XYplorer Beta Club

I am also having the issue with black PDF thumbnails. View > Cache > Refresh thumbnails fixes it, but the first time you visit a folder they are always created as black boxes.

christopherwood wrote:So I added a "user button" on my toolbar, and gave it command #501.

How did you do that? I tried Tools > Customize Toolbar but couldn't find the command to refresh the thumbnails.

kileytoo wrote:I am also having the issue with black PDF thumbnails. View > Cache > Refresh thumbnails fixes it, but the first time you visit a folder they are always created as black boxes.

That can only mean that the black thumbs are still in your cache from an earlier XY version that still had this issue. So Refresh Thumbnails is indeed the way to go, and you should have this problem only once and never again for each folder.

How did you do that? I tried Tools > Customize Toolbar but couldn't find the command to refresh the thumbnails.

You choose one of the User Defined Button <x>... and after adding it you right click it, choose "Edit" and place the #501
in the "On left click" field

Most people here have issues with the thumbnail for PDF files in XY. In my case, XY shows the right thumbnails, but it is just not previewing PDF files. This started about half a year ago, I don't know with which version of XY. I tried setting the system defaults to Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, and then to Adobe Acrobat DC (part of Adobe CC subscription). It is still not working. Tried fresh install of XY, nothing changed. XY is simply not picking the right handler for PDF previews. Any thoughts? Oh, I have one: why not adding an option in XY to select existing system handlers for certain file types? XY is so complex, in so many ways, that this sounds like just another sprinkle on the cake, in my opinion.

Hi and welcome!

Might be an idea for later. (However, ATM I'm not even sure if it's technically possible.)

Since you mentioned Adobe Acrobat : This product has proven to be the source of all evil countless times. And equally often replacing it with the free PDF-XChange Viewer has solved all problems,

Don

"And equally often replacing it with the free PDF-XChange Viewer has solved all problems,
Don"

Except in my case - remember.
pat55

Thanks, Don.
Issue fixed indeed after installing PDF-XChange.

I still don't understand why Adobe Acrobat Reader (also free, and worldwide known) is not working with XY. I never had any other PDF reader/viewer installed, and XY previewed PDFs just fine, until a certain date. Something has changed at one point, and it would be great to figure that out.

I don't like having an alternate software installed on my system, only to preview these files. With that said, it is worth the hassle, since XY is my primary working tool.

Cheers,
Mark

I don't know why this is. I only know it's happening for many years and users who leave Adobe products behind are happier users. Just my experience.

... and again.

Not sure what changed, could be something with the QAP? MDBU .pdf files no longer work for me. I'm using Acrobat, been through all gyrations of PDF-Xchange Viewer and Editor. After a clean install of PDF-Exchange Viewer, the Preview Pane (CTRL+F11) does properly show the preview, but MDBU does nothing. No error, just no preview (left or right mouse).

I've tried changing the default handler for PDF, rebooting, no luck. Preview pane works, MDBU doesn't. Anyone else having this issue now?

EDIT: Also, Floating Preview (F11) works fine, as does the Preview tab of the Info Panel... it's ONLY the preview in MDBU that doesn't work.

Works fine as always.

admin wrote:

kileytoo wrote:I am also having the issue with black PDF thumbnails. View > Cache > Refresh thumbnails fixes it, but the first time you visit a folder they are always created as black boxes.

That can only mean that the black thumbs are still in your cache from an earlier XY version that still had this issue. So Refresh Thumbnails is indeed the way to go, and you should have this problem only once and never again for each folder.

Thank you. Sadly I am still having this issue. It also happens with image formats (JPEG, PNG) but only in very rare occasions, when the thumbnail creation process is interrupted for some reason, and it's not a big deal because refreshing the image thumbnails is very quick (just a few secs). However it is a significant issue with PDF thumbnails since it can take 20-30 seconds to recreated all the PDF thumbnails in the visible part of the screen (9-12 PDF files). Once recreated, the issue is gone but only until the files or folders are moved around, to a different device, or the thumbnails cache is cleared (which I need to do periodically). I am currently using XYPlorer 17.40.0100 free.

kileytoo wrote:I am currently using XYPlorer 17.40.0100 free.

Which is rather old in XYplorer terms and not supported anymore.
All the fixes discussed are only available in versions released after the fix.

RalphM wrote:

kileytoo wrote:I am currently using XYPlorer 17.40.0100 free.

Which is . . . not supported anymore.

I am now using the latest version of XYplorer on a new computer and with a different version of Adobe Reader but the issue is still present. I am now going to read back this thread for a solution.

christopherwood wrote:

If you are using PDF-XChange Viewer and there are still no thumbnails add this key to your registry (only do it if you are experienced and know what your are doing):

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PDF-XChangeViewer.1\shellex\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{B2F55D43-C7A4-4B7C-90D7-7A860DFA9F2A}"

I tried this on my latest home machine, Win 10, Xyplorer 17.20, and at seems to have FIXED the black PDF thumbnails!

As a bonus, I did NOT make PDF-XChange Viewer the default program for opening PDFs. I have reasons to want to keep Adobe Acrobat as the default. Nonetheless (and don't ask me how or why), the above solution has worked, at least on this one machine. I hope to apply it to other machines when I get a mo'.

Thank you for sharing this. I can confirm that it is not necessary to make PDF-XChange Viewer the default program for opening PDF files. Actually I didn't even had to add the registry key or restart XYplorer. All I had to do was install PDF-XChange Viewer and switch back to my open XYplorer window. When I moved to the next folder with PDF files, the issue had disappeared! No more black boxes or having to refresh the cache.

When installing PDF-XChange viewer I selected custom installation and unchecked all components except PDF-Viewer files (grayed out) and Shell Extension. I am using Adobe Reader 9 with the latest version of XYplorer, my operating system is Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.