Working with images is an almost daily job for me and many others. It certainly helps if you can see what image files look like before you even open them. It’s also easier to scan long lists of images if you can see a thumbnail preview of each file in the list.

Here’s what I like to see:

Windows 7 typically has a thumbnail view of images turned on by default. You’ll may see this if you open up a folder of images. However, if you’ve played with Windows settings occasionally, the thumbnail previews can get turned off by accident. This happened to me recently and I’ve had to learn how to quickly return the thumbnails to Windows Explorer.

Here’s how to turn on or turn off the image thumbnails:

(Windows 7 and Windows Vista)

• Open up a folder or double click “Computer” on your desktop.

• Click the “Organize” menu to pull it down. Then select the “Folder and search options” entry.

• Click on the “View” tab to open up those options.

• Either check or uncheck the “Always show icons, never thumbnails” option.

That’s all there is to it.

If you have any ideas or questions you’d like to share, be sure to add a comment below or email me. I’d love to hear from you.