anshul,

thanks for the reply.

Just to be clear: I'm on a Mac, running macOS 13.5.1, using Illustrator 27.8.1 and 26.5.3 for workflow reasons. Both have the same quirk.)  I should have added that in the previous post.

You can find a screenshot of the Relink window in attachment. As you can see all thumbnails are previews of the files. I would rather have generic icons, like it is in the Finder (second screenshot).

I don't have any applications installed to generate thumbnails, but I have disabled the creation of the ".DS_Store files" in the Finder. Not sure if that is related.

Hope this clears things up 🙂

[Anshul_Saini]

Thank you for providing additional information and the screenshot, @Tom VD. I apologize for the earlier confusion regarding your OS platform.

I understand your concern about the thumbnail previews in the Relink window and your preference for generic icons. Unfortunately, in Adobe Illustrator, there isn't a built-in option to disable thumbnail previews in location windows like the one you've shown.

The presence or absence of ".DS_Store" files in the Finder shouldn't directly impact the behavior of thumbnail previews within Adobe Illustrator.

Since this seems to be a feature request or customization that isn't currently supported in Illustrator, I recommend sharing your feedback on our UserVoice (https://illustrator.uservoice.com/). They take user feedback into account when developing future updates and features for their software. Also, other users can upvote, which will help prioritize it.

I understand that this may not provide an immediate solution, but it's the best way to contact the product & development team about your specific needs and preferences for future updates.

If you have any more questions or encounter any other issues, please feel free to reach out. I'm here to assist you further.

Best regards,

Anshul Saini