How to view thumbnails in details mode in Windows 11?

Steve 20 Reputation points
2025-11-12T22:04:36.1066667+00:00

Hello,

I am trying to assist a client with viewing thumbnails in details mode in Windows 11. Is there a way to do this? Everything I'm seeing online seems to indicate that the user has to be in either 'Medium' or 'Large' icons view or Content mode or something. However, I cannot find any Microsoft articles that explicitly state this is not supported. If anyone has a fix please let me know.

Thank you.

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | Performance | Windows desktop and shell experience

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Answer accepted by question author
VPHAN 43,075 Reputation points Independent Advisor
2025-11-12T22:40:49.5333333+00:00

Hi Steve,

Actually you're not alone, many users prefer the Details view for its structured columns but also want to see thumbnails for quick identification of images or videos. Unfortunately, in Windows 11, thumbnails are not supported in Details view. Thumbnails only appear in icon views (Extra Large, Large, Medium, Small) or in Content view. Microsoft has not provided a way to enable thumbnails in Details mode, and there is no official fix or registry tweak to change this behavior.

The reason for this is that Microsoft redesigned File Explorer in Windows 11 with a modern UI framework. In this design, Details view prioritizes metadata columns (Name, Date, Size, Type, etc.) and does not render thumbnail previews. This is consistent with Windows 10 and earlier - thumbnails in Details view have never been officially supported.

I hope you find this piece of information useful to some extent. It's really appreciated of you to accept the answer as a way to share your valuable experience with the community. Thank you :)

Vivian

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