Adobe Acrobat Reader includes a thumbnail extractor shell extension which generates thumbnail preview for PDF files in Explorer. If you want to disable PDF thumbnail generation for performance or for other reasons, use the steps listed below:
(This assumes that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed in your system.)
Disable Thumbnail Preview for .PDF files
Note: For an automated solution using REG files, see section Registry Fix in this article.
1. Launch Regedit.exe and navigate to the following branch:
2. Backup the branch using the Export option under File menu.
3. Right-click {BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1} and choose Delete. Click Yes when prompted for confirmation.
4. Exit the Registry Editor.
5. Logoff and login back for the change to take effect.
If you’re using Windows Vista, the Preview pane can still generate preview for PDF files, despite the above setting.
Registry Fix
1. Download pdf-thumb.zip and save to Desktop.
2. Extract the files to a folder.
3. Double-click pdf-thumb-disable.reg to run it.
4. Logoff and login back for the change to take effect.
Undo information: To reverse the changes, run the file pdf-thumb-enable.reg.
Bookmark this Page!
BlinkList | del.icio.us | Digg it | Furl | reddit | Spurl | StumbleUpon |
Related Posts
- How to Disable Taskbar Thumbnail Preview in Windows 7
- Enable Thumbnail Support for .NEF File Type in Vista
- PreviewConfig Tool Registers File Types for the Preview Pane in Windows Vista
- Thumbnail Preview Not Shown for Pictures in Vista?
- Turn on or Off Thumbnail Display on Network Folders in Vista
- Make the Preview Pane in Vista to Display Contents of Text Based Files
- Fix: Windows Live Photo Gallery Update 955359 Breaks Image File Associations
- How to Enable or Disable Aero in Windows Vista
- Fix: Cannot Change the Connected State of Registered Office Add-Ins
- Fix for System File Checker Error 0×000006ba RPC Server Is Unavailable
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed! We feature Tips, Troubleshooting information, Scripts and Utilities for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems!
Prefer an E-mail subscription?

› 
Thanks, worked nicely!
it did not fix the issue. i’m very sory but it does not work for vista. i edit the registry both manually and with your .reg files, but it did not act on the explorer thumbnails although i clean the thumbnail cache. i think there is another secret key in registry that acts directly to all of the thumbnails (to all file types).