I'm having trouble on Windows® Vista®. Please see our Vista page.

I'm having problems with movie files (AVI, MOV, MPG, MP4, FLV, etc.).

ThumbsPlus depends on DirectShow and the codecs loaded on your system to support video files. A great collection of codecs that both supports additional formats (including Divx and xDIV, Flash Video FLV, and QuickTime MOV), and fixes problems with bad codecs loaded by other applications, is the K-Lite Codec Pack (Full), which you can download here. Once installed, restart ThumbsPlus.

To add additional file extensions such as FLV, just use Options | Preferences | File Types, and add the extension desired. Choose "MPG" from the Equivalent To drop-down.

Why does ThumbsPlus want to label my disk volumes?

So that ThumbsPlus can know which disk is what, you need to give your disks unique volume labels. If you've already made thumbnails on a particular disk, you should do this within ThumbsPlus (File | Volumes | Label Disk).

What are these THUMBS.DB files all over my system?

See this FAQ. (Hint: ThumbsPlus doesn't create these files!)

ThumbsPlus won't open (database errors).

Please see this FAQ.

• Product Capabilities
• General Information
• Installation Questions
• How Can I...?
• Do You Support...?
• Web Page Wizard
• Technical Support
• Advanced/Network Questions
• Error Codes

Note: When a symbol is shown in the answer, you can click on this image to view a screen shot.

Product Capability Questions

• Will ThumbsPlus run on Windows XP?
• What Windows OS will ThumbsPlus run on?
• Why do I need ThumbsPlus?
• I installed it. What do I do now?
• I made thumbnails of files located on a floppy, CD, zip disk, etc., removed the media and can still see grayed out thumbnails of the files.
• Can I start a slide show automatically with ThumbsPlus?
• Are you ever going to finish the Macintosh version?
• Any plans for Unix or OS/2?
• Any plans for a Linux version?
• How can I change the association of my files from another program to ThumbsPlus?
• What is the format of the ThumbsPlus database?
• Why is OLE so slow?
• How many thumbnails can ThumbsPlus store in a single database?
• Can I save my T+ database onto a CD? New and improved by Uwe Zimmermann. This is a large page with large graphics. It may take a while to load in your browser, depending on your connection speed of course.
• What ODBC databases does T+ support?
• Can I convert an Image AXS database to a ThumbsPlus database?

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General Information

• How much virtual memory do I need?
• How do I make a screen shot?
• What's the best format for storing grayscale or color photographic images?
• What's the best format for storing drawn image files of 256 colors or less?
• What's the best format for storing bi-level (bi-tonal, monochrome) image files?
• Why do my GIF files look bad when converted to JPEG?
• When I display JPEG or other 24-bit images, they appear grainy.
• Why do my JPEG files seem less clear when I edit them and save them many times?
• What is resolution (DPI)? How does it affect the size of my images?
• Why do my very large images show as grainy in ThumbsPlus when they show clear in Photoshop or other graphic applications?

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Installation Questions

• My registration code is not working when I try to install the registered version.
• I can't find where to enter my registration code in the trial version.
• Can I install the registered version in the same folder as the trial version?
• Do I need to run the ODBC update during the installation?

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How Can I...?

• ...get a manual for ThumbsPlus?
• ...show a slide show on my television?
• ...play music with a slide show?
• ...force images that view larger than the screen to be reduced enough to fit the entire image on the screen?
• ...convert a file from one format to another?
• ...resize my files?
• ...print more than one file to a page?
• ...save a catalog as a file to be accessed and printed later?
• ...print images to a specific size, like 4x6?
• ...sort images manually within the folders?
• ...stamp an image on to another image?
• ...find the thumbnail images ThumbsPlus is making of my files?
• ...add an external program to the ThumbsPlus toolbar?
• ...search for my images using filename, keywords and/or user fields?
• ...find all of the images that I have not keyworded?
• ...delete a keyword from a subset of files without deleting it from all files to which it is assigned?
• ...find similar/duplicate images?
• ...search for a file using a word or words from the annotations I have assigned?
• ...keep the creation date of a file from changing when I make changes to the file?
• ...move ThumbsPlus to another computer?
• ...rotate my JPEGs without recompressing the file and therefore losing quality?
• ...search by file date or between file dates?
• ...make available the EXIF information for offline files?

