Windows

Change The Size Of Your Thumbnails In Vista

Posted by on Nov 5, 2007 | 7 Comments

There are so many ways that you can customize Vista. Did you know that you can even change the size of your thumbnails? Unfortunately, the process is a little more difficult than just a click of the mouse.

To alter the size of thumbnails, you have to add a new value to the registry. Just follow the steps listed below only after you have completed a registry backup (or at least make a copy of the key you are altering).

  1. Click Start and type Registry Editor in the Search field.
  2. Press Enter.
  3. Within the Registry Editor, locate the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer.
  4. From the Edit menu, point to New, and click DWORD Value.
  5. Type in ThumbnailSize and press Enter.
  6. Double click the new value. Enter in a hexadecimal value between 32 and 256.
  7. Close the registry editor.

When you are entering in a value, remember that 32 is the lowest and 256 is the highest. So if you use a value of 32, your thumbnails will be at their smallest. You may have to test a few different values until you find a thumbnail size you are happy with.

[tags]windows, vista, windows vista, vista tips[/tags]

  • Inger

    to Diana Huggins
    I use Document Map a lot and it works fine in all but one document. When in this document, map looks fine but is NOT clickable …!?!?!
    What could be wrong?
    I have same fonts, same ways of applying Heading1 , heading2 etc, saved on same disk, faulty document started and edited in same way as those who work….
    I have no clue to what could be wrong.
    I teach, and need to be able to move around quickly in all my notes,
    so I like the Document Map feature a lot.
    I would be grateful for any help you can give….
    Cheers Inger

    • Cris DeRaud

      Another good one Dianna. You are helping to improve life with Vista. (I’ve never had a blue screen or any other problem for that matter. Just minor annoyances that you are helping to overcome.)

  • Brad

    What about holding the CTRL key and turning the mouse wheel? That seems a lot easier.

    Sometimes the advice given here is the brute force method.

  • Pete

    What about holding the CTRL key and turning the mouse wheel? That seems a lot easier.
    Wow that was a great tip I was searching for!

  • Snake

    I usually just click views and use the built-in slider to adjust thumbnail size.

  • Remi

    I have a problem. Many of my .ico thumbnails are very small, even if I do the CTRL+Mousewheel thing … Somebody knows about this ?

  • mak

    what a pointless and painfull process to do something so simple!!

    As said – CTRL + Mouse Wheel

    or just use the slider in the VIEWS tab from Small to Extra Large!?! and if you always want this view for every folder then saved it in the folder options, Or be a pointless geek and do it in the registry….