Preview of ANY document file type not working

[David.P]

I have tried to fix the preview with these two tools:



However, Everything still does not show previews of text files. That said, Windows Explorer doesn't show TXT previews either.

Does anyone have an idea what else I could do to fix TXT preview?

[horst.epp]

Here the preview handler for .txt is set to None.
Explorer and also Everything preview .txt files without problems.

[raccoon]

I have tried to fix the preview with these two tools:...

Did you reboot?

[David.P]

Nope -- will do

[void]

If setting the preview handler doesn't work, please try setting the 'PerceivedType' to text:

• From the Start menu, search for: regedit
• Click Registry Editor.
• In the Registry Editor, navigate to:
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt
• On the right, change PerceivedType to:
  text
  (If PerceivedType does not exist, right click on the right and click New -> String Value, change the Name to PerceivedType)

-If this doesn't work there might be an issue with the system text preview handler {1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}

[David.P]

Thank you -- will try that tomorrow

[David.P]

Hello all,

unfortunately, text preview still doesn't work for me also after assigning "text" with "PerceivedType" -- neither in Everything nor in Windows Explorer.

Thankful for any further ideas on how this could be fixed.
Below (and attached) are all registry entries containing

{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
  65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\cmdfile\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\ShellEx\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\text\ShellEx\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\txtfile\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
  65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\Shell Extensions\Cached]
"{1531D583-8375-4D3F-B5FB-D23BBD169F22} {8895B1C6-B41F-4C1C-A562-0D564250836F} 0xFFFF"=hex:01,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,d4,8b,d7,53,3c,52,d3,01

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\batfile\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
  65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\cmdfile\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\regfile\ShellEx\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\SystemFileAssociations\text\ShellEx\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\txtfile\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
  65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers]
"{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"="Windows TXT Previewer"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
  65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers]
"{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"="Windows TXT Previewer"

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-711962691-662602138-858966870-1008\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-711962691-662602138-858966870-1008\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\Shell Extensions\Cached]
"{1531D583-8375-4D3F-B5FB-D23BBD169F22} {8895B1C6-B41F-4C1C-A562-0D564250836F} 0xFFFF"=hex:01,\
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,d4,8b,d7,53,3c,52,d3,01

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-711962691-662602138-858966870-1008_Classes\.txt\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

[horst.epp]

The system text preview handler looks like this and works here:

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
  65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[David.P]

Thanks, that seems to be the same as what I have in the registry, though in five different places:



=

Code: Select all

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
  00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
  65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"
...

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"
...

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"
...

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}]
@="Windows TXT Previewer"
"AppID"="{6d2b5079-2f0b-48dd-ab7f-97cec514d30b}"
"DisplayName"="@shell32.dll,-38242"
"Icon"="notepad.exe,2"
...

[NotNull]

You can't rely on PreviewConfig too heavily as it has a serious shortcoming :
It checks only HKLM registry settings and skips the HKCU ones.


After a quick check of your regkeys:

• remove HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}
  ( or rename it to ___{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f} )
• they look OK for the rest (as said: quick check)
• Can you export and post the following regkeys for further inspection?
  HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt
  HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\txtfile
  HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt
  HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\txtfile

[horst.epp]

For testing I used the PreviewHandlerEditor.exe
and assigned .txt to the Microsoft TXT Previewer.

Screenshot - 23.03.2022 , 14_13_44.png (6 KiB) Viewed 16456 times

In the PreviewConfig it looks like this

Screenshot - 23.03.2022 , 14_14_48.png (15.92 KiB) Viewed 16456 times

Still works fine in Explorer and Everything

[David.P]

Thank you for looking into this.

Can you export and post the following regkeys for further inspection?

> HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt
Is attached

> HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\txtfile
Is attached

> HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt
Oops -- I accidentally deleted this one just now :(

> HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\txtfile
This branch does not seem to exist.

[NotNull]

That is strange:
In your first export -when searching for {guid}, there is no

Code: Select all

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"

And yet, in your second export, it is.
You can delete it
("it" = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}

Also: There is no PerceivedType=text under [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt]

[David.P]

Thank you.
I now deleted the line

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt\shellex\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}

and added PerceivedType=text under [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\.txt]

Unfortunately still no file preview of text files.

