Yes, you can use the thumbnails (thumbs) you've generated for your `.blend` files, even if Blender itself doesn't generate or update them as you want. Here’s how it works and what you can do:
### Why Blender Thumbnails Sometimes Don’t Work
- Blender only generates thumbnails for `.blend` files under certain conditions (like saving with a camera view, or with the right settings).
- Sometimes, Windows Explorer or other file managers don’t update or show these thumbnails correctly.
### Using Your Own Thumbnails
If you have your own PNG or JPG images that you want to use as thumbnails for your `.blend` files, you can manually set them in Windows. However, Windows does not natively support custom thumbnails for arbitrary file types like `.blend`. But you have a few options:
#### 1. Thumbnail Overlay Tools
There are third-party tools (like **SageThumbs**, **Icaros**, or **CustomExplorerThumbnail**) that let you assign custom thumbnails to files, including `.blend` files.
#### 2. Folder Thumbnails
If you want to visually organize your folders, you can set a folder’s thumbnail to one of your images:
If you want to see a preview of your `.blend` file, you can:
- Keep a PNG/JPG with the same name as the `.blend` file in the same folder for easy reference.
- Use a file manager that supports side-by-side preview (like **Directory Opus** or **XYplorer**).
#### 4. Custom Scripts (Advanced)
You can write a script to generate a Windows shortcut (`.lnk`) for each `.blend` file, and set the shortcut’s icon to your custom image. This is a workaround, but not a true thumbnail.
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**Summary:**
You can’t natively set custom thumbnails for `.blend` files in Windows Explorer, but you can use third-party tools or keep your generated thumbs alongside your `.blend` files for easy reference. If you want a script to automate any of these processes, let me know!
