No images in Icon view with Monterey

So i found this elsewhere and it worked for me:

"Open up Activity Monitor, search for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," force quit that process, restart Finder"

Not sure if it's a permanent fix, but it's not onerous to do when necessary until Apple fix it.

Boot into Safe Mode according to Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

I don’t see the simplest, most obvious answer, so here goes:

Did you check View » Show View Options ( ⌘J ) to see whether or not “Show icon preview” is checked?

Maybe somewhere in the process of updating/upgrading it became disabled, and a simple re-enabling will fix it.

Make this the default setting for all your windows so you won't have to enable it for them one by one.

You can’t do this from the desktop but you can do it from any window, including one displaying the desktop.

The nature of this problem is that of a cache issue. Having found your suggestion, there is no indication that anyone took you up on qlmanage -r cache .

The article you linked to contains outdated information as to the location of the Quick Look cache. The cache is now at

$TMPDIR/../C/com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent/com.apple.QuickLook.thumbnailcache/

which is also

/private/var/folders/<id>/<random>/com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent/com.apple.QuickLook.thumbnailcache/

These do not appear to be typical cache files that can be deleted assuredly. It’s advisable to use the Terminal command to clear the Quick Look cache, even if it appears only to delete these files or their folder.

A more recent article on the issue of Quick Look not functioning is at

https://www.howtoisolve.com/quick-look-not-working-on-mac/

brandonpeter wrote:

Since updating to 12.0.1 Monterey my 2017 27” Retina iMac no longer shows images in Icon view for all image file formats, pdf, and video files. psd and rtf files appear fine. After a restart several image files acquired an image in Icon view, but the majority have not.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I need a fix because I switch into Icon view when I sort images, pdfs and videos.

Verify your soft ware is up to date, the current MacOS is 12.3.1

Finder icon view doesn't show image thumbnail

—open View options on Desktop and increased the size of the icon to max and decreased it and then they show up.

Same for Finder, increase size to max and decrease.

ref: No images in Icon view with Monterey - Apple Community

if no resolve—

Open Activity Monitor

Search for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent"

Forced quit that process

Relaunch the Finder (hold the Control Option keys click Finder> Relaunch

Update: The "Open up Activity Monitor, search for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," force quit that process, restart Finder" worked for me continuously, then thumbnail/icon view wasn't working after upgrading to 12.2.1, but force-quitting "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent" etc seems to have fixed it again.

"Open up Activity Monitor, search for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," force quit that process, restart Finder"

This worked for me... glad to have at least an option to get it right since it's been a year and it's still happening.

"Open up Activity Monitor, search for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," force quit that process, restart Finder"

Worked for me. Thanks!

Hmm

Stopping com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent and restarting finder worked for me, all my icons are showing up, even files created after the finder restart showed the right icons. Im on 12.0.1

tldr: it works forever (for me)

I did this first: "Open up Activity Monitor, search for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," force quit that process, restart Finder"

But it didn't fix it so I opened my view options on my desktop and increased the size of the icon to max and decreased it and then they show up. I also did this in the finder window and it solved it there too. Weird but true!

Yes, I have the same problem. Monterey 12.5.1

First it was only the very slow rendering of icons icons rendering slow with Monterey - Apple Community

Now most icons like images or movies do not show any preview at all anymore. Even what I have on my Desktop does not show it.

I have no files in cloud, only local storage.

Restart Finder / stop com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent process did fix this for me for the moment.

Hey again!

Just a question, have you been able to attempt the tests mentioned previously? Such as Safe Mode, testing in a new user account? This may really help I’m finding a result and taking the right guidance.

On another note, considering the process involved, you may try the steps here:

https://osxdaily.com/2018/08/21/clear-quick-look-cache-mac/

However being a new OS version, you will have to add Terminal to access the full disk first:

Open System > Preferences > Security and Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access. Unlock the Preference Pane, click the “+” and add Terminal, (Which is in Applications > Utilities), you can also drag the Terminal app into that window, then try the commands. I always recommend keeping a backup of your data before attempting any steps in the Terminal though.

Otherwise, can you say the results in the previously noted troubleshooting steps? Cheers, happy to help out if I can.

brandonpeter wrote:

Restarting Finder, restarting the Mac and Safe Mode offer only temporary relief from this problem. New images, in fact new files of any sort, do not show a preview. I can confirm that the preview image is there when doing a get info, as well as in list view. It also appears in gallery view - but the images across the bottom in gallery view are generic as well.

This applies to all files in the finder - except screen shots. I suppose my only option at this point is to revert to a previous version of the os.

Reinstall the macOS on top of your existing macOS is one way to sort anomalies not easily explained away...

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

You can file a bug report—use this same link: Apple Feedback http://www.apple.com/feedback

As of July 7, 2022 - Monterey is at 12.04 and the problem just started on my Mac. The temporary fix works by relaunching the finder.