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How-To Geek Forums » Windows Vista

Preview on PDF files

(30 posts)
  • Started 4 months ago by SarahJames
  • Latest reply from SarahJames
  • Topic Viewed 610 times


SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

As everything else looks more and more perfect I have one more thing.
I used to have Acrobat Reader for reading pdf files. It gave a sweet preview of what was inside the pdf file. But Acrobat is big and slow, so I installed PDF Xchange which is small and fast and pretty perfect.
Then I realized the preview was gone, so I reinstalled Acrobat, but no way I'm getting the preview back.
And actually I don't want Acrobat back, just the preview.

Now with psd files there is a preview if you have Photoshop installed and then somebody came up with a dll and a regfile that enables you to have a preview of psd files without having Photoshop installed.
(I have a beautiful preview of psd files and no Photoshop - makes me very happy LOL)

So I wondered if the same is possible for PDF?
Is there somthing like that available already?
Or does anyone have an idea how I could fix this myself?

Happy Sarah:)

Posted 4 months ago #
 
Lighthouse
Lighthouse
Posts: 5574

So what happens with Foxit? :)

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

Have had Foxit, Sumatra PDF, CoolPDF - and none of them gives a preview.
It comes specifically with Acrobat. But the silly thing is that after I uninstalled Acrobat reinstalling it doesn't make the previews come back. Not even when I make Acrobat the default handler of pdf and uninstall any other app that might handle pdf.

I can still see it on the laptop (not here, so I can't make a screenshot) and searched it's registry, but after reinstalling it on my PC the registry entries look exactly the same, but no preview:(

Posted 4 months ago #
 
Lighthouse
Lighthouse
Posts: 5574

Did you re-install a newer version than you un-installed? (Acrobat)

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

The same I think (I did it a while ago).

Posted 4 months ago #
 
Lighthouse
Lighthouse
Posts: 5574

Can't you give me simple questions? Like disappearing screenshots?.
To be honest, I don't know :( (I have previews for everything. But then, I don't mess around with my system (multimedia wise))

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

Well, truth be told, it is not important at all! (But come to think of it, what is? LOL)
And you don't need to have an answer ready to éééverything ...
Maybe someone else knows. We'll just leave it posted here and see what comes up:)

Cheers,
Sarah.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
Lighthouse
Lighthouse
Posts: 5574

I know. I was just after knowing if it worked with Foxit. Is all :)

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

Well, I took a look at the regfile I have of the laptop and came up with this (already edited to path of my choice):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}]
"DisplayName"="@C:\\Program Files\\ShellExt\\Pdfprevhndlr.dll,-101"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisableLowILProcessIsolation"=dword:00000001
@="Adobe PDF Preview Handler for Vista"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}\InprocServer32]
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"
@="C:\\Program Files\\ShellExt\\Pdfprevhndlr.dll"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}\ProgID]
@="PDFPrevHndlr.PDFPreviewHandler.1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}\TypeLib]
@="{0F6D3808-7974-4B1A-94C2-3200767EACE8}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}\VersionIndependentProgID]
@="PDFPrevHndlr.PDFPreviewHandler"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PDFPrevHndlr.PDFPreviewHandler]
@="Adobe PDF Preview Handler for Vista"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PDFPrevHndlr.PDFPreviewHandler\CLSID]
@="{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PDFPrevHndlr.PDFPreviewHandler\CurVer]
@="PDFPrevHndlr.PDFPreviewHandler.1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PDFPrevHndlr.PDFPreviewHandler.1]
@="Adobe PDF Preview Handler for Vista"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PDFPrevHndlr.PDFPreviewHandler.1\CLSID]
@="{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}"

Googled PDFPrevHndlr.dll and dowloaded it, placed it, ran regfile - and nothing happens.
Bummer ....
The solution to preview on psd files is similar, so I had good hopes it would work.
Since reinstalling Acrobat already didn't provide the wanted preview I wonder if it is just something that won't work for me. (The SarahJames Phenomenon ...)
Anybody wants to test this?
Or put me on track where I went wrong?
Or provide another solution ... LOL.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 2480

Sarah, it's always going to be "one more thing" with you. You enjoy the pursuit of perfection, not the perfection itself. That's how I see it, anyway. Perhaps that's because I am the same way!

At the following link, there is a guy who has created a PDF Preview Handler based on FoxIt:
http://www.timheuer.com/blog/a.....14001.aspx

That seems to work for most of the people who added comments. I hope it works for you. Then you can enjoy your "more and more perfect" system until the next one-more-thing! :-)

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

Thanks ScottW, the Foxit PDF handler works, but it was not what I meant.
The preview it gives is in Outlook or the preview pane in Explorer (which I never use), like this:

What happens on the laptop is that you don't see an icon, but a small preview of the file, like you see a thumbnail of a jpg file. (Ohhh, that's what I should call it: thumbnail on pdf files;-D)

And glad to know I'm not the only pc-perfectionist. LOL

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

Found this discussion - still reading ...

http://adobeforums.com/webx/.3bbf42f7.3c05718d

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

Ok, now we're getting somewhere:)
I downloaded the 8.0 version the link above gave and voila:

Thumbnails of my pdf files!

Then I picked PDF Xchange as standard program to open pdf - and low and behold (is that the expression? ... Lighthouse will surely set me straight if not;-D) it still works

And now I'm gonna try to delete Acrobat and just keep the Acrobat preview handler ...
If that doesn't work I'll keep Acrobat installed, because spacewise I don't need to delete it, but I just want to try. I'll keep you posted.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

BTW anyone using PDF Xchange? It's a gem:)
Freeware, with just a tiny banner in the corner, but a lot of features and very fast.

http://www.docu-track.com/home.....fx_viewer/

Posted 4 months ago #
 
Lighthouse
Lighthouse
Posts: 5574

lol. Good for you. Success once again.
"Voila" is correct. And so is "Lo and behold" (note the lack of "w") :)

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

Thanks, Lighthouse:)
Voila we use in Dutch too, the lo and behold I've got just from hearsay (like most of my English - I listen to tv, rather than read the Dutch translations underneath. LOL), but I wonder where that expression comes from.

Still searching the registry for the dll that handles the preview. It has a different name than the one from the 8.1 version I think, because so far I haven't found it yet. Maybe later.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

Really I should slow myself down a bit - the answer was there already ... (like most of the time LOL)

One of the replies in the discussion I mentioned above ..

Posted 4 months ago #
 
Bartman
Bartman
Posts: 349

http://www.phrases.org.uk/mean.....ehold.html

Posted 4 months ago #
 
Lighthouse
Lighthouse
Posts: 5574

Well SarahJames. I have watched quite a few films, that were made in America or UK. They are dubbed into French. And English subtitles added. An awful lot of the time, the spoken word, and the subtitles bear no resemblance to each other at all!

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 550

Thanks Bartman:)

Posted 4 months ago #
 

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