Calc desktop icon displays a miniature version of one of the sheets in the document

[t4d]

I run Calc 7.0.3.1 on Windows 10 (64-bit), and often save the spreadsheet to the Windows desktop.

Often, instead of a generic desktop icon, the Calc program appears to create a miniature version of the spreadsheet by displaying one of the many sheets that are part of the spreadsheet that is being saved. This is a very useful feature for me, but I am not able to locate any help in using this feature.

I would like to find help to learn how to “direct” the program to save the image of the sheet that I desire, not just any other sheet that the Calc program decides to display. I’m not sure when the Calc program determines which sheet to display as the icon. It does not appear to be the sheet that was active as the program was being closed. Is it done when the auto-save was executed?

Please help and advise, or direct me to the appropriate help page. Thank you.

[anon73440385]

You are asking a question about a Windows feature, how and when the display manager extracts the thumbnail, which is being created during (last) save of a document and which is part of the .ods file. Hence you need to ask Windows experts. The only part of LibreOffice here is to add a thumbnail to the document (or not). The proper option to enable/disable thumbnail creation could be found in Tools -> Option -> LibreOffice -> Advanced -> Button: Open Expert Configuration and searching for thumbnail. As soon as you disable (and perform a save of your document) desktop shows a generic icon for the document.

> It does not appear to be the sheet that was active as the program was being closed

yes - it is the thumbnail, which is part of the document being stored in Desktop directory and by test: It is the thumbnail of the specific sheet which has been edited last before the document has been saved for the last time.

[t4d]

OK, thanks for the prompt responses…do I understand correctly:

1. Windows is creating the miniature icon (thumbnail?), NOT Calc
2. the newly created (or updated) thumbnail displays the last sheet which had been EDITED before
   the last save of the document
3. if changes are made to a sheet, and the ods document is SAVED, but the Calc program is NOT
   EXITED, then does Windows still make a thumbnail of that last sheet, or must the Calc program be
   EXITED (and therefore SAVED as a result of the EXIT)?

[anon73440385]

1. Windows is creating the miniature icon (thumbnail?), NOT Calc

No, wrong understanding. Windows extracts the thumbnail from the document, while LibreOffice adds into the document, if set by option (default is “true”) on save of an edited document into the document (Unzip a LibreOffice document and see file ...Thumbnails/thumbnail.png

2. the newly created (or updated) thumbnail displays the last sheet which had been EDITED before the last save of the document

Yes - that’s the result of my test.

3. if changes are made to a sheet, and the ods document is SAVED, but the Calc program is NOT EXITED, then does Windows still make a thumbnail of that last sheet, or must the Calc program be EXITED (and therefore SAVED as a result of the EXIT)?

a) Windows doesn’t create thumbnail, but extracts the thumbnail from file (see 1))
b) LibreOffice is done on having savedthe document, since at that point in time the (updated) thumbnail.png ist part of the document

[t4d]

Opaque, thank you for taking the time for the explanations. If you will have a bit more patience with me…for item 1 you suggested that I “(Unzip a LibreOffice document and see file …Thumbnails/thumbnail.png”. How do I do that? All I have is the ods file and it doesn’t appear to be a zip file…how do I unzip it to view the thumbnail.png file?

[anon73440385]

and it doesn’t appear to be a zip file

It is a ZIP file, regardless of its extension and some ZIP programs recognize a ZIP file by content, while others recognize by extension. If you have one of the latter, create a copy and rename to .zip (e.g Windows’ File Explorer provides the Extract All context menu on Right click only if the file carries a .zip extension, while 7-zip can be used to extract the .ods file)

[t4d]

yep, I renamed the file with a .zip extension and found the thumbnail.png image.
I have learned a lot from you…THANK YOU for helping me