The QuarkXPress thumbnail provider is a shell extension for Windows Vista. It provides thumbnails for QuarkXPress files for any application that requests them. Explorer is an example of such an application that uses this feature; thumbnails are displayed in explorer for any files that provides them. Document previews can make designer workflow more efficient as users don’t need to open each document in QuarkXPress to see the content.

What inspired you to develop this solution?

Windows Vista makes greater use of file-specific thumbnail images than earlier versions of Microsoft Windows. Windows Vista uses images in file explorers and dialogs for any file type that provides them. Furthermore, other applications can also request images for certain files using the system API. It is important that QuarkXPress files are properly integrated with the system in order to meet the user’s expectations.

Who do you see as the target audience for this solution?

All QuarkXPress users that use Windows Vista.

If this feature is developed further, what would you like to see added?

This featured can be improved by adding streaming capabilities to the product. This is the preferred way of running this product as it enables the filter to be run in an isolated process, which makes explorer more stable.