Preload Explorer Thumbnails

[Ian]

I've found a really useful tool for pre-loading Windows 10 file thumbnails. If you've got a lot of photos, this is a really handy utility (I wish Windows 10 could do this by default!):

GitHub - bruhov/WinThumbsPreloader: WinThumbsPreloader is a simple open source tool for preloading thumbnails in Windows Explorer.

WinThumbsPreloader is a simple open source tool for preloading thumbnails in Windows Explorer. - GitHub - bruhov/WinThumbsPreloader: WinThumbsPreloader is a simple open source tool for preloading t...

github.com

You can right click any folder and use this utility to generate thumbnails for every file within it. Means browsing the folder is much quicker when you have a lot of media files.

 

[Regedit32]

That seems like a useful tool to have.

If you did a search of your drive to locate all image files, and set it to Thumb nail view, does that not then generate a .db for thumbnails to ensure they load each time you open a specific folder? Or am I missing something here.

 

[Regedit32]

I got one of those prompts from the Insider program just a moment ago asking if I was satisfied with File Explorer.

Personally, I am, but I took the opportunity to provide them the link to your WinThumbPreloader and asked whether they would consider doing something similar in File Explorer

 

[Ian]

That seems like a useful tool to have.

If you did a search of your drive to locate all image files, and set it to Thumb nail view, does that not then generate a .db for thumbnails to ensure they load each time you open a specific folder? Or am I missing something here.

It does, but it only does it for the thumbnails in view. I store all of my photos on a NAS and lots of them are from a DSLR with huge file sizes - it takes about 20 seconds to generate the thumbnails in the current explorer view window. As soon as I scroll down, I need to wait another 20 seconds. Using this tool, I generated thumbnails for every single photo on the NAS, so it's instant.

I got one of those prompts from the Insider program just a moment ago asking if I was satisfied with File Explorer.

Personally, I am, but I took the opportunity to provide them the link to your WinThumbPreloader and asked whether they would consider doing something similar in File Explorer

That is perfect timing . I would love it if there was a background process to generate thumbnails, or a way to force pre-caching.

 

[davehc]

I only had a quick, but couldn't quite figure out how you finally looked at the pictures. But , looking at the examples on the site, isn't it much the same as having "extra large Icons" from the view:

 

[Ian]

I only had a quick, but couldn't quite figure out how you finally looked at the pictures. But , looking at the examples on the site, isn't it much the same as having "extra large Icons" from the view:

All the app does is generate those thumbnails you see in explorer, rather than the app being a viewer in itself. So if you've got 1000's of photos on a slow drive (like me), it pre-generates the thumbnails so they appear instantly in explorer .

 

[davehc]

gotcha. There are quite a few "photo" programs around, which can show the whole lot on request (I use Ashampoo Photo Commander). Buy, the utility you point to, seems to have it all ready for a looksee.
fwiw. You are probably aware that the built in "photos" can have them ready for you to look at.

 

[Bighorn]

I opened Photos a few minutes ago, hadn't really used it in awhile because it took longer to load than Windows Photo Viewer but it opened this time with thumbnails rather quickly. Got a surprise after closing it with this message:

 

[atesy]

I've found a really useful tool for pre-loading Windows 10 file thumbnails. If you've got a lot of photos, this is a really handy utility (I wish Windows 10 could do this by default!):

GitHub - bruhov/WinThumbsPreloader: WinThumbsPreloader is a simple open source tool for preloading thumbnails in Windows Explorer.

WinThumbsPreloader is a simple open source tool for preloading thumbnails in Windows Explorer. - GitHub - bruhov/WinThumbsPreloader: WinThumbsPreloader is a simple open source tool for preloading t...

github.com

You can right click any folder and use this utility to generate thumbnails for every file within it. Means browsing the folder is much quicker when you have a lot of media files.

Ian... This is just awesome. Amazing. Thank you very much for sharing this. I was searching for a plugin like this since months, tried several not properly suitable softwares... And this one here... This is working. Unbeliavable.

 

[Ian]

You're very welcome! I really like this bit of software .

Welcome to the forum @atesy!

 

[gordonbennett]

Brilliant. Can I ask if the preloading persists between computer reboot?

 

[Bighorn]

I tried it when seen over a year ago and had to reload at each reboot but since I seldom reboot not a big problem, just haven't needed to recheck it. I do store most images on NAS drives so that may have an effect.