Thumbnails not showing on Mac (Preview)

[macmystified]

So this definitely has worked, BUT.....after restarting my machine I'm encountering the same problem again. Wondering if anyone else has experience this?

 

[RoadScholar]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
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Can I buy you half a dozen beers? That worked, and the previews are something I desperately need for business, designing and producing high-quality historic millwork. My hat's off my friend.

 

[Buadhai]

I've read it all but still it won't work for me. Tried all the above tricks. Nada.
My guess - I moved all my files to Dropbox rather than on my Mac M1. Could this be the reason for all preview icons not showing in the finder?

I use Dropbox and Dropbox Camera Uploads. After trying the fix described above I again have icon thumbnails; even on images in Dropbox. So, for me at least, Dropbox was not the problem.

 

[ohasa]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
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at this point macrumors should be thanking you for all the new accounts - great work 🙏

 

[MacYeti]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709

Wow! Thanks for that. Worked perfectly. And it was so weird because it was only my PDF files that wouldn't show a preview but everything is working as it should. Thanks again!

 

[AmyTalwar]

You are a god... i had the same issue.. you fixed it like a charm!!!

 

[tvsp]

help!! i'm having the same problem but cant find com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent in my activity monitor. any suggestions?

 

[poeticfolly]

Thank you very much, this worked.

A few months ago I had transferred data from one mac to another, upgraded the operating system as well as using design programs like sketch and photoshop.

Since then I have not been able to preview the thumbnails.
I can't believe this was the solution, thank you so much, I never would have figured it out.

oh man, same. This has been bugging me for so long. THANK YOU!

 

[tvsp]

i did all that on my 2 imacs but still see no thumbnails, just icons.

 

[thanksandrebob]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
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Made an account to say thanks, you're the bee's knees!

 

[marchandeur]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

[bartflanders]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
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also made an account just to upvote this. THANK YOU!

 

[CaptPostMod]

So I didn't create an account. But I hadn't logged into this account since like 2014. Thank you for helping solve this problem, andrebob!

 

[robair]

And, my thanks too. Great sleuthing. Small things matter!

 

[Dennison]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709

Thank you! Worked like a charm. Ran into this very annoying issue this week on my MBP M1 Max with macOS 12.3 (latest).

 

[TheLawInJapan]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709

I just joined the group of people who made an account just to thank you.

Thank you!

 

[ouoshiuan]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709

Thank you so much for sharing!!! So happy that this preview problem won't bothering me anymore T-T)

 

[Thats_Santa]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
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Thank you very much! Nice list, for sure.

 

[murielguitar]

I went to the Activity Monitor, and there was no process called
com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent
Is there another option for MacOS High Sierra?
Or is there a way to install
com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent
Thanks!

 

[mstavros1]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
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Count me as one more person who created an account just to say thanks. Really wonderful!

 

[creativesmith]

So this definitely has worked, BUT.....after restarting my machine I'm encountering the same problem again. Wondering if anyone else has experience this?

Unfortunately, same here. Doesn't seem to be a permanent fix.

Which begs the question: why is it that for each new release, and seemingly as regular as the change of seasons—why are old bugs replaced by new bugs? Yeah, I know—the uncontrolled complexity of the ever-advancing OS. That, and maybe the software engineers have a wicked brand of humor.

 

[wheresnaldo]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
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YOU. ARE. AWESOME. Such an easy fix to a very annoying problem. I, too, jumped in to say thanks and how awesome you are! Now I'm going to go read all your other solutions to problems I don't have yet hahaha.

 

[borre326]

Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709

Hi, thank you thank you!! just a little aside, you find the Activity Monitor in Utilities!

 

[cocoua]

Hi! thanks, this works for me (Monterrey) No more system reboot 🥵

 

[TomLu]

I have this problem for long time, i even have a though that my Hard Disk is too old, work not well. I was too lazy to search this on google, till now i found this topic and solved mine. Like the buddy above, i created an account just to say thank you so much.

same here...