Machine-Readable
Papa’s Best STL Thumbnails icon

Subtitle Clifford.the.big.red.dog.2021.1080p.we... May 2026

A shell extension that adds preview thumbnails for STL files to Windows Explorer. Runs on Windows 7 or later.

Can also be used with Total Commander and FreeCommander.

Papa’s Best STL Thumbnails displaying a folder with random STLs from thingiverse

Download

Updated (changes, license).

Feel free to donate if you like my program!

64-bit Setup

recommended

32-bit Setup

for old systems

Video Guide

Michael from Teaching Tech made a video guide about the installation. He was so kind to allow me to embed it here! Thumbnail installation starts at 1:49.

Fast

Thumbnail generation is based on the fastest STL viewer available. Folders full of STL files are no problem, and most STL thumbnails are generated as fast as those of JPG photos.

Free

Compatible

Papa’s Best STL thumbnail viewer displays countless STL variations, even where other programs fail:

Subtitle Clifford.the.big.red.dog.2021.1080p.we... May 2026

The 2021 live-action Clifford the Big Red Dog brings nostalgia and heart to the screen as a young girl's love for a tiny puppy causes it to grow to massive proportions in New York City. Rated for families, the film focuses on themes of acceptance and adventure while featuring light, cartoonish slapstick comedy. For a detailed breakdown of the film's content and age-appropriateness, read the review at Common Sense Media .


Installation for all users

Papa’s Best STL Thumbnails installs for the current user by default. To install for all users on a system, open a command prompt or a PowerShell and run msiexec /i "Papas Best STL Thumbnails.msi" MSIINSTALLPERUSER="".

Repeat with every update!

The 2021 live-action Clifford the Big Red Dog brings nostalgia and heart to the screen as a young girl's love for a tiny puppy causes it to grow to massive proportions in New York City. Rated for families, the film focuses on themes of acceptance and adventure while featuring light, cartoonish slapstick comedy. For a detailed breakdown of the film's content and age-appropriateness, read the review at Common Sense Media .


Dark background on some thumbnails

a folder with two thumbnails whose background is entirely black

Clear your Explorer thumbnail cache (see above) or copy the file to a different location.

This is a bug in Windows 10 that also affects other thumbnails – for example transparent PNG images here and here.

I can’t do anything in my program to work around it, I’m afraid. Please use the Windows 10 feedback function to report this to Microsoft. If enough users do it, they may eventually fix it. Windows 7 does not have this bug.


Something Missing?

Encountered a problem? Have a suggestion? Let me know: