evince-thumbnailer

evince-thumbnailer INPUT_URI OUTPUT_URI PAGE SIZE

INPUT_URI
    URI of input document (e.g., file:///path/to/doc.pdf)

OUTPUT_URI
    URI for output PNG thumbnail (e.g., file:///path/to/thumb.png)

PAGE
    1-based page number to thumbnail (usually 1 for cover)

SIZE
    Dimensions as WIDTHxHEIGHT (e.g., 128x128, aspect preserved)

Evince-thumbnailer is a command-line utility from the Evince document viewer suite for the GNOME desktop. It generates high-quality thumbnail images for supported document formats, including PDF, PostScript (PS), DjVu, TIFF, and DVI files.

This tool is primarily used by desktop environments' thumbnailers, such as Nautilus or other file managers compliant with the FreeDesktop.org Thumbnail Managing Standard. When a user previews a document, the thumbnailer system invokes evince-thumbnailer with URIs for the input file, output thumbnail, specific page, and desired size.

It leverages Evince's rendering engines (like Poppler for PDF) to produce accurate previews without requiring a graphical session, making it suitable for headless operation. The output is typically a PNG image scaled to the requested dimensions while preserving aspect ratio.

Registration occurs via /usr/share/thumbnailers/evince.thumbnailer, which defines MIME types and invocation rules. This enables seamless integration in GNOME-based systems for quick document browsing.

Headless only; fails if format unsupported or dependencies (Poppler, Cairo) missing. URIs must be GIO-compatible.

PDF, PS, DjVu, TIFF, DVI; depends on Evince backends.

evince-thumbnailer file:///tmp/doc.pdf file:///tmp/thumb.png 1 256x256
(Generates 256px cover thumbnail.)

Developed as part of Evince (GNOME's document viewer) since ~2005 in GNOME 2.14; evolved with GNOME 3/40+ for better thumbnail support via modern backends.

evince(1), nautilus(1), gvfs(1)