Help badly needed - thumbnails are acting crazy!

[RobertWWP]

I really need help. They insist the problem is with XnView. I had been using XnView v.1.92 without issue in Windows 8. I installed first v. 1.92, then v. 2.36, and then whatever the latest version is on the website (I think it was 2.5) on Windows 10. No matter what version I use, the problem is the same. I'll post screen shots to explain. So let's go into one of the comic book folders in Windows Explorer:



As you can see, the JPG scans are sorta faded scans, that's the originals. So, I open one of them, the cover, in Xnview:



Faded. Yep, needs some work. So I click the icon to change the brightness and contrast:



Much better! I click save and have it over-write the old file:



Problem - the thumbnail in Windows Explorer shows no changes. It used to change the moment I hit "Save". Now, no change. If I click to open that image, it looks fine, as noted above. But not in the thumbnails.



Now, if I change the view tab in Explorer from large icons to extra large icons, the changes are reflected in the thumbnail:



I change the view to back to large thumbnails and it shows up correctly:



HOWEVER...

If I go to another folder, then back into the original folder, the thumbnail is reverted to its pre-changed form - faded:



Rinse and repeat - I can do that all day and it's always the same problem. Microsoft had me repair Windows, reinstall Windows, clear the cache, clear the thumbnail cache, and about 15 million other "fixes" over the course of 4 or 5 hours plus. No change. They say it's an issue with XnView. Don't know why this started happening, it used to work fine.

Sometimes it also does very strange things to the thumbnails. Check out the first 3 rows (thumbnails #1-22 on this screen cap) - all crushed and misshapen. They should all look like the images in the bottom rows (#23-31) which are proportioned correctly:



So, can someone PLEASE give me a solution? This is making me crazy to the point where I'm about ready to abandon using XnView and find some other option. There are only so many hours in a day, and I can't keep devoting hours and hours to playing with this. Thanks in advance!

[xnview]

The problem seems to come from windows explorer that doesn't update the thumbnail

[XnTriq]

Could you please upload the edited version of the cover, RobertWWP?

[RobertWWP]

I sent you this in an email. I noticed that if I change an image (crop, rotate, contrast, etc) using Gimp or FastStone (which I downloaded for testing), the problem does not happen. It only happens when using Xnview - any version - 1.92, 2.36, 2.5, etc. I've tried different versions old and current. I spent several hours troubleshooting with Microsoft's Windows tech support and we did everything including rebuilding the thumbnail cache, repairing/restoring Windows, etc. They insist it's a problem with Xnview. It seems it must be, considering other programs work fine when it comes to Windows Explorer and the thumbnails. I just want to be able to use Xnview though.

[XnTriq]

I sent you this in an email.

You can attach files to your posts.

I noticed that if I change an image (crop, rotate, contrast, etc) using Gimp or FastStone (which I downloaded for testing), the problem does not happen. It only happens when using Xnview - any version - 1.92, 2.36, 2.5, etc. I've tried different versions old and current. I spent several hours troubleshooting with Microsoft's Windows tech support and we did everything including rebuilding the thumbnail cache, repairing/restoring Windows, etc. They insist it's a problem with Xnview. It seems it must be, considering other programs work fine when it comes to Windows Explorer and the thumbnails. I just want to be able to use Xnview though.

Please make sure to activate Rebuild embedded thumbnail in Tools → Options… → Read/Write → Write → JPEG.

XnView's browser allows you to Recreate EXIF thumbnail (Edit → Recreate EXIF thumbnail) of JPEG files that have been edited.

[RobertWWP]

Please make sure to activate Rebuild embedded thumbnail in Tools → Options… → Read/Write → Write → JPEG.

That's already checked off. See attached picture.

XnView's browser allows you to Recreate EXIF thumbnail (Edit → Recreate EXIF thumbnail) of JPEG files that have been edited.

I don't see that setting anywhere.

[XnTriq]

Please make sure to activate Rebuild embedded thumbnail in Tools → Options… → Read/Write → Write → JPEG.

That's already checked off. See attached picture.

That's odd. Could you please upload/attach the file in question (01.jpg)?

XnView's browser allows you to Recreate EXIF thumbnail (Edit → Recreate EXIF thumbnail) of JPEG files that have been edited.

I don't see that setting anywhere.

XnView has a browse and a view mode. The menus are different for each mode.

1. Point XnView's browser to the Doom Patrol 104 folder.
2. Select 01.jpg (edited cover).
3. Go to Edit → Metadata → Recreate EXIF thumbnail.

[RobertWWP]

Well I certainly can't do that with 15,000+ JPGs! It used to work just fine, but something changed.

[XnTriq]

It used to work just fine, but something changed.

A Google search for “windows 10 update thumbnails not working” returns 300'000'000 results

• Microsoft Developer Blogs: Why does Explorer show a thumbnail for my image that's different from the image?
• Ghacks: All you need to know about thumbnail cache files in Windows

Well I certainly can't do that with 15,000+ JPGs!

Even with a large number of JPEG files, XnView is capable of updating the embedded EXIF thumbnails in one go:

1. Open Doom Patrol (parent folder of Doom Patrol 104) in XnView's browser.
2. Go to View and select Show files in subfolders.
3. Select any file in the thumbnail pane and press Ctrl+A to select all files.
4. Go to Edit → Metadata → Recreate EXIF thumbnail.
5. Clear and reset the thumbnail cache of Windows 10.
6. Reboot.

[RobertWWP]

As I said, I already reset the cache for thumbnails in Windows. We did everything possible with Windows over the course of 3 hrs with Microsoft on the phone,

Again, this problem ONLY happens in XNview, not in any other program. If that's the fix, I'll have to dump Xnview because there are thousands of folders I'd have to fix.

[XnTriq]

As I said, I already reset the cache for thumbnails in Windows. We did everything possible with Windows over the course of 3 hrs with Microsoft on the phone,

Again, this problem ONLY happens in XNview, not in any other program. If that's the fix, I'll have to dump Xnview because there are thousands of folders I'd have to fix.

Is one of the following settings activated?

• Keep date/time for saving in Tools → Options… → General → File Operations
• Keep original date/time attributes in Tools → Options… → Browser → Misc.

If so, Windows might not be aware that the files have been resaved.

[RobertWWP]

Yes, all those settings are correct. This is ridiculous.

[XnTriq]

Yes, all those settings are correct.

“Correct” means they are activated?

In case your installation of XnView is configured not to update the date/time of an edited file, you should turn both settings off.

You could then use BulkFileChanger to change the modified timestamp of files from multiple folders to the current date. I've used this freeware program myself. It's very fast. No setup required.

[RobertWWP]

Xnview has become too much of a problem to use. I'm switching to FastStone. This is far too tedious and getting me nowhere.

[XnTriq]

@Pierre: Are these settings activated by default?

• Keep date/time for saving in Tools → Options… → General → File Operations
• Keep original date/time attributes in Tools → Options… → Browser → Misc.