Image previews disappear after viewing image

[Greg G]

I love Dropbox for the convenience of storing and retrieving files. However, there is one feature that absolutely drives me crazy.

When I open a folder containing images, I can clearly see previews of every image on that folder.

However, when I click on that image to either view it closely or to use it in any application, the preview disappears and is replaced with the icon for JPG.  If I ever view that folder again, there is no preview for any image I have viewed or used in the past.

This is VERY frustrating and the only workaround is to open every image with an icon until I find the one I was looking for.

This appears to be an issue with Windows 10 and Windows Explorer. Something tied with having DropBox store files "in the cloud" rather than the local computer interferes with showing thumbnails every time a folder is accessed.

Does anyone know that cause and what can be done to show previews for all images all the time?

[Megan]

Hi @Philippe B, welcome to our Community! 

Do you have a Mac or a Windows device? 

Can you also let me know the version of the app that you have installed there? You can find that by hovering your mouse over the little Dropbox icon, next to the WiFi. 

Let me know more! 

[Philippe B]

Hi @Megan,

Thank you for answering me.

I'm on a window device (Windows 10).

And the version of Dropbox is : 149.4.4568

[Greg G]

This has been a problem with Dropbox for YEARS. It does not matter what version of the app is being used. I am using 149.4.4568, but have been battling this problem since 2014. It has to do with how Dropbox interacts with the Windows file system. For some reason when an image is opened, the preview is obliterated.

In the past, I recommended creating a tool to reset all previews, but that has fallen on deaf ears. My Dropbox subscription was just renewed for another year, but before it expires, I am hopeful that a suitable alternative can be discovered.

[rustyx2]

Same issue here, Windows 11.

When a file is online-only, a thumbnail preview appears normally.

As soon as I open the image or it otherwise gets downloaded to local PC, the thumbnail is gone, replaced with the icon of the default image app.

If the file was initially local, a thumbnail preview is working fine.

If I move the image for which a preview isn't visible to another folder (inside or outside Dropbox) or even copy-paste in the same folder, a thumbnail preview again appears normally.

So it sounds like the "hand-off" of thumbnail handling to the OS default when switching from online-only to local, is broken.

[Martin 14]

I have the same issue!  Very irritating.  When is Dropbox going to fix this fault?