PDF thumbnails with PDF-XChange Viewer

I have PDF-XChange Viewer and PDF-XChange Shell extension installed...
I can see the thumbnails in Windows Explorer but not in DOpus.

Settings -> Preferences / Lister Display Modes / Thumbnails Mode: Use shell image extraction for formats Opus does not understand

is turned on!

Is there a way to see PDF thumbnails with PDF-XChange Viewer and without installing Adobe Reader?

Which version of Windows are you using, and is it 32 or 64 bit?

I'm using Windows Vista x64...

I installed it and had a look.

It's providing thumbnails via the newer IThumbnailProvider method which was added in Windows Vista. Opus doesn't support that method yet, unfortunately.

(Until now it hasn't seemed worth supporting IThumbnailProvider as very few things have used it without also providing thumbnails via the older method which Opus does support.)

Is installing Adobe Reader the only way to view PDF thumbnails in DOpus riht now... ?

Unfortunately, Adobe Reader still doesn't support thumbnails under 64-bit at all (even in Explorer).

I'm in the same position as the original poster. Are there any plans on supporting IThumbnailProvider methods currently?

Is that still the case? What about installing the 32bit distribution of Adobe Reader? ..but perhaps the 32bit libraries wouldn't plug into 64bit DOpus, then.

Yes, it's planned for a future version.

Adobe Reader is still 32-bit only. (Adobe have been quite useless at supporting 64-bit users.)

The old (pre-Vista) style of thumbnail provider runs in-process so it has to be the same "bitness" as the process requesting the thumbnails. Same reason that Adobe Reader thumbnails don't appear in Explorer on 64-bit machines.

A 32-to-64 bridge could be written to make it work (like the one I wrote to allow viewing PDF files in 64-bit Opus before I discovered how to fix Adobe's preview handler for 64-bit) but it's quite a lot of work just to make one thumbnail format work again when the fault is really on Adobe's side. It's something I might look into in the future if time permits, though.

You're actually right it's all Adobe Fault. I really don't know how much time it takes to write a 32to64 bridge in the register. But if the final solution is as "simple" as the preview fix you did it definitely worth the price to try it. You will be a hero for all PDF user who needs thumbnails to manage large amount of PDF files.

My Adobe PDF thumbnail fix is in the works. :slight_smile:

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You're the one :smiley:

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Any updates? =D

sorry for the necro.

It’s on my website but I’m not sure anything in this thread is still needed today. Depends which problem you’re trying to solve with which PDF tool.

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