Mac desktop thumbnail preview shows unedited photo
Preview of thumbnail shows original not edited photo, mac desktop
iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 13.7
Question marked as
Hi,
When a Mac desktop thumbnail shows an unedited version of a your photo, it means the macOS thumbnail cache is still holding onto the old embedded preview or original file state.
Fix Thumbnail Cache and Refresh Finder
- Relaunch Finder: Press Option + Command + Esc, select Finder, and click Relaunch.
- Kill Thumbnail Agent: Open Activity Monitor, search for com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent, and force quit the process so macOS rebuilds the cache.
- Toggle Icon Previews: Right-click your desktop, select Show View Options, and uncheck then re-check Show Icon Preview.
- Re-save the file: Open the edited image in the Preview app and make a minor re-save or export to force a fresh thumbnail generation.