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File Explorer can display thumbnail images and icons of files and folders in Windows 10. In this tutorial, we will show you how to enable or disable thumbnail previews in File Explorer for everyone or a specific user account in Windows 10.

• Method 1. Turn thumbnails on or off in File Explorer options
• Method 2. Enable or disable thumbnail viewing in Visual Effects settings
• Method 3. Enable or disable thumbnail viewing using a BAT file
• Method 4. Enable or disable thumbnails in Group Policy
• Method 5. Enable or disable thumbnail preview using REG file

EXAMPLE: Thumbnail preview enabled and disabled in File Explorer

Enable or disable thumbnail previews in Windows 10 File Explorer.

Method 1: Turn thumbnails on and off in File Explorer options.

Note: This setting only affects your user account, the same as the second and third methods.

1. Open "Explorer Options". Click menu "File" and select .

2. In the window that opens "Folders settings" go to the tab "View".

Note: default value.

3.1 On the tab "View" find the option and uncheck it and click on the button "OK".

4.1 Go to the tab "View", check the box "Always show icons and not thumbnails" and press "OK".

Method 2: Enable or disable thumbnail previews in Windows 10 File Explorer using the Visual Effects setting.

1. Open the Visual Effects settings. Press the Win + R keyboard shortcut, type or copy and paste into the Run dialog box: SystemPropertiesPerformance.exe and press the Enter key.

3. Enable Thumbnail Preview in File Explorer

Note: default value.

3.1 Check the box next to the item and click the button "OK".

4. Disable thumbnail previews in File Explorer

4.1 Uncheck "Output thumbnails instead of icons" click "OK".

Method 3: Turn thumbnail viewing on and off using a BAT file.

The .bat files below will change the DWORD value in the registry key:

IconsOnly DWORD

• 0 = Off - show icons
• 1 = On - show thumbnails

2. Enable Thumbnail Preview in File Explorer

Note: Default value.

2. In the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor, go to - . (see screenshot below)

3. In the right policy panel, open the section "Conductor" and change the policy setting

5. To enable thumbnail preview in file explorer

5.1 Select "Not specified" or "Disabled" and a button "OK".

5.2 Now users can turn on/off preview thumbnails using Methods 1, 2, 3 .

6. Disable thumbnail previews in file explorer.

6.1 Select "Enabled" and press "OK".

Method 5: Enable or disable thumbnail preview in File Explorer in Windows 10 using REG file

Note: You must have Administrator rights.

This option does the same thing as Method 4, but only applies to the current user.

This Method will override previous settings in Methods 1, 2, 3 .

Using the reg file below, DWORD values ​​are added and changed in the registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

DisableThumbnails DWORD

• 0 or delete = Enabled
• 1 = Disabled

2. Enable thumbnail previews in File Explorer for all users.

Note: This is the default value.

3. Disable thumbnail preview in file explorer for all users.4.5 /5 - 402 votes

Many users, when familiarizing themselves with the new OS from Microsoft, discovered that viewing Windows 10 photos is done through the Photos program. But in Windows 8, Microsoft offered a choice between a photo viewer and a Photos tool.

Why did the developers save users the ability to view common graphic formats through a more convenient and functional program?

Many Windows 10 users are starting to look for third-party products that are more suitable for them, knowing that Photo Viewer only works with TIFF and TIF formats. Therefore, today we will look at how to add this tool to the “Default Applications” section and the “Open With” dialog, where the program is initially missing.

Let's use the registry editor

More advanced users try to specify "Photo Viewer" as the application to open pixel images via the Program Mapping tool, but again, the application is only available for the above TIFF/TIF. Is it possible to make it so that the photo viewer can be specified as an opener for other image formats? Naturally, and this is easy to do.

1. Call the registry editor by executing the “regedit” command in the search line or text line of the command interpreter “Win ​​+ R”.

2. Go to HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows Photo Viewer/Capabilities/FileAssociations.

Here you will see a couple of parameters with the name of image formats that can be opened using the photo viewer.

3. Using the right button, call up the context menu of the free part of the space in the right frame of the window and select creating a string parameter (REG_SZ).

4. Enter its name as “.jpeg”, and set the value to “PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff”.

We perform all the same operations for other formats (.jpg, .gif, .png) that you want to open through a more convenient image visualization tool.

5. Call “Settings” using Win+i.

6. Go to “System” → “Default Applications”.

8. In the left frame with the list of programs, click on “Photo Viewer”, then on the icon with the inscription: “Select default values ​​for the program.”

9. Check the boxes next to the required formats.

11. Call the “Open with” context menu item on one of the selected image formats.

The Windows Photo Viewer option will appear.

12. Specify the tool as the default image opener.

Alternative method

For beginners who do not want to delve into the wilds of the Windows 10 settings storage, it is recommended to use the WinAero Tweaker utility.

• After launching the application, move to the last item of available tweaks “Windows Accessories”.
• Click on the “Activate Windows Photo Viewer” button.

The result will be the same in both cases.

About all popular versions of Windows, including the old one XP, there is a function that allows you to view the contents of files in a special area of ​​​​Explorer on the left. The component supports previewing images, media and text files, as well as documents Microsoft Office provided that the package is available on your computer. For the latter, there is also an alternative in Windows - viewing file thumbnails Word , Excel And PowerPoint you can do it directly in Explorer.

By default, Microsoft Office files in the Explorer window are represented by regular icons, but if you turn on the thumbnail display function in the program, their contents can be seen in the main Explorer window, although you will have to change the view in the menu before you can see anything in them. choosing "Huge Icons".

In addition, the font itself in the document should be large. Let's see how this can be done using the example of files in the format DOC And DOCX .

Open the document and select from the menu "File"-> . Open on the right side, then "Additional properties."

And check the checkbox in the window that opens "Save thumbnails for all Word documents".

After this, save the document again. It will now appear as a thumbnail in Explorer. Unfortunately, the new settings will only apply to new documents Word , if you want all previously created or downloaded files from the Internet to be displayed in thumbnail mode, you will have to resave them.

In the same way, you can display thumbnails for files. Excel And PowerPoint, only in the latter the corresponding option is called "Create Preview Drawing".