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What are "thumbnail" files?

What Windows interface does Adobe Reader use to show thumbnail previews of PDF files?

  • It doesn't work on my computer, so I thought if I knew the windows API Adobe Reader is using I could do it using another, open source PDF reader.

  • Answer:

    There are preview handlers shipped with other PDF readers. If you are writing your own: Vista or higher: in a thumbnail provider shell extension, implement IThumbnailProvider, IInitializeWithFile and optionally IInitializeWithStream if you are going to preview files in a zip. Legacy OS: implement IExtractIcon and IPersistFile in an icon handler shell extension Remember to compile a 32bit version for x86 version of Windows, and a 64bit version for x64. There is a Recipe Thumbnail Provider Sample in Windows SDK you can use for reference.

Sheng Jiang at Quora Visit the source

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There is a PDF preview tool which is lighter than Adobe and give a nice preview. Worked on my Windows 7 X64 machine. http://www.skipser.com/p/2/p/preview-pdf-files-in-windows-7-explorer-without-opening.html

Arun Krishnan

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