Thumbnails NOT generating in File Picker or Nautilus until files are opened

Installing Zorin OS
1

Thumbnails for images and videos do not load automatically in Nautilus or the GTK File Picker.

Instead of showing previews, files display default generic icons. The thumbnails only generate after I manually open and view each file. Once opened, the thumbnail shows up, but initial automatic background generation does not work.

2

nautilus only builds thumbs when prefs + thumbnailers are actually on.

-Files → Preferences → Search & Preview → show thumbnails for All Files
-rm -rf ~/.cache/thumbnails/*
-sudo apt install --reinstall ffmpegthumbnailer totem-video-thumbnailer
-gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.thumbnailers disable
-if that list isnt empty run: gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.thumbnailers disable '[]'
-killall nautilus then open Files again

3

Welcome to the Forum!

This is unfortunately normal Behavior. When You open the Folder with the Pictures before the File Picker opens, that can help.

So, this is not directly a Bug. And You can't not really do something. At least not that I would know.

4

I ran the commands, reinstalled ffmpegthumbnailer and totem-video-thumbnailer, cleared the cache, and verified that org.gnome.desktop.thumbnailers disable is set to [].

However, the issue still persists. When I open a folder in Nautilus or open the GTK File Picker, new or unindexed files still show blank generic icons instead of generating thumbnails automatically.

5

It’s unfortunate that this on-demand behavior is standard in GNOME/GTK, as having to open files or pre-visit folders just to see previews in the File Picker really slows down the workflow.

Since there's no native setting to fix this, I'll keep an eye on the thread in case anyone knows of a background script or daemon tweak that forces thumbnail caching. Appreciate the response!

1 Like
6

yeah prefs alone wont warm the cache. gnome only thumbs what gets requested.

id force a pass on a folder once:

-mkdir -p ~/.cache/thumbnails/normal
-cd /path/to/your/pics
-for f in *.{jpg,jpeg,png,webp,mp4,mkv,webm}; do
[ -e "$f" ] || continue
uri="file://$(realpath "$f")"
hash=$(printf '%s' "$uri" | md5sum | cut -c1-32)
ffmpegthumbnailer -i "$f" -o "$HOME/.cache/thumbnails/normal/${hash}.png" -s 128 2>/dev/null
done
-killall nautilus

then reopen that folder. for a single file that still stays blank:
-totem-video-thumbnailer "./thatfile.mp4" /tmp/t.png