By the way, in Windows Explorer I only get previews of bitmap files. For all documents like Word, PDF, Text etc. no preview appears.

However, I have only restarted Explorer and have not rebooted yet. I will do that tonight

[NotNull]

By the way, in Windows Explorer I only get previews of bitmap files. For all documents like Word, PDF, Text etc. no preview appears.

That is useful information! Indicates a deeper problem, not specific related to .txt files (and .reg / .bat files )

[David.P]

Thanks!

I should add that all these document types are previewed correctly in Everything -- apart from those TXT files.

XYplorer and Dopus also preview all document types correctly.

[andyl]

I have the same problem in version 1.4.1.1017 (x64). However preview for .txt files works correctly in Windows Exploer and xplorer2 but fails in Everything.

Howeved in the 1.5 alpha version the preview works correctly.

[NotNull]

Are you running Everything 1.4 as administrator?

In that case, reconfigure Everything to use the recommended settings:
- Enable Everything Service
- Disable Run as administrator
(Both these settings can be found under Menu:Tools > Options > General)

Everything needs to be restarted after this:
- Right-click the Everything icon in the system tray and select Exit
- Start Everything.

[JTB3]

If anyone else is still being affected by this frustrating issue of .TXT (and other) file types NOT previewing in both Everything Search and Windows File Explorer... Here is a solution that, finally after spending many hours of research/trial/error, solved the issue for my situation!

(My solution has been tested only on Win11, but it should probably also work for Win10. Be sure to backup your computer and/or save a 'System Restore Point' before editing the Windows registry.)

• The problem stems from competing ShellEx preview handler registry entry(s) located in the 'KEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes' branch of the registry. These registry entries are NOT picked up by the legacy PreviewConfig and PreviewHandlerEditor tools, and if they exist, they will override or negate the proper preview handler entries located typically in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branches.
• So, the solution is to look for these offending reg keys and, if they exist, delete them.
• For example, to fix the issue with .TXT files, Using RegEdit, Goto Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.txt
• Now Look for a subkey named ShellEx and then check if there is another (preview handler) subkey that is typically named: {8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}
• If you see this final subkey present, then delete it (and if it is the only subkey present, you can also delete the parent 'ShellEx' key as well).
• In my case, deleting this offending subkey instantly fixed the problem and my .TXT files then previewed properly in both File Explorer and Everything. I didn't even need to restart Explorer.exe or restart the computer.

You can also repeat the above steps for other offending text file types that do not preview after they have been configured with either the PreviewConfig and PreviewHandlerEditor tools.

I hope the above information will save others from the countless hours I spent researching and addressing this pesky issue!
Cheers, -JT

[David.P]

Thanks JT, I will definitely check this out asap!

[JTB3]

Thanks JT, I will definitely check this out asap!

I sooo hope this solution works for you too, David!

[David.P]

I'm sorry to report that unfortunately this did nothing in my case.

I also did not have the corresponding value "8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f" in the registry for the .txt file type:



I then had deleted the "shellex" key shown above, but the file preview for text (and for most other document types) still does not work in Windows Explorer and in Everything. In Dopus the file preview works fine as before for all file types.

[phyzxengr]

Does anybody have a link to previewconfig elsewhere? MS seems to have cut it out.
I am on win11

[void]

If you are looking to disable existing preview handlers another good tool is ShellExView.

[phyzxengr]

My win 11 file explorer previews for jpg, jpeg, and pngs 'This file can't be previewed. Worked in 10.

[horst.epp]

Does anybody have a link to previewconfig elsewhere? MS seems to have cut it out.
I am on win11

Here is the version I use
______________________________________________________
Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.3593)
Everything 1.5.0.1375a (x64), Everything Toolbar 1.3.3

[phyzxengr]

I have a previous laptop that I need to pull the reg keys from for the unpreviewable types.
This software will help ease that process.
Thanks.

[NotNull]

Here is the version I use

Just FYI: the .exe is an x86 version, not the X64 version.

[phyzxengr]

I pulled up the prev laptop and the keys are the same. So something is seriously wrong with the MS API at some level. I see a lot of posts that just gave in and live with the broken workflow. Win 11 came with laptop. Glad I didnt buy it.