Hello. I have SketchUp Pro 2021 and am having the issue of not showing the Thumbnails. I’ve looked over this thread and I’m not really comfortable changing the registry. Is there any other fix options? Like many others I have hundreds of .skp files that I need to see the thumbnails.
Thanks in advance!
First thing I would do is make sure that SketchUp 2021 was installed correctly which requires right clicking on the downloaded installer and choosing Run as administrator. At this point I would do that and then choose the Repair option when it presents. Then a cold reboot of the computer.
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Thank you! I’ll give that I try and hope for the best.
Check too that you are running the latest maintenance version of SketchUp Pro 2021.
(21.1.332)
OK, thank you!
Hi, all. Hoping for some further suggestions on this thumbnail issue.
My thumbnail situation is as follows:
I never see thumbnails of my .skp files; only the blue SketchUp logo. I do see thumbnails for the backup .skb files under certain conditions—see note about synced files.
I installed SketchUp Pro 2021 in the Spring of 2021. No other SketchUp program has ever been installed on my computer so leftover ‘ThumbsUp.dll’ artifacts in the registry from other versions of SketchUp should not be an issue.
Yesterday I updated to the latest maintenance version 21.1.332, ‘Run as Administrator’ was invoked during installation, and for good measure I ‘repaired’ it twice. Shutdown and restart. I still see no thumbnails of my .skp files.
My files and folders are set to allow thumbnails in Windows 10.
I have reviewed the SketchUp online manual section on “Restoring thumbnails for SketchUp files on Windows.” This section assumes the user once saw thumbnails with a previous version of SU and now does not. I have never seen thumbnails for .skp files, so this section really doesn’t apply, but I read through it anyway. I verified that SketchUp is set as the default program for .skp and .skb in Windows Settings. The manual also suggests disabling third party thumbnail software, but I have no such software installed, so that’s not the issue.
A note about synced files—I keep SU files in three types of folders: folders that are not synced with any cloud service, folders that are synced with Google Drive, and folders that are synced with Microsoft OneDrive. I do see thumbnails for backup .skb files in folders that are either not synced at all or are synced with Google Drive. In the case of OneDrive, both .skb and .skp files show only the blue SU Logo.
It would be nice to able to see .skp file thumbnails. Any further suggestions?
My thumbnail previews have not been working for a long time. I tried repairing 2021, didn’t solve it so I uninstalled all versions and installed 2022, still no thumbnails so I opened “default apps” (just search in in the start menu), scrolled to the bottom where it says “reset all default apps”. I clicked “reset” and all the thumbnails populated. Resetting your all your default apps may screw some people up with other apps but it wasn’t a problem for me and it worked for sketchup so I’m happy.
Thank you so much, this is very interesting progress, unfortunately the fix works but doesn’t stick for me.
When I applied the reset, the SKP thumbnails immediately appeared but instead of the blue SU icon appearing in the lower right corner, I got the Firefox icon—Firefox is my default web browser.
When I tried to re-associate the file extension .skp in Settings > Default Apps > Choose Apps by File Type my only options were ‘Firefox’ or ‘Choose an App in the Microsoft Store.’ SketchUp was not offered as an option.
I shut down and restarted because that’s often the magic bullet, but even though my default web browser was now Edge, I still got the Firefox icon in the lower right hand corner, and it persisted after trying ‘reset’ again.
So, I tried a different approach by right clicking a random SKP > Open With > More Apps > Sketchup Application > Always use this app to open .skp files.
GREAT, that worked, now all the thumbnails have the SU logo in the corner….BUT, if I create a new SU file and save it, there is no thumbnail, just the giant blue SU logo again.
Further, if I modify any existing SKP and save it, the thumbnail reverts to the giant blue icon.
Have you been finding any odd behavior like this? I wish someone could tell me why the Firefox icon got involved with my SKP thumbnails in the first place.
It is 2023, and this 27-month-old issue is still present.
Done everything mentioned in this thread, reinstall, reinstall with admin, repair, repair with admin, Regedit and looked through all listed ThumbsUp.dll. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Running Sketchup Pro 2021 version 21.1.332 64-bit.
I keep losing files or searching for hours because I always use thumbnails to locate them.
2021 will not receive any updates. It is entirely possible this is an OS not a SketchUp issue.
I would expect it’s this. Many (most?) Windows users had no problem with thumbnails showing in SU2021.
I run Windows 10 Home, Version 22H2.
I run Windows too on several different computers and haven’t had any problems with thumbnail images showing up.
I have. Recently SKP files stopped displaying thumbnails while SKB files do. Haven’t bothered doing anything to it as generally I keep my Explorer windows in Details mode.
Interesting. Clearly some change in the operating system since SU2022 hasn’t changed recently.
Has it ever happened in earlier versions?
I work with SketchUp since SU2018, and only encountered this problem when the office upgraded to SU2021 in mid-2020.
SU 2021 was released late in 2020 or early 2021, don’t remember which so mid-2020 cannot be correct. However, I think that the first release of 2021 had thumbnails missing but the glitch was fixed in a maintenance update. You might check that you are running the latest maintenance upgrade to your version of SketchUp.
Does that really matter?
Looked into it. As stated before my version is 21.1.332 64-bit, and in the listed patch notes 332 seems to be the last update for SU2021.
When I check for updates now, it wants me to update to the 2022 version.
Not really. I was just trying to check what actual version of SU you were running. During my 20 years of SU use new updates have lost the Windows Explorer thumbnails more than once, and usually they have returned later. One thing you can try is to locate the installer to your version, right-click on it, select “Run as administrator” from the context menu. and select the Repair option when the intaller starts. When install has finished, turn off and restart your computer. Cannot guarantee that it helps.
Humoured you, re-repaired it, and the thumbnails are back again.
Now I’m however not sure if SketchUp was pulling my leg and decided to cooperate with the repair just now,
or
It’s the accumulation of all fixes listed above plus some of my own I did before the re-repair that combined fixed the issue.
The fixes I stacked on top:
-Select a file and use the open with [program] to point it towards the SketchUp2021.exe in C:\Program Files\SketchUp\SketchUp 2021,
-Reinstall Sketchup 2020,
-Switching between the different index modes on Windows Explorer and Richt-click select Refresh after every switch. (In the hope it somehow shakes the register awake and re-index the data correctly. (Not an IT engineer, don’t @ me)).