Make Windows Explorer image thumbnails larger


Perhaps you are not satisfied with the default settings for the size of the thumbnails Windows Explorer shows when you select “large” or “extra large” view. Extra large can be sometimes more than you need, while just “large” is not large enough. You can solve this problem easily without changing any system settings at all in the registry or anywhere.

While you are in the folder of your images viewing this pathetic small size, press the Control button of your keyboard, then scroll your mouse wheel and enjoy your thumbnails as they enlarge in steps, until they reach the “extra large” view. If you are on a laptop, you can use Ctrl while scrolling with your trackpad. If you are not interested in intermediate states, you can use the Ctrl+Shift+1, 2, 3, etc. shortcuts to change views.

This way you can use a size between “large” and “extra large”, or a tiny size, less than “large”.

This shortcut (Ctrl + MouseWheel) works also in the Open dialogues, when you are in a program such as Microsoft Word and you are selecting an image to import in your document.