Open File Explorer, click on the View tab and then select Preview pane. Click on a file you wish to view, such as a Word document, Excel sheet, PowerPoint presentation, PDF, or image.

To restore the preview pane in File Explorer, open the application and select the View tab. In the upper menu, locate the Panes section and click on the Preview Pane button.

If you want to show the Details pane in File Explorer in Windows 11/10, then this post can help you do this using Settings, Hotkey, or Registry Editor.

On Windows 10, you can use these tips and tricks to be more productive with File Explorer, from changing settings to learning how to use the different features and shortcuts.

Given how limited the preview pane already feels in Windows 10, even adding just two more file types feels like a huge improvement.

Windows offers three panes in File Explorer: the navigation pane, the preview pane, and the details pane. The navigation pane on the left sidebar allows you to easily browse through folders and is ...

In Windows 10 and 11, you can enable it by opening File Explorer, clicking the View menu, and selecting Preview pane. Once enabled, you can click a file to see its contents displayed in the pane.

But in my tests, setting Adobe Reader as the default program robbed PDF Preview of the ability to show thumbnails, although it could still use Windows Explorer’s preview pane.

Normally, when I view an Explorer folder, I have the PDF files on “view large icons” (as it then gives me a preview of what the first page of the file looks like). But Windows 8 wiped all of that.

Microsoft is rolling out new preview builds of Windows 11 this week that introduces yet another big update to the File Explorer app.

The Windows Explorer file management application in Windows 7 includes a preview pane that you can use to view the contents image files and other files on your hard drive.