XDP6 and thumbnail icons in Windows 7 (64bit)

[ad1066]

Okay, so I just upgraded to Xara Designer Pro 6, and so far I'm loving nearly everything about it. I'm a big fan of the new UI color (having already gotten used to it with Paint Shop Pro X2), and drawing with the Pen tool is so wonderfully smooth.

However, there is one slight hiccup, and that's the thumbnail previews that I used to get on my .xar files when I was using previous versions of the software. There was a post on here from last October that talked about how to force the thumbnails, but that was relevant only to old versions, in fact, following the advice seems to actively break thumbnails in files that were created with a previous version. Is there a way around this issue at this point?

-- Ben

[steve.ledger]

I was using XP4 and XP5 before having DP6 installed on my Windows 7 Pro 64bit machine.
I haven't experienced any problems with thumbnails for DP6 created or earlier version .xar files

There may be a permissions restriction which has prevented proper dll registration on your machine?

The only Xara KB artical bout TN's is this one:
► http://support.xara.com/index.php?_m...articleid=2554

Sorry I can't be of better help

[ad1066]

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to make a difference.

It's odd, any .xar files that were made with a previous version have the thumbnails intact, until I save them in XDP6, then the thumbnail gets broken.

It's not a big deal, it was just convenient. I'm sure it will be addressed sooner or later.

-- Ben

[Big Frank]

I've been looking at this problem since yesterday when I realised that I too don't have Xara thumbnails, just the icon. That's whether I choose XWD6 or XX5P as the default program for .xar files. I've noticed that I also have no thumbnails for Photoshop, PDF or Illustrator files, but I do have thumbnails for all standard bitmap types. I have tried just about every workaround, registry hack, group policy edit etc etc etc I have found on the interweb, all to no avail. As I have mentioned in another thread, it doesn't bother me because I don't use Explorer as my image catalogue, but it is a wierd problem nevertheless and it'd be interesting to find out what the problem is.

[TBill]

The issue is due to command extensions for thumbnails being 32bit applications.

The 64bit versions of Windows do not work well with the 32bit command extensions.

[Big Frank]

I knew there'd be an answer! Thanks TBill (and welcome to the forums)

I'm about to remove Vista and replace it with Windows 7 Intégrale (64bit). I wonder if that will cope any better?

But I'm keeping XP Pro 32bit on my laptop because, well, it just works.

[TBill]

The dll files that create a thumbnail view that typically install along with graphic applications are 32bit code.

Any 64 bit OS will be unable to load a 32bit dll into a 64bit process space.

Unless the software company includes a 64bit dll for thumbnail creation you will be unable to see thumbnails on a 64bit OS. There are some work-a-rounds to generate the thumbnail images, but you would need to recreate all thumbnails within a folder each time you add a new file.

[Big Frank]

OK, that makes sense, but my copy of Thumbsplus makes thumbnails of XAR files and it doesn't use its own filter because it includes no support for XAR files. It seems to do it from the file association. How can it create the thumbnails when Windows itself cannot? My version is Thumbsplus 7SP2. It is not a 64bit application although Shell extensions were updated for Vista and 64-bit operating system compatibility.

On their support pages they say:

XAR files are XaraX files created by a vector program of the same name. You can create support for these files by making them equivalent to EPS files.
source

However, if you look at the image below, I have not associated it with EPS files. I wonder how it does it.

[PhilM]

We do supply both 32 and 64 bit versions of the Xara Thumbnail viewer shell extension in version 6.

So if thumbnails are not working in Window 7 64 bit then the problem may be incorrect/incomplete installation of the program or interference from some other shell extension. In which case, try registering the 64bit version of the dll (typically in C:\Program Files (x86)\Xara\Xara_Designer_Pro_6\XaraDLLs on Windows 7) or re-install the program. Failing that, check whether any other shell extensions are causing the problem by removing/disabling them.

(The reason why thumbnails may remain in place and disappear when the file is modified is probably because of Windows Explorer caching.)

Phil

[Big Frank]

It worked!!!! Hahahahahahahaha

I love it when a plan comes together!

OK, ladies, go into your XaraDLLs folder, as Phil said, typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Xara\Xara_Designer_Pro_6, and copy XarThumb64.dll into the root of C:\ (you're copying the file because if you don't you'll have to get the path exactly right and it's simply easier to copy the file over into the root)

Open a Command window (Start > Run > cmd > OK) and at the prompt type (or copy and paste):

regsvr32 c:\XarThumb64.dll

You should get a message to tell you the dll has been successfully registered. Then open a folder with XAR files and the thumbnails should be created on the fly. Hop into the root of C: and delete the dll (just housekeeping really)

At least, it worked for me

Thanks Phil!