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Do You Support...?

• ...AI files?
• ...ART format?
• ...CPT files?
• ...DCR files?
• ...DRW files?
• ...DWG files?
• ...EPS files?
• ...EXIF?
• ...FLV movies?
• ...IMJ files?
• ...MIX files?
• ...MOV files?
• ...MRW files?
• ...NEF files?
• ...ORF files?
• ...PDD files?
• ...PDF files?
• ...PPT files?
• ...PS files?
• ...PSP files?
• ...RIF files?
• ...RM files?
• ...XAR files?
• List of all supported formats

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Web Page Wizard

• What is the Web Page Wizard?
• What does select scheme mean?
• Where can I find examples of the available web page styles?
• Can I create my own template to use in the wizard?
• I created my own template, but it isn't available in the style list.
• What does the option thumbnail table only do?
• What is include low-res?
• I am trying to use Custom URL/Folders but am having trouble.
• Why does the wizard use double extensions on the thumbnail files, i.e. tn_filename_jpg.jpg?

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Technical Support Questions

• If you plan on assigning data to your thumbnails in the form of keywords, annotations, etc, you should take the following precautions:
• My images have black lines through them or are distorted in part of the image but view correctly in other programs.
• What is the difference between a comment and an annotation?
• When I select TWAIN acquire, nothing happens.
• When I send a catalog to the printer, it acts as if it is printing but nothing ever prints.
• Why does ThumbsPlus show hidden directories and files?
• How can I make the database file (.td4) smaller?
• My database has reached the maximum size.
• Can I compact/repair the database outside of ThumbsPlus?
• Metafiles are showing up as black on thumbnails or contact sheets.
• When I look up pictures (Edit | Find by Query ), they show up as "Thumbnail Not Available."
• I'm having trouble getting ThumbsPlus to differentiate my JAZ or ZIP volumes.
• Bad TrueType fonts hang up ThumbsPlus or crash my system
• I can't seem to make thumbnails on my diskette (or other removable drive).
• How do I get ThumbsPlus to stop making all of those "thumbs.db" files all over my system?
• How can I associate files with ThumbsPlus so that I don't get multiple copies of ThumbsPlus running?
• Help! I made JPEG files, but my other applications can't read them!
• Why can't I use my graphic import filters?
• When I start ThumbsPlus, my computer starts dialing and connecting to the internet?
• When I open an image in ThumbsPlus, it appears brighter/darker than when I view it in another program.
• I deleted a folder from my system, and now it appears as a gray folder in the ThumbsPlus directory tree.
• What are the little icons I see on my thumbnails?
• Whenever I move, copy, delete or rename a file/folder in Windows, ThumbsPlus starts up automatically.
• I am receiving database errors ("Error in SQL connect").
• Corrupted ODBC drivers due to installation of another program.
• Every time I restart my computer, my wallpaper disappears.
• ThumbsPlus is running slow.
• The text in my properties dialog box extends further than the window itself so that I can not see all of it.
• Why do my thumbnails look pixelated/stretched?
• Why does the EXIF information stored in my Canon RAW files seem to be modified when I resave the files?

Advanced/Network Questions

• How do I install the network version of ThumbsPlus?
• How do I configure the ThumbsPlus network?
• How do I set the preferences in ThumbsPlus for different logins when the default database is different for each login?
• Do you have any examples of using DDE to control ThumbsPlus?
• Do you have any examples of SQL statements for finding files?
• Corrupted ODBC drivers due to installation of another program.
• How do I find files by path name?
• Where do I get support for SQL Server and using it as the back end (database) in ThumbsPlus?

Error Codes

• I get error [5015/8041] "This computer is not properly registered for license validation. The database may be damaged."