Long-standing oddity with image file thumbnails

[Gwaihir]

I'm not sure if this is the right section for posting this and thought about putting it in the Multimedia section but figured it might get more views here so Mods please feel free to move it if required.


I'd love to know if this odd behaviour is normal for Windows 7 (it's been like it ever since I built my system) or if there's some tweak I can do to correct it. What happens is that when I edit images the thumbnail icons still display as the unedited version UNLESS I save the edited file in a different folder. It doesn't work if I just save a new version under a different name in the existing folder.


I can usually force Windows to display the edited version if I change the viewing option to 'details' or 'list' and then change back but as soon as I do anything that results in a refresh (including clicking 'refresh') it reverts to the unedited version except, as I said, if I've saved it in another folder. If I then copy that file back to the original folder the edit 'sticks'.


This is generally happening with files edited in Photoshop and it seems as if when the file is closed Windows is creating another icon of the edited file but then using the old one for display.


It's a very minor annoyance but after years of living with it I'd be interested to know if it's a common issue.

 

[iko22]

I have not encountered this issue. There again I generally save edited images to a different folder/file name anyway.

I thought that maybe this thread will help. Basically delete the thumbnail cache:

Windows 7 pictures thumbnails NOT update after editing the picture | Microsoft Answers

 

[Brink]

Hello MJT,

Clearing and resetting the thumbnail cache may help.

:ar: Thumbnail Cache - Clear and Reset

 

[MourningStar]

I use PS extensively and have not encountered this either. Did Shawn's (Brink) advice correct your problem? Specifically, what are the file types exhibiting this behavior (e.g. jpg, png, bmp, gif, etc., all-of-the-above)?

 

[Gwaihir]

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I haven't had time to do much yet. I did find that including thumbnails in Disk Cleanup didn't help and I was unable to delete the thumbcache_*.db files because Windows reported they were in use. I presume that was because Windows Explorer was running to view them and that I need to do it using a command-line.


I hope to have an opportunity to do a bit more testing tomorrow and will report back after that.

 

[samuria]

Try just hitting F5 on the folder

 

[Gwaihir]

Finally I've had time to have a bit of a play with this. Results as follows:



MourningStar, I have only noticed this on jpeg files as they're what I use almost exclusively. I might try a test on other file types.


I created a new folder and copied some files to it then edited them in Photoshop just to increase their brightness, which would be easy to see on the thumbnails. As before the thumbnails remained in the unedited form.


I tried Shawn's batch file to clear and reset the thumbnail cache. When I reopened the folder two of the four thumbnails had been updated, the other two had not. I switched view to 'details' then back to 'large icons' and the latter two were then updated as has happened previously. I then pressed F5 and those two reverted to the unedited form. The other two stayed updated - very odd!


I noticed one contributor in the thread that Shawn linked to suggested an unedited thumbnail is buried in the jpeg file and Windows is defaulting to it. Has any more information come to light on this?


Edit: I opened one file in Photoshop then re-saved it under a new name. I then also saved it as a gif, bmp and png. The newly-named jpeg still showed the unedited form, all the other file types showed the edited form. Maybe that contributor was onto something . . . .

 

[iko22]

Pity resetting the Thumbnail cache did not work for you.

It might be that the Pixel Density of the edited thumbnail is not large enough.

What is the Pixel Density of the Edited image (Dots Per Inch)? Photoshop should be able to tell you.​

What is the DPI Scaling of your current Display? Does your current Desktop use any custom scaling?​

 

[Gwaihir]

The images vary a bit but the jpeg I've used for the experiment is 2605 x 1954 pixels @ 72 pixels per inch.

The monitor is operating at its native resolution of 1280 x 1024, no custom scaling is applied.


Interestingly I've increased the DPI of the re-named jpeg to 300 in photoshop and the thumbnail now displays the edited version but doing the same to the original file, of which the re-named one was a direct copy, hasn't achieved the same result. There doesn't seem to be a consistent pattern to this.