Markdown files "Can't be previewed"

[jpfieber]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.78.0

Installation method

Other (please specify in "Steps to Reproduce")

Running as admin

No

Area(s) with issue?

File Explorer: Preview Pane

Steps to reproduce

Not sure how I installed, think it was from Github. Running in Windows 11. I have numerous markdown files, most small, some large, size and content don't seem to make a difference. Have restarted many times. "Show preview handlers in preview pane" is enabled in Explorer options.

✔️ Expected Behavior

To see the text of the markdown file

❌ Actual Behavior

Without the extension, the preview in Explorer shows "No preview available". With the File Explorer add-ons 'Markdown' option turned on I get "This file can't be previewed". Not sure if it helps, but PDF previews only show up if I turn OFF the PDF add-on. When it's turned on I get the same "This file can't be previewed".

Other Software

No response

[davidegiacometti]

/bugreport

[jpfieber]

PowerToysReport_2024-02-26-13-52-13.zip Sure, here you go. Thanks!

[Wikiwix]

Any news on this?

[genghisun]

same problem here

[PhantomXiang]

I find that this bug only appears in per user version. Everything works fine in machine wide version.

[Wikiwix]

I find that this bug only appears in per user version. Everything works fine in machine wide version.

I just uninstalled PowerToys and reinstalled it with

winget install Microsoft.PowerToys --scope machine

After this previews work as expected (even after restoring the config from the old instance). Because reinstalling never helped before, I suspect that you are right @InvincibleAoXiang!

While this does not fix the bug per se, it does help me out. Thank you!

[TigersWay]

Basically did what @Wikiwix previously did: uninstalled a user version, to be able to install a system wide version.... And all previews are now working!!

[tildebyte]

This is actually a dependable workaround until someone figures out what's wrong with Explorer previews when running Powertoys per-user (Note: from searching through Issues here, there's clearly a serious conflict with Adobe's PDF previewer which effects more than just PDFs - THE PRESENT ISSUE IS COMPLETELY UNRELATED). Uninstalling per-user PT install and re-installing system-wide instantly fixes the issue - don't have to restart Explorer, reboot, re-configure Powertoys, or even close and re-open Explorer windows - it simply starts working.

[cinnamon-msft]

/dup https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/29644

[microsoft-github-policy-service[bot]]

Hi! We've identified this issue as a duplicate of another one that already exists on this Issue Tracker. This specific instance is being closed in favor of tracking the concern over on the referenced thread. Thanks for your report!