No file preview in Windows File Explorer preview pane

[Catshill]

On 3/17/2024 at 8:56 PM, kat said:

It would be really nice to have a way to group all style together.

But until that happens i-, Thanks @MikeTO

 

2 hours ago, jimh12345 said:

Thanks Walt.   Apparently I'm still trapped in MSIX la-la-land.   I'll have to summon up the patience to unwind this and get to the MSI version. 

Installing the exe versions doesn’t fix the display issue for me. However as I mentioned above stopping my sync software does.

[Colorwaves]

I'm encountering the same issue! No file previews for Affinity 2 files. This seems to also cause DAM display issues.

Windows Explorer: Affinity 2 files only appear as thumbnails in the folder itself. There is no preview, just the Windows message “no preview available”.
iMatch (DAM Software): Affinity files display at a very small size (e.g., 341x521).

This significantly slows down my workflow! I constantly need to open individual files for verification, which should be possible through previews.

Operating System: Windows 10
Affinity 2 Installation: MSIX

I originally purchased Affinity 2 in 2022. Due to various problems, I switched back to Affinity 1. However, upon reinstalling Affinity 2 recently (almost a year and a half after purchase), I discovered the aforementioned file preview issues in both Windows Explorer and iMatch. 

Unfortunately, uninstalling Affinity 1 and returning to Affinity 2 seems to have been a mistake  😞

[mopperle]

Be happy to get a thumbnail at all. Adobe's PSD files do not even show a thumbnail in Windows Explorer or anywhere else. You need a 3rd party software to get a thumbnail.

Being an IMatch user too, the given thumbnail is OK for me, but getting it a little bigger (2-3x) would be nice.

[carl123]

48 minutes ago, mopperle said:

Be happy to get a thumbnail at all. Adobe's PSD files do not even show a thumbnail in Windows Explorer or anywhere else.

Installing Pictus worked for me some time ago

 

[jimh12345]

23 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

 

This should work even if you've purchased from the Microsoft Store as long as you've Linked the purchase to your Affinity Store account.

 

Sorry but  - what does that mean? 

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, jimh12345 said:

Sorry but  - what does that mean? 

Linking the Affinity applications purchased from the Microsoft Store is an optional part of running the application. If you've done it (which you should be able to see in your Affinity Store account) then you can uninstall the app you purchased from the Microsoft Store and install the Affinity Store version instead.

[jimh12345]

I uninstalled the MSIX version, downloaded and installed the MSI.   I now have previews - but they're very small, maybe 50% larger than the thumbnails. And they don't resize.

  Is this what I should expect?  I don't find any options in File Explore that affect the size of images in the Preview pane. 

[Brian_J]

4 minutes ago, jimh12345 said:

I uninstalled the MSIX version, downloaded and installed the MSI.   I now have previews - but they're very small, maybe 50% larger than the thumbnails. And they don't resize.

  Is this what I should expect?  I don't find any options in File Explore that affect the size of images in the Preview pane. 

File previews went back to normal for me after uninstalling MSIX and installing the MSI apps — preview size is as expected and resizes based on width of the preview pane.

I don’t think I’ve come across reports about what you’re experiencing. Shot in the dark, but have you restarted your computer?

[jimh12345]

11 minutes ago, Brian_J said:

I don’t think I’ve come across reports about what you’re experiencing. Shot in the dark, but have you restarted your computer?

A restart didn't help.  Other file types, like jpgs, preview correctly.  

[Brian_J]

5 minutes ago, jimh12345 said:

A restart didn't help.  Other file types, like jpgs, preview correctly.

Bummer. Maybe another user or Serif will be able to help.

[jimh12345]

Here's what I get: a small preview that doesn't resize.   I've googled this extensively, tried a few things, nothing works. All other file types (jpg, tiff) show full size, resizeable previews.   

Interestingly, I tried unchecking "preview handlers" in Windows Explorer's options - then restarting - and nothing changed.  Then I re-checked it, re-started - still no change.  I conclude that AP either has no "preview handler" or it doesn't get installed correctly. 

 

[Dan C]

As I understand it, the behaviour shown in your screenshot is expected - the 'Preview' pane of Windows Explorer uses the thumbnail created and embedded within the Affinity document to preview the image.

This thumbnail is created at a set size by the Affinity app and there is currently no user control options for the size of this thumbnail. When previewing the file in Explorer, there are also no direct controls to change the preview size, however the preview itself should resize within the Explorer window as this is adjusted:

Note the above is recorded on Windows 10.

I hope this clears things up!

[jimh12345]

4 hours ago, Dan C said:

As I understand it, the behaviour shown in your screenshot is expected - the 'Preview' pane of Windows Explorer uses the thumbnail created and embedded within the Affinity document to preview the image.

This thumbnail is created at a set size by the Affinity app and there is currently no user control options for the size of this thumbnail. When previewing the file in Explorer, there are also no direct controls to change the preview size, however the preview itself should resize within the Explorer window as this is adjusted:

Note the above is recorded on Windows 10.

I hope this clears things up!

On my system, the preview - NOT the thumbnail - is a small fixed size (as in the image I posted) and does not resize.   I believe other posters have said they get properly sized, resizeable preview images.  And I think this used to work on my system, in previous releases. 

[Dan C]

Thanks for confirming that for me - unfortunately as I understand it, this isn't controlled by the Affinity app directly as the thumbnail is simply embedded within the file when saving your Affinity document, and I can see from your screenshots that a thumbnail is included.

It's possible that Windows have changed this scaling behaviour within Windows 11 when previewing the Affinity file format, but again this would be out of our direct control.

Just to confirm, have you uninstalled the MSIX version from your system, after installing the EXE version?

[jimh12345]

2 hours ago, Dan C said:

Just to confirm, have you uninstalled the MSIX version from your system, after installing the EXE version?

Yes I uninstalled the MSIX before installing the MSI.