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User profile for user: davidra
davidra Author
User level: Level 1
22 points

JPEG and other thumbnails not visible in Finder

Upgraded to Monterey a month ago. In the last three days about 90% of all JPGs, PNG and MP4 files have been replaced by placeholders. The images can be viewed in preview, but not as a thumbnail. Under view options, the settings are to show icons, show icon previews, and show preview column. The JPGs are visible in the preview column, but only JPG placeholders are seen in the icons. This is a new problem; I haven't done any major reorganization of files.

As an aside, if I click on the Downloads folder in the task bar, the window shows the actual JPGS, but if I look at it in Finder only the placeholders can be seen. Some folders will show the thumbnails, and some won't.

Additionally, I realized that PNG's will not open in Preview as they always have. When I click on a PNG file, the preview icon is added to the dock. When I click on it, a window opens up showing the files as placeholders with a single file seen in preview. This is totally new behavior. Has there been an update to Monterey in the past few days that has caused this behavior?


This is very concerning; not being able to see thumbnails in folders with many JPGs is a definite problem. Need some help with this one.

Posted on Nov 16, 2021 4:45 AM

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User profile for user: davidra
davidra Author
User level: Level 1
22 points

Posted on Nov 16, 2021 7:12 AM

OK....this problem has been solved. I restarted the computer twice with no effect. I attempted to restart in safe mode, held the shift key until I saw the logo. The problem was resolved....but it turns out that I wasn't in Safe mode when I checked on "About My Mac". I am totally confused....but the problems all resolved. Here is what I think caused it: I had done a screenshot; when the small preview appeared at the bottom prior to being moved to the Screenshot folder, I pulled it onto the desktop, something I've done many times before. This time, that screenshot froze in place; it wouldn't open and couldn't be moved to the trash, or anywhere else. Somehow that affected how JPGs are displayed in Finder. I have no idea how this would work....but it is apparently fixed now.

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User profile for user: davidra
davidra Author
User level: Level 1
22 points

Nov 16, 2021 7:12 AM in response to davidra

OK....this problem has been solved. I restarted the computer twice with no effect. I attempted to restart in safe mode, held the shift key until I saw the logo. The problem was resolved....but it turns out that I wasn't in Safe mode when I checked on "About My Mac". I am totally confused....but the problems all resolved. Here is what I think caused it: I had done a screenshot; when the small preview appeared at the bottom prior to being moved to the Screenshot folder, I pulled it onto the desktop, something I've done many times before. This time, that screenshot froze in place; it wouldn't open and couldn't be moved to the trash, or anywhere else. Somehow that affected how JPGs are displayed in Finder. I have no idea how this would work....but it is apparently fixed now.

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JPEG and other thumbnails not visible in Finder

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