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I read there seems to be a bug that stops text file previews from showing (if I understand correctly) in Ubuntu 16.04. It worked fine in 14.04 but now it just looks like an empty file. I have set Edit> Preferences> Preview to Local Files Only <3Mb and there is no "Show text" button as previous OS had, which one reply said. Therefore,I was wondering if anyone has found a work around to get the first few lines to show, so at a quick glance I can see if the file has text in it or not?. Or has everyone just accepted this as the new norm?. Or has everyone moved on to 18.04?. Thanks for any help in this matter.

Edit update. I found this answer Generate thumbnails for text?, but I am unable to get it to work, so not sure if it is what I need. If Jacob Vlijm or anyone else who knows tell me where to put it and what to put in the output path. I have tried putting the python file and text file in Home folder and the output there also and get nothing.

Albert
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  • As far I know such previews are working normally on Caja in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, but not in 18.04 LTS (see discussion on ubuntu-mate.community). I do not know about regular Nautilus. – N0rbert Jan 16 '19 at 20:12
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    I have a lot of text files and i need a preview instead of opening each one to see what is inside, so is there somewhere I can register my interest to show programmers that this feature is needed. Thanks. – Albert Jan 30 '19 at 00:28

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This is known bug of modern Nautilus - it was reported as bug 1426085 for Ubuntu 14.10 (Vivid Vervet).

This functionality was removed upstream.

Currently it is confirmed on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS and so on.

Moreover - Caja, Nemo, PCManFM and Thunar do not provide this functionality out-the-box for text files.

Consider to try Dolphin. To have previews install it with

sudo apt install dolphin dolphin-plugins kdesdk-thumbnailers kdelibs5-plugins kio-extras

It has previews for almost all file-types:

  1. Set previews from Control → Configure Dolphin... → General → Previews and click OK.

    Dolphin settings

  2. Click on Preview button on panel

  3. Navigate to the folder with text file:

    text preview in Dolphin

Information sources:
1. ArchLinux Wiki - File manager functionality
2. ArchLinux Wiki - Dolphin

N0rbert
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  • As Dolphin is file manager from KDE DE( there is a lot of dependencies included), will it play nice with Unity DE or should unity be deleted and KDE installed. Still learning, so be gentle if I don't understand. – Albert Jan 31 '19 at 00:04
  • I have installed Dolphin, but Configure Dolphin> General> Previews is blank with no options to tick. Do I have to add the options, if so how? or should they come up automatically. Thanks. – Albert Feb 01 '19 at 01:57
  • Dolphin installation is more complicated than we may expect. It needs plugins. See updated answer :) – N0rbert Feb 01 '19 at 10:22
  • I got it working NOrbert, the print is very small but seeing as there are no other options, I will work with it. Thank you for your help. – Albert Feb 06 '19 at 06:25
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    I cant say this was "useful to me" as I have less than 15 points, & not sure how to add to your rep, but I have ticked as solving my problem. Thanks again. – Albert Feb 06 '19 at 06:31